Recommendations
Where to Eat and What to See
This is what we would do with a free afternoon here. It is a small city: almost everything below is a walk from the centre, and the walks that leave town start at the end of a street rather than a bus ride.
A few things do need arranging in advance — Bodleian Library tours, a punt at the weekend, and a table at the Perch — so those are worth looking at before you travel.
Brunch and Coffee
Jericho Cafe Valentina’s favourite
Brunch, homemade cakes and proper dishes from early till late, in the heart of Jericho.
The Handle Bar Julian’s favourite No bookings
Tucked away upstairs above Oxford’s oldest bike shop, with a small terrace in summer. Small and busy, so they take no bookings at all — expect a short wait.
Najar’s Place Cash only No seating
Excellent falafel, halloumi and vegetarian wraps from a tiny counter. Our advice: take them up to the University Parks and have a picnic.
Around sixty independent traders under one roof. Good for grazing: a bakery, a cheese shop, Oxford’s oldest coffee and tea merchant, a milkshake bar and a handful of lunch counters.
Dinner, Casual
The Perch Book ahead Card only
A thatched pub in Binsey, thirty minutes on foot from the centre across Port Meadow — the walk is half the reason to go. The garden Shed Bar does burgers at weekends alongside the full pub menu.
The Medley No bookings Seasonal
Wood-fired pizza, pints and cocktails in a field on the Thames. Our favourite summer evening in Oxford. Expect a wait for seating.
Thai cooking in a timbered seventeenth-century hall, reached down a Tudor alleyway off the High Street. There is a full vegetarian and vegan menu, and everything is cooked to order.
A neighbourhood pub in Jericho doing wood-fired pizza and a good range of beer.
Danish-Japanese sushi and grilled yakitori sticks on the Westgate rooftop, looking out over the spires.
The smaller, more relaxed sibling of the Bombay-inspired chain: breakfast, bar snacks, curries and plates to share.
Tse Noodle Cash only No bookings
Sichuan noodles and dumplings, entirely without frills, and a few outside tables.
The Chester Arms Book ahead
A local pub a little east of the centre, and in our opinion the best steak in Oxford.
The famous “hidden” pub: a warren of small rooms down a narrow lane, with courtyard gardens set against the old city wall. The food is simpler than the rest of this list, but it is a lovely place to have a drink.
Dinner, Upscale
Modern British brasserie in the centre. Serves champagne, oysters and lobster, and there is a cocktail bar.
French cooking and a serious wine list, run by a husband-and-wife pair in Summertown. Worth the twenty-minute walk north.
The dining room in the Old Parsonage Hotel, hung with portraits of Oxford writers, plus a walled terrace for warm evenings.
Modern English cooking on the riverbank in North Oxford, with the punts moored below and a river terrace for drinks.
Drinks and Afternoon Tea
Rare bottles, carefully made cocktails and a small absinthe bar, with a 1930s New York feel.
Afternoon tea at the Parsonage Grill
Scones with clotted cream, finger sandwiches and small cakes, taken either on the walled terrace or beside the fire.
Punting and Walks
Punting on the Cherwell Book ahead
Punting means pushing a flat-bottomed boat along with a long pole, from Magdalen Bridge up the River Cherwell past the Botanic Garden. It is harder than it looks!
Punts at the Cherwell Boathouse
The quieter alternative, further up the same river in North Oxford.
The Thames Path, walking south
Forty minutes along the towpath brings you to the Isis Farmhouse, a pub by Iffley Lock that can only be reached on foot, by bike or by boat.
The Thames Path, walking north
Out through Port Meadow: open grazing land, horses, and the spires behind you. Set your route to end at the Perch, or carry on to the Trout at Wolvercote for dinner.
Wytham Woods Permit needed
University-owned woodland above the river, with more than thirty kilometres of paths. A detour off the walk north, and one of the most studied patches of woodland in the world.
Christ Church Meadow
Right in the centre, between the colleges and the river, with some of the best views back at Oxford. Ten minutes from the Ashmolean if you only have an hour to spare.
Port Meadow and Burgess Field
Ancient common land just north-west of the centre, never ploughed, and flat enough that the whole city sits on the horizon.
Museums and Historic Oxford
Tour of the Bodleian Library Book ahead
A guided tour is the only way for the public to get inside the historic reading rooms. Four options, all starting from the Divinity School:
Pitt Rivers Museum Free
The University’s archaeological and anthropological collections — which is to say, more or less everything anyone has brought back to Oxford over a few hundred years, packed floor-to-ceiling in glass cases. Overwhelming in the best way.
Britain’s oldest botanic garden, founded in 1621: walled, compact and sitting on the Cherwell next to Magdalen.
Churchill’s birthplace, and a baroque palace set in Capability Brown parkland. The easiest day trip out of Oxford.
The Weston Library Free
Exhibitions drawn from the Bodleian’s collections, and a good cafe, with no ticket needed. A quiet half hour if a tour is sold out.
Shops and Markets
You can lose a day here. Take a coffee up to their cafe, find a corner, and go down to the cavernous Norrington Room in the basement. Across the street, Blackwell’s Sci-fi, Manga & Games has the fantasy, graphic novels and manga.
Objects of Use
Everyday tools and homewares chosen with obsessive care — brushes, pottery, knives, textiles — from Japan, Germany and Scandinavia. Dangerous for the wallet.
Beyond the food, a mix of local crafts, florists and small independents, with a few tourist shops among them.
Westgate
The modern shopping centre, if that is what you need, with a rooftop terrace of bars and restaurants on top of it.
On Our Weekend
Three things that happen to fall on the days you will be here.
Choral Evensong at Christ Church Free
A sung service of about forty-five minutes, open to anyone, with no religious affiliation expected. The college choirs are away for the summer vacation in August, so the cathedral is the place to hear one that weekend.
A month of previews from comedians working up new material before Edinburgh, in small rooms around town. It runs from 1 to 31 July, which makes the Friday of our weekend the closing night.
A pre-season friendly at the Kassam Stadium, kicking off at 12:00 on the Saturday.