Oxford is an amazing city and the perfect place to spend a day exploring. With plenty of fun things to do in this city, you’ll never be bored and it is wonderful to find that it is such a short distance from London. That makes an Oxford day trip from London an enticing prospect and an easy thing to accomplish!
Want someone to set up your Oxford day trip for you? Check out these guided tour options from London:
- Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford Tour
- Oxford and Cotswolds Villages Tour
- Cambridge and Oxford Tour
- Harry Potter Studio and Oxford Tour
How to Get to Oxford From London
If you plan to explore Oxford on your own, then you’ll need to organize transport from London to Oxford. Luckily, this is actually really simple!
You have two choices: take the bus/coach or take the train. If you choose to take the bus, you can get on either The Oxford Tube or the X90. Both take about 1 hour and 40 minutes each way and often cost approximately £15-20 round trip, although occasionally you can find fares as low as £5. (If you’re looking for cheaper bus tickets, be sure to check out Megabus for less expensive fares…although this usually only works if you book far enough in advance and if you are certain you can stick to the schedule you choose when booking.)
Your second option, taking the train from London to Oxford, is my favorite way to travel between these two cities because it is faster (1 hour or less) and often more comfortable. A regular priced, round trip and off peak ticket may cost around £27 pounds to get you to Oxford, but if you know which specific train you want to take each way then you can often book singles and get your whole trip booked for £10-20. I use Trainline to book my tickets and find this to be convenient and easy.
Want to know how to score even cheaper tickets, such as $3-4 train fares from London to Oxford? Check out my guide on how to save on UK travel!
Things to Do in Oxford on Your Day Trip From London
Here are a few things to do in Oxford that you should consider for your Oxford day trip from London!
1. Take a Tour of the City
I think that in general one of the best ways to explore a new place is to take at least a brief, high-level tour of the city to get the lay of the land. This way you know the layout as well as what you may wish to come back to and explore more of.
If this sounds appealing to you, you can do this in Oxford a couple of ways. First, you could take a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. You’ll see these red buses all across Oxford, and if you have purchased a ticket you can get on and off them anywhere along the route while enjoying an audio guide of the city.
Your second option is to take a walking tour of Oxford to explore on foot. You can use the self-guided walking tour that I have put together, or you can take a guided tour to hear more about the university and the city.
Whether you choose a bus tour, a self-guided tour, or one with a guide, getting a little bit familiar with the layout of the city and learning about its history is the perfect way to start out your day in Oxford.
Book tickets for the Hop-on Hop-off Bus or for the guided walking tour now!
2. Visit the Radcliffe and Bodleian Libraries
Oxford is well-known for its university which is spread across the city, but if you want to see where the university magic happens then you have to visit some of the incredible university libraries!
Libraries like the Radcliffe Camera and the Old Bodleian are impressive not only for their collections of books ranging from medieval to modern, but are also stunning and impressive simply by virtue of their architecture. You can view many of these libraries from the outside for free, but unless you are a student of the university you will need to pay for a tour to see inside.
You can choose from several tour options, but the Old Bodleian and Duke Humfrey’s should definitely be on your list (and the Radcliffe Camera if you have the time!)
3. Take a Harry Potter Tour of Oxford
If you love Harry Potter, then Oxford is a must-see destination…so it’s a good thing you’re planning a day trip from London! And once you’re here, you will definitely want to go on a Harry Potter tour to see all the Harry Potter sites in Oxford.
You can explore the sites on your own, or if you prefer you can take a Harry Potter tour and have someone guide you around the city to see the most important ones. Either way, you are sure to love seeing some of the real-life locations used in the films!
Click here to book tickets for an Oxford Harry Potter tour now!
4. Visit a Famous College
Students of the University of Oxford are placed into different colleges as a “home base,” if you will, during their studies at the university. As such, each college has its own grounds within the city, its own unique history, and its own set of (often famous) alumni. Luckily, many of these colleges allow visitors to come and explore their grounds!
