London to Oxford

By train, but where in London are you coming from? You can depart Paddington or Marylebone. Time depends on the train route, but 1hr approx from Paddington, longer from Marylebone.

Price depends on when you're traveling and ticket type (ie peak/offpeak, whether you want an anytime ticket etc), which you haven't told us.

The station is a short walk into the centre.

On the other hand the 'Oxford Tube' bus terminates in the City Centre at Gloucester Green Bus Station, is cheaper and with fixed fares (£15 single, £22.50 return) and runs 24/7 up to every 12 minutes in the peak- https://www.oxfordtube.com/

Whereas the train depends on time of day with cheaper fares being dynamically priced.

The longer journey time of around 2 hours each way is largely due to London traffic before getting to the Westway A4/M4- https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/Oxford_Timetables/Oxford_Tube_current.pdf

And, of course, no standing, which you may sometimes get on the train.

Depending where you are staying Victoria may also be more convenient.

So "best" is subjective, not an absolute. But the bus is very popular, hence the size of bus used and the frequency, indicating that many people are willing to trade off frequency and cost against travel time.

it comes down to where in London you are starting from, and where and when you are going in Oxford

At times we have chosen to take a bus for the purpose of adding views of streetscape and landscape to our travel experiences. Anticipated daylight and weather conditions also impact our travel mode decisions. We take into account the slow pace of London traffic for the impact on time, but also for being able to glimpse how/where people live and work. When possible we sit at the front of the bus. Often we choose one outward bound travel mode and switch to another on the return. For us these considerations add seasonings to our travel experiences.

Thanks to all. We will be traveling one way without returning to London and will each have a carry on suitcase and daypack

it comes down to where in London you are starting from, and where and when you are going in Oxford

It’s been several years since we went from London to Oxford, but I know that we took a bus from Heathrow that dropped us off in the middle of Oxford. I recall that this was superior to the train which drops you off a bit out of the downtown area. The bus service was frequent and the bus was quite comfortable. Made for a nice long weekend from the USA. The right answer may well be different if departing from downtown.

Thanks Dan. We will look into that