yk

I'm trying to plan an itinerary for a day trip to Oxford from London. Tentatively, I will be visiting next Friday (Oct 31).

Early bus to Oxford (I'm thinking of pre-booking on Megabus to save money) and arrive around 9am. I believe with Megabus, I'll actually be taking the Oxford Tube bus?

- Christ Church (opens at 9am)
Q: will 1 hour be more than enough there?

- Ashmolean Museum (opens at 10am)

- Oxford Walking tour at 11am (Is pre-booking via the internet necessary? Or do you think if I stop by at 10am at the tourist office will be adequate?)

- Lunch

- St Mary the Virgin Church, climb the Tower

- Redcliffe Camera & Bodleian Library (I read that a guided tour is recommended?)

- Sheldonian Theatre

- New College (opens 2-4pm)

- Botanic Garden (closes at 5p)

- Magdalen College (opens 1-6pm)

Leave Oxford after 6pm

I am not sure if I can even see all the things I've listed, but is there any other MUST-SEES that I've left out? I checked Merton College website but it says it's only open on Sat/Sun.

flanneruk

There really isn't a must-see in Oxford (and precious few anywhere else, either).

But:
1. In the middle of autumn, IMHO, the single major experience is to go into a pub as it's getting dark and have a nice dry sherry. That pub has to be elderly and away from the termtime evening yoof culture of George St and Cornmarket. If you're getting the bus back to London, you wont get there till 8-ish is you leave at 6, so I'd hang on.

2. Oxford's pretty. But it's a living community, with a basic industry accessible to anyone who speaks English. So why not go to a lecture (some are open to anyone) or a concert? www.dailyinformation.co.uk

Your day's overcrowded: some comments

The Ashmolean's undergoing rebuilding. It'll be closed for much of 2009, so this is your last chance to see that small bit of it that's currently still operating. Most of that's a "greatest hits" display, which is a masterpiece of getting a 4 million item museum condensed into two rooms. But you'd be pushed to do it justice in an hour.

You can't get into the Radcliffe Camera: the young ladies and gentlemen are pretending to work in it. The main Bodleian tour you can book on the day: check times carefully, since the guided tour is the only way you get to see the inside of a proper, Tudor going on Stuart, working library. Much more interesting than another bit of stone architecture

There's no point in three colleges. Dump New College: too big to be typical, but none of the drama of ChCh or Magdalen. The Botanical Garden's only any point, IMHO, if you're interested in the history of botanical gardens. The gardens of Magdalen (if they let you into the Fellows Garden) and the river at he end of Ch Ch Meadow are just as relaxing.

Unless you want to go to its art gallery, an hour's ample for Ch Ch. Most of it's just big pompous exteriors - but do explore its cathedral properly, especially St Frideswide's shrine. Oxford was a pilgrimage site, devoted to St Frideswide - a local lass - centuries before the bleeding intellectuals turned up and ruined the place. Bits of the shrine are original - very, very, rare in an England where Prod fanatics destroyed every bit of religious art they could get their hands on with a dedication that makes the Taliban look like image-worshipping softies.

No idea about walking tours. But there don't seem many tourists around at present. It is late October, after all.

flanneruk

Sorry. It's www.dailyinfo.co.uk

janisj

flanner has given you good info - I'd also stick to just 2 colleges max. on your own. You <i>may</i> get inside one or two others on the walking tour. Most of the time they manage at least one but there is no guarantee.

I wouldn't think you need to book the walking tour - especially on a weekday morning.

I'd maybe skip the Ashmolean altogether. It is just a very small taste of what the full museum offered (and will after the re-opening). Spend the time wandering around - go to Blackwells (HUGE book store), pop into the covered market - that sort of thing.

Then after the walking tour and lunch - you'll have a better idea of where else you want to explore.

yk

Thanks flanner and janis.

Regarding the walking tour, when I checked the oxford tourist website, I see that they sell the tickets online for an additional &pound;1 service charge. When I actually clicked on the day (next Fri), it says only 4 tickets are left for the 11am tour. I'm assuming they sell a certain # online tickets but still reserve some to sell on the day of? It's hard for me to imagine everyone visiting Oxford would buy their walking tour tickets in advance.

