My family is making a day trip to Oxford, mainly to see the Harry Potter sites. From what I gather online, the information from tour books only a few years ago may now be inaccurate. While there are many paid guided tours, it doesn't sound like any are allowed into the main areas used for filming Harry Potter: Bodleian Library's Divinity School (infirmary and restricted section), Christ Church (Dining Hall and Bodley Tower Staircase). I don't think either of these places allow tour groups anymore but they offer tickets self-guided audio tours. Can anyone confirm this? The tours seem to do a lot of the minor sites and Oxford in general, but I think my family may be better off just arranging tickets directly with Christ Church and the Divinity School. Thanks.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8959 posts
So are you talking about booking one of the private tours offered by the college? https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tours/groups You can do that, but depending on how many are in your family, it's an expensive way to go. That said, it's probably more of a sure thing than the individual tickets offered by the college. Those go fast on the days they are released and are hard to get.
Posted by
12 posts
The tour offerings at Oxford may differ based on time of year and what events are taking place at the University. I believe at Christchurch the Bodley Tower staircase is the same as the Hall Staircase and it is part of the regular guided tour: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/visit/guided-tours#:~:text=tours-,Guided%20tours
The Divinity School is still a part of the Bodleian Library tour: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tours/library-guided-tours and now in addition they offer just a quick peak of The Divinity School if you have no interest in Duke Humfrey's Library https://tickets.ox.ac.uk/webstore/shop/viewItems.aspx?cg=bodgroups&c=divinityschool
Posted by
OP
8 posts
To clarify, I was looking at the self-guided tours for Christ Church here:
https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/visit/daily-multimedia-tours
for about £20. This is the one someone mentioned goes on sale the Friday prior and sells fast.
For the Bodlein Library tour:
https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tours/library-guided-tours
for £10. These are guided and offered by the library, not outside tour guides from what I can tell.
This is the only guided tour I could find that does Christ Church but not Bodleian:
and it's £103. We like Harry Potter, but not that much.
It would be great if there was something guided that I could purchase beforehand that wasn't so expensive. I think we'll try to get the self guided tour ticket the Friday before we go and hope for the best.
If anyone has done a general/non Harry Potter tour of Oxford that they would recommend, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8959 posts
Yes, the college tours are definitely the best option, but I would strongly suggest getting online as soon as they are released as they go very quickly.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5518 posts
Footprint tours which offers mix and match locations tries hard to dissuade including Christ Church mainly from how busy it is but also because they can't add anything inside.