Planning a Trip

Getting There

Trains from Paddington Station reach Oxford in 1 1/2 hours. Five trains run every hour. A cheap, same-day round-trip ticket costs £18 ($33); a round-trip ticket, valid for a month, is £20 ($38). For more information, call tel. 0845/748-4950 or visit www.networkrail.co.uk.

The National Express provides coach service from London's Victoria Station (tel. 0870/580-8080; www.nationalexpress.com) to the Oxford Bus Station (bus no. X90). Coaches usually depart about every 20 minutes during the day; the trip takes approximately 1 3/4 hours. A same-day round-trip ticket costs £15 ($29) for adults, £7.50 ($14) for children 3 to 15.

If you're driving, take the M40 west from London and just follow the signs. Traffic and parking are a disaster in Oxford. However, there are four large park-and-ride parking lots on the north, south, east, and west of the city's ring road, all well marked. Parking is 60p ($1.15) per car. From 9:30am on and all day Saturday, you pay £2 ($3.80) for a round-trip ticket for a bus ride into the city, which drops you off at St. Aldate's Cornmarket or Queen Street to see the city center. The buses run every 8 to 10 minutes in each direction. There is no service on Sunday. The parking lots are on the Woodstock road near the Peartree traffic circle, on the Botley road toward Farringdon, on the Abingdon road in the southeast, and on the A40 toward London.

Visitor Information

The Oxford Tourist Information Centre is at 15-16 Broad St. (tel. 01865/726871; www.oxfordcity.co.uk/info/visitors.html). The center sells a comprehensive range of maps, brochures, and souvenir items, as well as the famous Oxford University T-shirt. It provides hotel-booking services for £5 ($9.50). Guided walking tours leave from the center daily. Open Monday to Saturday 9:30am to 5pm and Sunday and bank holidays in summer 10am to 1pm and 1:30 to 3:30pm.

Getting Around

The Oxford Bus Company, 395 Cowley Rd. (tel. 01865/785400; www.oxfordbus.co.uk), has green Park-and-Ride buses that leave from four parking lots in the city using the north.south or east-west routes. A round-trip ticket costs £2 ($3.80). Their Airline buses are blue and travel to Heathrow and Gatwick. A one-way ticket from Oxford to Heathrow costs £17 ($32) for adults, £8.50 ($16) for children aged 5 to 15. A one-way ticket from Oxford to Gatwick costs £21 ($40) for adults, £11 ($20) for children aged 5 to 15. The company's red local buses cover 15 routes in all suburbs, with a day pass allowing unlimited travel for £3.30 ($6.25). Weekly and monthly passes are available.

The competition, Stagecoach, Unit 4, Horsepath, Cowley (tel. 01865/772250; www.stagecoachbus.com/oxfordshire), uses blue-and-cream minibuses and red-blue-and-orange coaches. City buses leave from Queen Street in Oxford's city center. Explorer passes cost £6 ($11). This ticket allows unlimited travel for a day in all Oxfordshire on Stagecoach buses. A 1-day ticket that allows unlimited travel within Oxford city (called Dayrider) costs £3.30 ($6.25).