I may still pop-in to Ashmolean... It's free entry, plus sometimes it's less overwhelming when there are just 2 &quot;greatest hits&quot; galleries to see instead of the whole museum.

I will go ahead and skip New College. And +/- Botanic Garden, depending on how I feel and how much time I have. I'll be sure to take the Bodleian tour, it's offered multiple times a day according to the website.

I do want to leave Oxford by 6 or earlier, since I intend to visit Tate Modern that evening (opens until 10pm) for the Rothko show.

flanneruk

I STRONGLY disagree about skipping the Ashmolean.

If you dislike museums as much as I do, its current &quot;greatest hits&quot; section is a triumph of museumology. It's only going to be there for another 8 weeks before it goes forever: but right now there are no two rooms anywhere with as much concentrated <b> stuff </b>

There are bits of the old, rather fusty, museum still accessible: especially the Egyptology section, if you feel nostalgic for badly-lit, unexplained bits of dusty antiquity (you could practically imagine you were in Greece, it's so poorly displayed). And there's a lovely little section on Arthur Evans, Minos and all that, which is as wonderful about the recent history of academic posturing and fakery as it is about early Crete.

Terrific. Better even than the Poldi-Pezzoli or the Frick. And you can see it all in 90 mins without even a hint of musem head (that conviction your head'll explode NOW if you don't get out of the damn place right away that anyone with sense gets after more than an hour in most museums.

PalenQ

I agree with flanner - i hate museums pretty much but the Ashmolean was so cluttered with items not normally in museums i loved it - though several years later i cannot remember exactly what i loved.

Be sure to walk in the meadow or green or whatever it is by Christ Church IMO

historytraveler

I can't really add much to flanner's and janisj's comments, but I would suggest reading up a bit on St. Frideswide. She is Oxford's most intersting historical personality.

Blackwell's is always a must on my list and visit the 3rd floor for good buys on used books.

I'd probably give the Botanical Gardens a miss. The Covered Market might be interesting to a visitor but not particulariy special IMO except at Christmas when they hang Bambi from the meat stalls. If you like cookies at all, stop at Ben's Cookies. They are the best!

yk

Any suggestions for lunch? I've read that Browns is pretty reliable. Though on another thread I've read, flanner mentioned about 15th c (or was it 16th c) wall painting at the Pizza Express at the Golden Cross. That sounds intriguing (the wall painting, not Pizza Express). Don't want to spend that much, probably &pound;15 tops including 1 course plus 1 drink.

bachslunch

You can likely manage this itinerary, but it may be a bit hectic.

I think taking a tour of the Old Bodleian Library is the best way to experience the most there (you won't see much otherwise), but if memory serves they have a limited number of tour times. If you can call or email them ahead, you may be able to pin down a specific time, which would be wise. Do NOT try to tip the guide at tour's end as they won't accept one -- note that my guide seemingly went our of her way to embarrass me when I offered one, which I did not appreciate.

Don't expect to see inside the Radcliffe Camera, which if memory serves is closed to the public.

Will second the idea of seeing the Ashmolean Museum in its current &quot;greatest hits&quot; incarnation. What's there is well worth a look (porcelain pieces and Egyptian artifacts, plus a few paintings) and an hour should suffice. It's also free.

Am thinking an hour at Christ Church College will be enough time -- the chapel is what you'll most likely want to see anyway, and if the dining hall is open, that's a bonus. Magdalen College is also a must-see, to my mind the best one to visit. Also, be prepared for the possibility that any college may be closed to the public without warning. New College was when I went.

yk

ttt

Anyone want to comment on lunch options?

flanneruk

Oxford is possibly the mediocre eating capital of the universe.