Christ Church College is one of the most impressive colleges at Oxford and is a joy to see. If you haven’t planned to visit it as part of a Harry Potter tour, then you should plan to do so in order to see the amazing cathedral, dining hall, and experience the place that was home to Lewis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland fame.
If you’ve already planned to visit Christ Church, then you may also want to consider another famous college to visit as well—Magdalen. This college and its gardens are gorgeous, but many people flock here while visiting as it was the college of C.S. Lewis in Oxford. No matter your reason in visiting it, however, you won’t regret it after enjoying a wander around the grounds.
Discover more famous and fascinating colleges to visit in Oxford!
5. Eat at the Vaults & Garden Cafe
One of the things I love about Oxford is all the delightful cafes and coffee shops throughout the city. But if you only have one day here, I recommend taking a little time out of your day to grab a bite (or take tea) at the Vaults & Garden Cafe.
This cute cafe takes its name from its vaulted ceiling, as it is positioned underneath the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. As soon as you step inside you feel like you’ve entered the 1300s…but with a modern cafe serving delicious food (and some of my favorite scones in Oxford)!
Plus, its central location (right next to the Radcliffe Camera) also offers you great views if you choose to sit outside in the garden section rather than eating in the cafe. It doesn’t get any better than this!
6. Explore the Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is one of the more prominent and central museums in Oxford, and it is a treat to explore and see all the artifacts inside. This museum contains breathtaking antiquities from throughout the ages, including drawings by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael…plus paintings by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Titian, John Singer Sargent, and more.
There are also gems and coins and musical instruments and nearly everything else you can imagine (even Egyptian mummies!) It’s a little bit like a smaller version of the British Museum…and even better, it’s free to enter so you can come and go as you please! This is one of my favorite free things to do in Oxford and offers up hours of entertainment if you so choose.
7. View Oxford From Above
Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires, so on your day trip from London to Oxford you simply must see the city from above and appreciate the glorious skyline!
There are a few places to enjoy a view of the city’s spires. My favorite is the view from the Sheldonian Cupola, but the view from the tower of the University Church of St. Mary is iconic and excellent as well. Both of these places have small fees you must pay to climb to these vantage points, but the Sheldonian fee also includes exploring the rest of the building which is a treat in and of itself.
8. Shop in the Covered Market
The Covered Market is a fun shopping and browsing spot in Oxford, with lots of local shops and businesses inside. It’s a great place to find trinkets and souvenirs, as well as to see fun storefronts from produce shops, to butcher shops, to jewelry and stationary stands.
There are also some nice places to eat in the market, as well as an adorable cake shop you won’t want to miss—they create gorgeous designs including some amazing replicas of buildings in Oxford! You’ll find the market open every day from 8am-5.30pm (except Sunday, when it’s only open 10am-4pm).
9. Go Punting on the River
If you’re taking your London to Oxford day trip in the warmer months of the year, then going punting is something you should definitely do. It’s about as iconic “Oxford” as the Radcliffe Camera, and that’s saying something!
There are two main places the public can rent punts from—Magdalen Bridge Boathouse and the Cherwell Boathouse. If you’ve never gone punting before, never fear! It will be a bit awkward at first as you try to maneuver the pole…and you will likely zigzag a bit…but after a while, you’ll get the hang of it!
If you prefer not to deal with the hassle of teaching yourself to punt, then you could always hire a chauffeured punt instead…but this is definitely more expensive than punting on your own. But regardless of whether you go out on your own or with a chauffeur, punting in Oxford will be an experience you will never forget!
Learn everything you need to know about punting in Oxford here!
10. Have a Drink at a Rooftop Bar
To finish off your perfect day trip to Oxford from London, you’ll want to visit one of my favorite places in the city—The Varsity Club.
TVC is a bar and restaurant that has one extra special feature: a rooftop bar! This is the perfect place to enjoy a drink, snack, or meal at any time of day, but it is especially nice just around sunset. The view over the city’s rooftops and spires is simply phenomenal and is the perfect way to wrap up a day trip to Oxford!
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