Oxford’s extensive college system (totaling 39 official Colleges of the University) means that there are plenty of beautiful grounds to stroll year-round. The following is a selection of the most popular colleges. For information on others, check one of the many guides found at the TIC.
All Souls College. The most prestigious of the colleges, All Souls does not even consider high school applicants. Only Oxford’s best and brightest students receive an invitation-only admission offer. Candidates who survive the entrance exams are invited to a dinner, where the dons confirm that they are “well-born, well-bred, and only moderately learned.” It was named for all the souls who perished in the English Civil War. All Souls is also reported to have the most heavenly wine cellar in the city. The Great Quad may be Oxford’s most serene, as hardly a living soul passes over it. (Corner of High St. and Catte St. ☎01865 279 379; www.all-souls.ox.ac.uk. Open Sept.-July M-F 2-4pm. Free.)
Balliol College. When Lord John de Balliol insulted the Bishop of Durham, he was assigned two penances: a public whipping at Durham Cathedral and an act of charity. For charity, he bought a small house outside the Oxford city walls and gave scholars a few pence a week to study there. This community officially became Balliol College in 1266. Students at Balliol preserve tradition by hurling abuse over the wall at their Trinity College rivals. Matthew Arnold, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Aldous Huxley, and Adam Smith were all sons of Balliol’s mismatched spires. The interior gates of the college supposedly bear lingering scorch marks from the executions of 16th-century Protestants, and a mulberry tree planted by Elizabeth I still shades slumbering students. The beautiful Garden Quad is full of picnickers on pleasant days. (Broad St. ☎01865 277 777; www.balliol.ox.ac.uk. Open daily 2-5pm. £1, students £0.50.)
Magdalen College. With extensive grounds and flower-laced quads, Magdalen (MAUD-lin) is considered Oxford’s handsomest college. It has a deer park flanked by the River Cherwell and Addison’s Walk, a circular path that touches the river’s opposite bank. The college’s most famous alumnus is wit and playwright Oscar Wilde. Its choir is one of three at the university that still uses young boys to sing the high notes, a relic from the era when women were not allowed; they attend the Magdalen College School across the bridge. (On High St., near the Cherwell. ☎01865 276 000; www.magd.ox.ac.uk. Open daily July-Sept. noon-6pm; Oct.-Mar. 1pm-dusk; Apr.--June 1-6pm. £4, concessions £3.)
Merton College. Merton’s library houses the first printed Welsh Bible. Tolkien lectured here, inventing the Elven language in his spare time. The college’s 14th-century Mob Quad is Oxford’s oldest and least impressive, but nearby Saint Alban’s Quad has grimacing gargoyles with drainpipes running out of their mouths. (Merton St. ☎01865 276 310; www.merton.ox.ac.uk. Open M-F 2-4pm, Sa-Su 10am-4pm. Free. Library tours £2.)
New College. This is the self-proclaimed first real college of Oxford. It was here, in 1379, that William of Wykeham dreamed up an institution that would offer a comprehensive undergraduate education under one roof. The bell tower has gargoyles of the seven deadly sins on one side and the seven heavenly virtues on the other—all equally grotesque. (New College Ln. gate in summer, Holywell St. Gate in winter. ☎01865 279 555. Open daily from Easter to mid-Oct. 11am-5pm; from Nov. to Easter 2-4pm. £2, concessions £1.)
Queen’S College. Although the college dates back to 1341, Queen’s was rebuilt by Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor in the 17th and 18th centuries in the distinctive Queen Anne style. A trumpet call summons students to dinner, where a boar’s head graces the table at Christmas. That tradition supposedly commemorates a student who, attacked by a boar on the outskirts of Oxford, choked the beast to death with a volume of Aristotle—probably the nerdiest slaughter ever. (High St. ☎01865 279 120; www.queens.ox.ac.uk. Open to Blue-Badge tours only.)
Trinity College. Founded in 1555, Trinity has a Baroque chapel with a lime-wood altarpiece, cedar latticework, and cherub-spotted pediments. The college’s series of eccentric presidents includes Ralph Kettell, who would come to dinner with a pair of scissors to chop anyone’s hair that he deemed too long. The four statues on top of the chapel tower represent Geometry, Astronomy, Theology, and Medicine. The chapel’s interior is notable for its intricate wood carvings by Grinling Gibbons. (Broad St. ☎01865 279 900; www.trinity.ox.ac.uk. Open daily 10am-noon and 2-4pm. £1.50, concessions £0.80.)
