24 hours in Oxford UK

Oxford is a wonderful location for a London day trip, or if you have the time you can also make this into a wee weekend getaway.

By train, London Paddington to Oxford is just under an hour away, and there is normally one train per hour, giving you the option to sleep in before your visit or extend the trip on your return if you want to stay longer.

Once you get off the train, get yourself involved in a walking tour, this will take you to the key locations and give you all the history you could possibly want to know. We can recommend footprints tours, your guide is a current student and they run twice a day at 11am and 2pm. 

Once you have completed your walking tour you will be ready for some food. There are many options around and with this being a student town you have some cheap options.

If you want to try some street food head to the Oxford Outdoor Markets there is a great variety of food options and many seats to enjoy your meal. 

If you want a restaurant, I can recommend Thaikhun for some Thai food or the Red Lion if you want some pub grub. 

To make the most of the rest of your day, head back to any spots that took your fancy on the walking tour for a more indepth visit. Here are a few places of interest,

Bodleian Library – Harry Potter was filmed here as well as it being an amazing library that has rights to every published book in the UK.

Radcliffe Camera – this is a magical piece of architecture. Spend a few minutes here walking around and taking it in

Christ Church College – This is one of the oldest colleges with beautiful grounds and buildings, there is even a meadow if you want to feel like you’re in the country.

If you feel like shopping there is a Westgate Mall with a good amount of shops. 

There are a couple of options to extend this trip, you can stay a night this gives you more time to take the city in and enjoy your getaway. Otherwise head to Bath, this is only an hour on the train and another hour to return back to London, check out this post on Bath.

If you do stay the night I can recommend The Breakfast Club to start your day.