There were a couple of useful suggestions on the thread where I mentioned the Pizza Express with medieval wallpaintings. The only - and much hyped - opening since then has been Jamie's Italian, the Jamie Oliver place (www.jamieoliver.com/italian/oxford): slightly outside your budget (though by the standards of Italian places in the affluent SE, pretty cheap), irritatingly up itself, consistently charming but slightly slow, service given your timeframe and food that just isn't anything like as good as it thinks it is - though stellar by the truly rotten historical standards of anywhere in Oxford with an Italian name.

Two other suggestions: Edamame (edamame.co.uk) in Holywell St is well away from the crap food concentration. No idea how busy it gets at lunch, but IMHO refreshingly civilsed and pleasant. Alternatively, there's Oxford pubs.

Food in them ranges from dreadful to OKish really, though it's been some years since there's been a really interesting publicised example of serious food poisoning. There's a clutch of suitably ancient food-serving pubs in and on the edge of the historic centre. They're all older and more intimate than you can easily find in London, and have a distinct character. All on the tourist trail, but all mainly dependent on business from undergraduates, and therefore have some sense of needing to keep customers coming back
- Eagle &amp; Child, St Giles (for all the Tolkien hype, serious about its beer)
- Kings Arms, Holywell St/Parks Rd intersection (Bodleian canteen: allegedly pricey these days, the blandest of this group)
- Lamb &amp; Flag, St Giles
- Royal Oak, 42 Woodstock Rd (5 mins' walk north of the real centre: a real, allegedly ancient, pub off almost all tourist trails)
- The Turf, Bath Place off Holywell. The twee-est of all, but beer, service and food better than you'd expect and uber-atmospheric.
- White Horse, Broad St (next to Blackwell's).

Choose whichever's handiest. If they're all crowded, the Royal Oak might be less hectic.

julia_t

Hello yk...

I've just come across this thread - most timely as we have an exchange student from South Africa staying with us for a few days and we are planning a trip to Oxford next week, but on Thursday so we will miss you!

However thank you for your research which has helped me with mine, and here's wishing you a wonderful time in England next week!

Julia

yk

flanner - thanks for the suggestions.

Julia - Too bad we'll miss one another! Have a good time.

Mimar

We took the official TI walking tour of Oxford. It went into the Bodleian and one college. On your own, I'd spring for Christchurch College if they're open that day.

We spent a long time in the Ashmolean, maybe more than we should have in a one-day visit, but it was very interesting. I do regret not seeing something of the river and the meadows. Christchurch meadows could supply that lack. Of course, this time of year

bilboburgler

The baby and bird (sorry angel and child) will make for a good daft old dons pub. I you continue north until you hit little trendy street (little clarendon street) you can pop west here with a bit of shopping come out the end and turn north again. ABout 400m on the left is a great fish restaurant which will kill the lunch crisis.

If that is too formal go back to the start of little trendy street (east end) and go a few shops up to the deli and get a sandwich there.

At Madgalen (pron maudlin)do not miss the dear park and please do not mock too loudly the new tree art towards the river.

flanneruk

Bilbo means the Loch Fyne in Walton St.

They're currently doing an &pound;11 lunch special, incl wine. At the height of all that &quot;oh, gosh, Britain's so expensive&quot; nonsense a year ago, I ate a nominally identical supper there and in some Manhattan dump two days apart.

The Manhattan meal was scarcely fit to be fed to a dog. It cost precisely twice what the - well, by our standards, OK, but by New York standards, stellar - Loch Fyne meal cost.

yk

The Loch Fyne &pound;11 lunch deal looks great. I might just do that. Thanks.

Texastrips

A really lovely and very relaxing &quot;Oxford&quot; outing - that would help you catch your breath - is to stroll along the river in Christchurch meadows.

bpitzer20

I concur with including a walk along the Christ Church Meadow, if the weather is cooperating. You can enter it after leaving Christ Church College and there is a loop you can take to then walk along the River Thames (Isis in Oxford) and along the River Cherwell that comes along the side of the Botanical Garden and back into Oxford proper. Really lovely.

Have a great time!

Here are some (well, lots of) pictures of our day in Oxford
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpitzer...7605206317465/