University College. Built in 1249, this soot-blackened college vies with Merton for the title of oldest, claiming Alfred the Great as its founder. Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled for writing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism but was later immortalized in a monument, on the right as you enter. Bill Clinton spent his Rhodes days here. (High St. ☎01865 276 602; www.univ.ox.ac.uk. Entries for individuals at the discretion of the lodge porter.)
Ashmolean Museum. The grand Ashmolean—Britain’s finest collection of arts and antiquities outside London and the country’s oldest public museum—opened in 1683. The museum is undergoing extensive renovations until November 2009. (Beaumont St. ☎01865 278 000. Open Tu-Sa 10am-5pm, Su noon-5pm. Free. Tours £2.)
Bodleian Library. Oxford’s principal reading and research library has over five million books and 50,000 manuscripts. It receives a copy of every book printed in Great Britain. Though he was not the original founder, Sir Thomas Bodley revived the library after 95% of the books were burned during the English Reformation. Downstairs in the Divinity School, aspiring clergy took lengthy oral exams called “disputations” where the discussed such weighty questions as “How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?” The institution has since grown to fill the immense Old Library complex, the Radcliffe Camera next door, and two newer buildings on Broad St. Admission to the reading rooms is by ticket only. Each case is assessed individually by the Admissions Officer: check the library’s website for details. No one has ever been permitted to take out a book, not even Cromwell. Well, especially not Cromwell. (Enter on Catte St. opposite Hertford College. ☎01865 277 000; www.bodley.ox.ac.uk. Library open in summer M-F 9am-4:45pm, Sa 9am4:30pm; during term-time M-F 9am-10pm, Sa 9am-1pm. Tours leave the Divinity School in the main quad in summer M-Sa 10:30, 11:30am, 2, 3pm. Tours £6. Audio tour £2.50.)
Botanic Garden. Green things have flourished for three centuries in Oxford University’s botanical gardens, the oldest in the British Isles. The path connecting the garden to Christ Church Meadow provides a view of the Thames and the cricket grounds on the opposite bank. On pleasant days, students and tourists alike come to picnic, read, and doze off on the lawn. Highlights include the oldest tree in the garden (an English Yew planted during the English Civil War in 1645) and J.R.R. Tolkien’s favorite tree. (Between Rose Lane and the Madgalen Bridge; from Carfax, head down High St. ☎01865 286 690; www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk. Open daily May-Aug. 9am-6pm, last entry 5:15pm; Sept.-Oct. and Mar.-Apr. 9am-5pm, last entry 4:15pm; Nov.-Feb. 9am-4:30pm, last entry 4:15pm. Glass houses open daily 10am-4pm. Throwing stones in glass houses is not advised. £3, concessions £2.50, children free.)
Carfax Tower. The tower marks the center of the premodern city. A climb up its 99 (very narrow) stairs affords a superb view of the dreaming spires and surrounding countryside. The only remnant of medieval St. Martin’s Church, Carfax gets its name from the French Carrefour, referring to the intersection of the North, South, East, and West Gates. (Corner of Queen St. and Cornmarket St. ☎01865 792 653. Open daily Apr.-Sept. 10am-5:30pm; Oct. and Mar. 10am-4:30pm; Nov.-Feb. 10am-3:30pm. £2.10, children £1.)
Museum Of Oxford. With all the university’s grandeur and history, it’s easy to forget that the city of Oxford was there first. From hands-on exhibits to a murderer’s skeleton, the museum provides an in-depth look at Oxford’s rich history from Roman times to the present. Some highlights include an ancient Roman pottery kiln and a stone coat of arms for Merton College dating back to 1500. You can also see what dorm life was like for an upper-crust Oxford chap in the early 20th century. (St. Aldates. Enter at corner of St. Aldates and Blue Boar. ☎01865 252 761; www.museumoxford.org.uk. Open Tu-F 10am-5pm, Sa-Su noon-5pm. Last entry 30min. before close. Free.)
Oxford Castle Oxford’s newest attraction, the castle has been an Anglo-Saxon church, a Norman castle commissioned by William the Conqueror, a courthouse, and (until 1996) a prison. Now the complex houses restaurants, an open-air theater, and a luxury hotel (where you can stay in a converted prison cell). You can climb to the top of St. George’s Tower for a view of the city formerly enjoyed only by prison guards. Back downstairs, the dark church crypt is one of the most haunted places in Oxford. (Corner of Queen St. and Cornmarket St. ☎01865 792 653. Open daily Apr.-Sept. 10am-5:30pm; Oct. and Mar. 10am-4:30pm; Nov.-Feb. 10am-3:30pm. £2.10, children £1.)
