Orientation

Carfax, at the crossroads of Oxford’s main shopping district, is the pulsing heart of the city. High Street, Saint Aldate’s, Cornmarket Street, and Queen Street are the busiest thoroughfares of this tourist-mobbed area—even pedestrian-only Cornmarket is constantly packed. Most of the university’s best-known colleges are located along High St. and the parallel roads to the north and south, with Christ Church around the corner on St Aldate’s. The bus station is in the eastern corner of Carfax, while the train station is a bit farther in the same direction, across the river.

If you walk north up Saint Giles (Cornmarket St. becomes Magdalen St., which then turns into St. Giles), then make a left onto Little Clarendon, you’ll reach Jericho. Home to the Oxford Canal, the Oxford University Press, and vibrant nightlife, this is Oxford’s up-and-coming bohemian neighborhood. The main Jericho drag, Walton Street, runs off of Little Clarendon. On the other side of the city center, across Magdalen Bridge, is the Cowley Road neighborhood, centered around the eponymous street and home to numerous ethnic eateries and local pubs, which offer a nice change of pace from blue-blooded, tourist-crammed Oxford.