I’ll admit, my main reason for visiting Oxford was to see Harry Potter filming locations. Conveniently, many of these are located inside the colleges so you can tour the colleges and see Harry Potter attractions at the same time (plus wander around Oxford as you walk between colleges).

While you can visit Oxford on a group bus tour, many of them didn’t allow much time in Oxford so I decided to do it on my own via train. Here’s everything you need to know to do your own day trip to Oxford from London!

Must see in Oxford

Visit 1 – 3 of the colleges (especially the ones where Harry Potter was filmed!)
Oxford covered market
Viewpoint at University Church of St Mary the Virgin
Wander the streets and admire the architecture
Hertford Bridge (also called the Bridge of Sighs) – that iconic bridge over the road (can be found at New College Lane)

Things you could see in Oxford if you have more time

More colleges
Evansong Cathedral Choir (usually at 6pm so might not work on a day trip)
St Martins Tower / Carfax tower viewpoint
Join in on punting on river (although if you are visiting Cambridge as well as Oxford, I think Cambridge had better photo opportunities)
Oxford Castle & Prison
English pub lunch
Shopping e.g. Primark and Marks & Spencer

How to get to Oxford from London

I took a train departing Paddington at 8:33am, arriving at Reading station at 8:56am. The plan was to have 19 minutes to switch to a train departing at 9:15am, which would arrive in Oxford at 9:38am. However, it didn’t go quite according to plan…

Due to maintenance works, trains weren’t going all the way to Oxford and I had to get a rail replacement bus instead. I booked my train ticket via Omio 1 month in advance (cost €80.36) and there was no notice about this at the time of booking. I only found out once I was already on my journey, train announcements were made and everyone was booted off the train. Anyway, the extra 30 minutes or so that I lost waiting for the replacement bus plus the slower pace of a bus versus a train all up added to me arriving in Oxford around 10:30am. I was a bit rushed at the end of the day but still managed to see everything I wanted to see.

Example 1 day itinerary / schedule

8:30am – Depart London
9:30am – arrive in Oxford
10am – 10:30am – Viewpoint at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin
11am – 11:30am – Bodleian Library
11:30am – 12:30pm – Snack lunch at the Oxford Covered Market
1pm – 2:30pm – Christ Church College
3pm – 4pm – New College
4:30pm – 5pm – St Martins Tower / Carfax tower
Walk back to the train station
Train departing 5:30pm – 6pm (or in my case, the bus…)

Your itinerary will obviously depend what time you can book tickets for the various colleges, the above is the schedule I did that worked for my trip.

The opening times for the colleges vary a lot depending on the time of year, make sure you pre-book your tickets so you don’t miss out!

Remember that the sun sets very late in a European summer, but very early in a European winter, check the opening hours for things. You may want to do some of the viewpoints earlier in the day depending on what time of year you visit.

To take a copy of this map, click the star next to the title of the map which adds it to your Google account. Within your Google Maps app, select ‘saved’ and then select ‘maps’.

Which colleges should you visit?

There are dozens of colleges at Oxford! This website had a good summary of the opening hours for individual colleges https://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors/visiting-oxford/visiting-the-colleges

But these are the Oxford colleges I recommend visiting:

Christ Church

15 min walk from Oxford Train Station
Entry Location: St Aldate’s (OX1 1DP)
Open: Mon-Sun. To visit Christ Church please book a timed ticket online via the Christ Church website. Tickets are released on a weekly basis at Friday 9am for the following week
Tours are not held on a daily basis
https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/plan-your-visit/tickets
I did a self-guided tour (they give you an audio guide), or you can join a guided tour
Entree fee: Adults: £16 online £18 at the door
Estimated visit = 1 – 1.5 hours

The main things to see at Christ Church College are the dining hall, and the staircase from the Harry Potter movies

New College

Entry Location: New College Lane (OX1 3BN)
Open: Easter to October 14:00-16:00; Oct-Easter 13:30-16:30
Summer opening hours (from 13th March 2023) – 10.30 am-5.00 pm (7 days a week) – please note that last entry is 4.30 pm.
Winter opening hours (up to and including 12th March 2023) – 1.30-4.30 pm, Tuesday to Sunday (closed Monday) – please note that last entry is 4.00 pm.
Entry Fee – Adults £8
Payment is accepted by card only. No cash, vouchers, or cheques accepted
Cannot pre-book online
Check online for planned closures: https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/planned-closures
Estimated visit = 30 – 45min

The main things to see at New College are the courtyard and cloisters which give Harry Potter vibes

Bodleian Library

Enter via: the Divinity School Entrance
Entry Fee – Adults £10 for 30 min tour, £15 for 60 min tour
- Add £1 Booking fee to the above prices
- 30 min tour visits the Divinity School and Duke Humfrey’s Library
- https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tours/library-guided-tours
Must pre-book a tour, tour runs daily
I booked the 3 – 3:30pm – 30 min tour (the 60 min tour that day was sold out)

The main things to see at the Bodleian Library are Duke Humfrey’s Library and The Divinity School from the Harry Potter movies

Don’t forget to look up at the ceiling!