Sheldonian Theatre. This Romanesque auditorium was designed by a teenage Christopher Wren. Graduation ceremonies, conducted in Latin, take place in the Sheldonian, as does everything from student recitals to world-class opera performances. The elaborate graduation ceremonies are so behind schedule that students often don’t get their degree until 6 months after they complete their final exams. The Red Violin and Quills, as well as numerous other movies, were filmed here. Climb up to the cupola for views of Oxford’s quads. The ivy-crowned stone heads on the fence behind the Sheldonian are a 20th-century “study in beards.” (Broad St. ☎01865 277 299. Open in summer M-Sa 10am-12:30pm and 2-4:30pm; in winter M-Sa 10am-12:30pm and 2-3:30pm. £2.50, concessions £1.50. Purchase tickets for shows from Oxford Playhouse at ☎01865 305 305. Box office open M-Sa 10am-6pm. Shows £15.)
Other Sights. Oxford’s oldest building, a Saxon tower built in 1040, stands as part of Saint Michael at the North Gate. Climb the steps for a brief history of the tower and the church as well as a bird’s-eye view of the city. (☎01865 240 940; www.smng.org.uk. Open daily Apr.-Oct. 10:30am-5pm; Nov.-Mar. 10:30am-4pm. £1.80, concessions £1.20, children 90p, families £5.) With 6 mi. of bookshelves, Blackwell is by far the largest bookshop in Oxford. (53 Broad St. ☎01865 792 792; www.bookshop.blackwell.co.uk. Open M-Sa 9am-6pm, Su 11am-5pm.)
Behind the University Museum of Natural History, the Pitt-Rivers Museum has an archaeological and anthropological collection, including shrunken heads and magical amulets. (Parks Rd. Natural History Museum ☎01865 272 950; www.oum.ox.ac.uk. Open daily 9am-5pm. Free. Pitt-Rivers Museum ☎01865 270 927; www.prm.ox.ac.uk. Closed for renovations until spring 2009. Open M noon-4:30pm, Tu-Su 10am-4:30pm. Free.) The Museum of the History of Science features clocks, astrolabes, and Einstein’s blackboard, preserved as he left it after an Oxford lecture in the 1930s. (Broad St. ☎01865 277 280; www.mhs.ox.ac.uk. Open Tu-F noon-5pm, Sa 10am-5pm, Su 2-5pm. Free. Tours £1.50.) The Modern Art Oxford hosts international and community shows. (30 Pembroke St. ☎01865 722 733; www.modernartoxford.org.uk. Open Tu-Sa 10am-5pm, Su noon-5pm. Free.)
Centuries of tradition give Oxford a solid music scene. Colleges offer concerts and evensong services; New College has an excellent boys’ choir, and performances at the Holywell Music Room, on Holywell St., are worth checking out. Theater groups stage plays in gardens or cloisters. Pick up This Month in Oxford, free at the TIC, or Daily Information, posted all over town and online (www.dailyinfo.co.uk), for event listings.
n Oxford, pubs far outnumber colleges—some even consider them the city’s prime attraction. They often hold as much history as the colleges themselves. Most open by noon, begin to fill around 5pm, and close around midnight (earlier on Sunday). Recent legislation has allowed pubs to stay open later, but there may be conditions, including an earlier door-closing time or a small cover charge. Be ready to pub crawl—many pubs are so small that a single band of celebrating students will squeeze out other patrons.
After hitting the pubs, head up Walton Street or down Cowley Road for clubs.
Blenheim Palace. The largest private home in England, Blenheim Palace (BLEN-em) was built in honor of the duke of Marlborough’s victory over Louis XIV at the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. The 11th duke of Marlborough now calls the palace home. His rent is a flag from the estate, payable each year to the Crown—not a bad deal for 187 furnished rooms. Archways and marble floors accentuate the artwork inside, including wall-size tapestries of 17th- and 18th-century battle scenes. Winston Churchill, a member of the Marlborough family, spent some years here before he was shipped off to boarding school (the palace still houses his baby clothes). He proposed to his wife here and now rests with her in a nearby churchyard. The vast grounds consist of 2100 acres, all designed by that most reliable of landscape architects, Lancelot “Capability” Brown. (In the town of Woodstock, 8 mi. north of Oxford. Stagecoach (☎01865 772 250) bus #20 runs to Blenheim Palace from Gloucester Green bus station (30-40min., every hr. 8am-5pm, round-trip £4.50). ☎01993 811 091 or 08700 602 080; www.blenheimpalace.com. House open daily from mid-Feb. to mid-Dec. 10:30am-5:30pm. Last entry 4:45pm. Grounds open daily 9am-5:30pm. Tours every 20min. £16.50, concessions £13.50, children £10, families £44. Grounds without house £9.50/7.30/4.80/24. Tours free.)
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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