"Discovering the Rich History and Beauty of Oxford: The Perfect Day Trip from London"
- Amy Harris
- Apr 10, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Apr 2
On a recent trip to London, my husband, daughter and I wanted to take a day trip by train from London to somewhere within a couple of hours. We considered many places and finally settled on Oxford. We loved walking the streets visiting a couple of the Oxford Colleges, old pubs, and discovering the rich history and beauty of Oxford.
We took an early morning train from Paddington Station in London to Oxford. After a lot of research, I booked the tickets through Rail Ninja, which is a reservation service for booking tickets online, but you can find train tickets on multiple sites like, Trainline, Rail Europe, or even book directly through Great Western Railway. If your plans are flexible, it's a good idea to do your research so you can save some money, tickets vary in price based on time of day.
The train ride was very comfortable, we booked seats with a table and my husband worked the entire ride, while my daughter and I looked for things we wanted to do when we arrived in Oxford. The trip only takes about 45 minutes.
We were hungry so we looked into the best place to enjoy breakfast before we got our day started. We decided on The Handle Bar Cafe, it was a super cute place, view their menu, we loved the freshly made smoothies and enjoyed the food!
Check out some other highly ranked places we considered to enjoy breakfast or brunch that were within walking distance of the city center...
After Breakfast we walked over to Christ Church and bought tickets to do the tour of this beautiful Oxford University. Tickets do sell out, so you may want to purchase in advance. We were there midweek and during a not very busy time of year, so we were lucky to just walk up and purchase our tickets at the college. There is a discount if you purchase online! There is so much history within the walls of this college, and we really enjoyed walking the halls and learning so much about the school. We liked touring at our own pace and listening to the audio tour, however you can book tickets for a guided tour. There is also some fun Harry Potter ties to the school so my daughter was very excited to be where some of the filming took place.
Things to See
Hall Staircase
This beautiful staircase dates back to 1805 and the ceiling was installed before the civil war in 1638. My daughter was very excited to walk those steps as this staircase which leads to the Great Hall is featured in several films including her favorite, Harry Potter.
The Great Hall
This beautiful dining hall was completed in the 1520s, the Hall has been in use since the 16th century. It is surrounded by stained glass windows which are designed to showcase the schools history. One window features the work of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell who was the inspiration for Lewis's, Alice and Wonderland. Alice Liddell was the daughter of Dean Liddell and I found it so fascinating to learn that Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), wrote the famed book based on people at the school.
Another fun fact, if you are a Harry Potter fan, you will recognize this Hall, because the one in the movie was designed after the Great Hall.
Tom Quad and Great Tom
Just as you leave Great Hall, you will enter the largest quad in Oxford, measuring 264x261 feet. At the far end of the quad is Great Tom, which rang for the first time on May 29, 1684. Tom Tower and it's great bell at Christ Church are compared to what Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben are in London. The Great Tom bell chimes 101 times at 9:05 pm. This used to signal the curfew for students to return to the college, it still rings today even though there is no curfew.
The Cathedral
This beautiful church is almost 900 years old and is still a place of worship and prayer. It is both the cathedral for the diocese of Oxford and the college's chapel. There are daily services.
The Stained Glass throughout the cathedral is full of rich history and is truly breathtaking. The Becket Window dates all the way back to 1320. Other beautiful widows include the large St. Michael Window, the St. Frideswide Window created by the famous Edward Burne-Jones as well as glass from Dutch artist Abraham van Linge dating back to the 1630's
Guided Tours
There are many tours available, we just continued our self-guided audio tour which was full of information and interesting history. However, you can take guided tours that offer highlights of the Cathedral or you can choose to learn more about the Cathedral's architecture in a 60-min tour that will walk you through centuries of architectural development or a 60-min tour of the rich stained glass history.
Just across the street from Christ Church you will find Alice's Shop, it may look like a quaint little retail shop, but it is full of history and is the exact location that Alice Liddell frequented as a child and is featured in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice Through the Looking Glass.
The shop offers visitors treasures and memorabilia from the beloved and famous Alice in Wonderland. We purchased the original book and I cannot wait to revisit a story I loved as a child.
