enjoyinglife

Hello!

Has anyone taken the Oxford Tube? I was told it's the cheapest way to Oxford from London. I am staying near the Tower Hill tube station. Can anyone tell me what the closest Oxford tube station is to there and which station should I go to to see Oxford University?

texasbookworm

Oxford Tube and Oxford Espress are both coaches that run from several stops in London; if you look at their websites you can see stops, prices, and times. They generally run about the same time and charge the same; just pick a time and go to one of the stops and take the first one that comes along.

There is no one Oxford University--it has Colleges spread all over the city. Oxford is a very walkable town; just take the coach and get off at the station in the middle of town and go from there.

Check out Oxford's walking tours http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk/info/tours.html
We took the Inspector Morse tour--any of these would be a great way to see parts of the city.

Magdalen College (C. S. Lewis's) is my favorite; it's beautiful.

Check admission times of different colleges directly on their websites as they vary in accessibility.

janisj

In case it isn't clear -- the Oxford Tube and Espress are coach (bus) services - not trains. The Oxford Tube isn't the same as the Underground/London Tube and doesn't have 'stations', it has bus stops. The Espress does start from Victoria Coach station.

From Tower Hill the easiest would be Circle/District line to Victoria and walk to either the Oxford Tube bus stop, or to Victoria coach station for the Espress.

http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=28
http://www.oxfordtube.com/londontube.php

Both services drop you in the center of Oxford.

flanneruk

Buses aren't necessarily the cheapest way of getting to Oxford. Advance booking on most trains, especially at weekends (check at www.nationalrail.co.uk), costs about the same as the walk-up fares on either of the bus companies. From Tower Hill,Paddington (for the train) and Baker St (for the Gloucester Place stop for the Oxford Espress) are about as accessible as each other: the Oxford Tube's slightly trickier to get to.

Colleges differ widely in their access policy for visitors. Some rarely visited ones - such as Worcester and All Souls - are every bit as spectacular as the tourist-ridden and often pricey Christ Church, Magdalen and New College, but are free. Full list of visitor policies at http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends...ges/index.html.

Full list with locations and foundation date (for most visitors, only those founded before 1720 or so are worth visiting) at http://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/college..._az/index.html

bilboburgler

Another vote with flanner (must be losing it) but Worcester is well worth a visit and often overlooked, I also like University College but you will find the porters hard to get by.