If I’d had time, I would have visited Jesus College and Corpus Christi College.

Other colleges that popped up in my research

Keble College
Magdalen College – has deer park
Exeter College
Trinity College

What are the best viewpoints?

If you’ve Google Oxford while doing your trip planning, you’ve probably see this iconic photo. It’s a view of All Souls College taken from the paid viewpoint at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (church across from the Radcliffe Camera).

Church
- Mon-Sat: 9am – 5pm (July-Aug to 6pm)
- Sun: 12 – 5pm (July-Aug to 6pm)
- Free entry
Tower
- Mon-Sat: 9:30am – 5pm (July-Aug to 6pm)
- Sun: 11:30 – 5pm (July-Aug to 6pm)
- Tower = £4
- 127 steps
- No need to pre-book

Head up to the top of University Church of St Mary the Virgin for a view of the Radcliffe Camera, All Souls College and the surrounding streets

Another viewpoint option is the St Martins Tower / Carfax tower

99 steps
£3 entry fee
Opening hours
- November – February: 10am – 3pm
- March: 10am – 4pm
- April – September: 10am – 5pm
- October: 10am – 4pm

Where are the Harry Potter filming locations?

Bodleian Library: Duke Humfrey’s Library (the restricted section of the Hogwarts library!)
Bodleian Library: The Divinity School
New College: Cloisters
New College: Courtyard
Christ Church: Bodley Tower Staircase
Christ Church: Cloisters
Christ Church: Dining Hall (inspiration for the movies)

Do you remember what they used this room for in the Harry Potter movies?

Where to eat?

I only eat snacks during the day when travelling, because it gets too expensive, time consuming and I’d gain so much weight if I ate two restaurant meals per day.

I had a snack from Ben’s Cookies (they’re a chain around the UK so keep your eyes peeled for them in other places like Covent Garden in London).

I also had a shake from moo-moos in the covered market hall – there must’ve been a hundred flavour options to choose from!

There were plenty more snacks I would’ve liked to try and I always like to hit up a bakery, but with my train arriving late I was a bit rushed!

Tips for Visiting Oxford

Decide which colleges you want to see well in advance, and book tickets as soon as they’re available (e.g. Christ Church College and the Bodleian Library). I booked my college tours 1 month in advance
The colleges are big, make sure you check where the entrance to the college is
Check the opening hours of the college, they vary throughout the year depending on the college semester’s. The opening hours above were for my visit in May
May was a great time to visit Oxford weather wise (sunshine, green grass, flowers in bloom etc.) but some of the colleges were closed so a visit in June might be better
You don’t need to visit every college, I was satisfied with visiting 3 of them
Oxford’s covered market has good snack food options
Study the locations of the colleges on Google Maps. There are a lot of colleges and some of them don’t have very good signage so make sure you have an idea of where you’re going before you get there, so you don’t waste any time potentially getting lost!

Can Oxford be combined with other attractions?

It depends if you have a car or want to join a bus tour.

Some other attractions near Oxford are:

DIY versus bus tour

I had the time, so I visited Oxford on my own using public transport, however there are many guided bus tours that include Oxford such as these (affiliate links):

I enjoyed my day to myself and I wouldn’t have been able to see as many things if I was on a bus tour (some of them don’t give you enough time to visit a college, and many guided tours rarely tell you what time you can book attractions if you want to explore them independently). If you don’t want to visit a college, then a guided bus tour combined with other attractions is probably fine, especially if it’s your first visit to London or you’re pressed for time.

I felt that the cost of the train ticket was very expensive (€80.36), especially with the maintenance disruption and having to take a bus for part of the way. I recommend booking farther than 1 month in advance to save money. Omio often send 10% off coupons to entice you back to book as well, so keep an eye out for those coupons if you’re planning a trip! You can also save money if you travel during off peak times.

Do I recommend visiting Oxford?

Yes. I liked it better than Cambridge (I’ll be doing a separate blog post on my day trip to Cambridge). I would’ve liked it better if I had been able to change the dates of my visit to coincide with when more colleges were open.