My daughter thought this would be a great place to visit, she didn't quite read about exactly what it was when she suggested we go. It is very cute, and a great place for children to learn old fables, invoke their imaginations and submerge themselves in stories and storytelling. My daughter is 19 and we were the only people there other than a field trip of what looked like preschool age children. We laughed at ourselves, spent a little time exploring the museum, but concluded it's definitely a place for younger imaginations. So cute and fun for children and would definitely recommend it for that age! Tickets
Check out some of Oxford's old Pubs
I really wanted to do a tour of some of the many old historical pubs that you will find in Oxford. We only had time to visit three, our first stop was Turf Tavern, which we actually were lucky to stumble upon, when looking for New College. It is located through back alleys and cobbled passageways in Oxfords' Holywell district, and is a bit hidden, but worth the effort to find it. Since 1381, the tavern has been open and serving to the literary elite and some very notable inklings, presidents and movie stars. They claim the only one who never left is their resident ghost, Rosie who still waits for her lover to return. The pub consists of small rooms connected by narrow passages and is surrounded by beautiful patio courtyard gardens. They offer delicious pub food with a pretty extensive menu plus a wide range of cocktails and ales. You can make a reservation online
The oldest pub in Oxford, The Bear Inn has been serving Oxford since 1242. It is rather small inside, but also has a heated garden. It is kind of hidden down a quiet street just off of the busy High Street. It stays busy with students, locals and tourists. Make sure you check out the collection of ties dating back to the early 1900s which represent clubs in Oxford and around the world. The offer traditional pub fare and do take online reservations
The Kings Arm claims to be the oldest pub in Oxford, however it is not as old as Bear Inn or Turf Tavern so not sure why they boast that claim. They are very popular with locals and students and claim when crowded they are the smartest pub with the highest IQ per square foot anywhere in the world. They also have two resident ghosts that are said to be heard and never seen. They are two elderly men who can sometimes be heard in one of the pub's bars conversing in Ancient Greek.
There are many other old historical pubs worth visiting. A couple of others that I was hoping we would stop into are The Crown which was often frequented by William Shakespeare, and The Lamb and Flag which is featured in several literary works and was a regular spot for literary giants like Thomas Hardy, C. S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien.
The Radcliffe Camera is the focal point of the University of Oxford. You will see it in most pictures representing the University. The word Camera in Latin means, "chamber," the Camera built in 1737-49 is a library and today houses around 600,000 books. It is not open to the public, but still worth seeing and photographing.
University Church located in front of Radcliffe Camera, has been a welcoming place of worship for over a thousand years and it's rich history includes some of the most noteworthy events within the English Church. Plan your visit and include a climb in the tower for the best views of Oxford. Access to the church is free, but you will need a ticket to go up to the Tower, the oldest part of the church dating back to 1280.
When you are walking the passage way to St. Mary's University Church, take time to notice this door, nicknamed the Narnia Door. It is believed that this door was an inspiration to C.S. Lewis as he was writing The Chronicles of Narnia. There are two gold fawns on either side of it that look like Mr. Tumnus and wooden carvings on the front that look like the Lion Aslan. Just beyond the door is an old oil lamp post, which could be the inspiration for the post in Narnia. These are all fan inspired suspensions and have never been proven, but C.S. Lewis surely walked past the door and the post many times when he was a student and tutor in Oxford.
The Covered Market is located right in the middle of Oxford city center, it dates back to the 1770s and offers over 50 specialty shops with a variety of unique goods and also houses a large selection of cafes and bars. We enjoyed walking through the market, and we took a short break for a glass of wine while deciding where our next stop would be. It is a beautiful market, and you could spend hours browsing the shops and enjoying the food.
New College was also on our list of Oxford colleges to tour, mainly because my Harry Potter loving daughter wanted to see one of the places where filming took place. It is a beautiful, welcoming college. We enjoyed walking through the front Quadrangle and through to the beautiful Garden, we then found the dining hall, chapel and finally the cloisters.
The New College Cloisters is where scenes from the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were filmed. In the movie Harry comes face to face with Malfoy who is sitting in an oak tree and then Malfoy is turned into a ferret by Mad-Eye Moody. You can walk the halls of the Cloisters where the characters from the movie were filmed and also see the exact tree. My daughter was thrilled to see this! My husband and I enjoyed seeing the many tablets on the walls and seeing the graves beneath the flagstones of various saints. It is a quiet area and has always been intended as a place of peace and meditation to study.
On your way to New College, take a moment to notice the Hertford Bridge, more famously known as the Bridge of Sighs. The bridge connects two Herford College buildings and was completed in 1914. It is falsely believed to be a replica of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice which is how it got it's nickname, however this is actually not true, Hertford Bridge more closely resembles Rialto Bridge
After a full day of walking and touring as much as we could, we were a little grumpy and hungry and looking for somewhere to have dinner before heading back to London. We asked a local shop owner who gave us several recommendations.
Her Top Three Best Oxford Restaurant recommendations were:
No. 1 Ship Street is an upscale restaurant serving a menu of Modern British Cuisine in a cozy refined atmosphere. It is located just around the corner from The Covered Market behind St. Michael at the North Gate.
Pompette a husband and wife run French themed restaurant featuring a menu of classic French cuisine with a nice wine list in a cozy atmosphere.
Gino's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria is a family owned Italian restaurant with an extensive traditional Italian food menu. They have been in business for 30 years, and are located in Gloucester Green market, a little bit off the beaten path which seemed to make it less busy. The service was friendly, and the food was good.
We had the best day in Oxford, and as I am writing this I am wishing I was back there now. This was the perfect day trip from London, however if you really want to see it all, I would recommend staying for a couple of nights.
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