A Day Trip to Oxford from London
If you are in London and you want to explore more, you may decide to visit Oxford for a day trip. I love this place, it is less busy than London and as it is much smaller city it is really cosy.
My favourite highlights are:
– Christ Church University & Harry Potter Dinning Hall
– Oxford University Museum of Natural History
– History of Science Museum
– Cozy Oxford Old Town full of small cafes, bars and restaurants.
Check my vlog to explore Oxford with me:
How To Get to Oxford From London?
You can travel by coach, train or car.
The cheapest option is a coach as the prices starts from around £12 one way or £24 return per person, even less if you book your ticket well in advance. The cheapest I have ever got was MegaBus, I think it was £1.50 one way. The journey is about 1 hour 40 minutes and I prefer to take a coach from Victoria Coach Station to Oxford Station rather than to use small stops in the city. I recommend you to check tickets on the 3 major coach website to find the cheapest one:Â
https://www.nationalexpress.com/
If you decide to travel by a train, you need to check the tickets in advance as prices may vary between £5 to £50+ one way: https://www.thetrainline.com/
Christ Church Oxford University & The Great Hall
Christ Church College Dining Hall: This dining hall is the largest and grandest in Oxford, and one of the most iconic in the world. It was built in the 16th century and features a magnificent hammer-beam ceiling, a portrait gallery of famous alumni, and a collection of silverware and paintings.
Was Harry Potter filmed at Christ Church Oxford?
Yes, many scenes from the Harry Potter films were filmed at Christ Church College in Oxford, including the famous staircase and the cloisters.
Filming locations
Bodley Tower Staircase – A grand stone staircase that was used for many scenes, including Harry’s first day at Hogwarts.
Christ Church Cloisters – Used for scenes in the Hogwarts hallways, including when Hermione shows Harry and Ron that his father was a Gryffindor Quidditch player.
Other Harry Potter filming details:
The Tudor Great Dining Hall at Christ Church inspired the design of the Hogwarts Dining Hall in the Warner Bros. studios The filmmakers used photos of the dining hall to create their own version
Book tickets online: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/visit/daily-multimedia-tours
Regular closures
Mondays to Fridays 12pm–2pm and Saturdays 10.30am–2pm. The Great Hall will be closed while our students have their lunch/brunch.
Saturdays: the Cathedral closes at 4.45pm for choir practice. Last entry 4.15pm
Sundays: the Great Hall opens at 2pm
I highly recommend to check for any planned closures before you plan the trip and buy your coach tickets: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/visit/known-closures
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Founded in 1860 as the centre for scientific study at the University of Oxford, the Museum of Natural History holds the University’s internationally significant collections of geological and zoological specimens. Housed in a stunning example of neo-Gothic architecture, the museum’s growing collections underpin a broad programme of natural environment research, teaching and public engagement. Among its most famous features are the Oxfordshire dinosaurs, the only soft tissue remains of a dodo, and the swifts in the tower.
The museum building was designed with the Pre-Raphaelite precept of ‘truth to nature’, and has long been an intersection for interdisciplinary learning. Famously, the first public event hosted at the museum was the Great Debate on evolution between Bishop Wilberforce and T. H. Huxley following the publication of Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’.
The museum was a Finalist in the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year in 2015 and was awarded Best of the Best at the Museums + Heritage Awards in 2016.
For more info and to plan your visit check Oxford University Museum of Natural History website: https://www.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/
Things to see & do in Oxford
You may consider to visit:
– Oxford from the Carfax Tower – 360 views of Oxford Old Town
– Oxford Castle and Prison
– The Headington Shark – Oxford’s most peculiar piece of public art, this 26-foot shark appears to have crashed through the roof of an otherwise unremarkable terraced house in the suburb of Headington.
– The Pitt Rivers Museum – The museum was founded in 1884, when General Augustus Pitt Rivers gifted his personal anthropological collection to the university, and it now holds more than half a million items.
– The Bridge of Sighs
– The Duke Humfrey’s Library – as featured in the Harry Potter films
– Oxford Covered Market
– Punting on the river