Oxford or Bath?

You question is a good example of why opinion questions are hard to answer. When I saw your "Oxford or Bath" question, I immediately knew I was going to answer "Bath". But then you added the Lewis/Tolkien fans part and that changed everything. (I am more of a Jane Austen fan). I am changing my vote to Oxford, partly because you said you were a Lewis/Tolkien fan and partly because I think a day trip to Bath would be long and tiring with too much time spent traveling. I think it will be easier to get to Oxford, you will have more time there, and you will have plenty to do and see. We loved the walking tour that we booked through the visitor's center. We had hoped to get on a tour of the "author's sites", but they only were doing those once a week in September and did not work out for us. There were some private tour companies operating in the area. (they are those supposedly "free" tours. If you have a choice, do the visitor's center tours. We saw those others operating around town and they usually had 3 times as many people on them. The Visitor's center tours limit the amount of people who can go on them. Be sure you do a lot of research on what Lewis/Tolkien sites there are to see and where they are before you go.

Nothing wrong with Bath, but I'd vote for Oxford based on proximity, therefore should be more time there. Plus your Lewis/Tolkien interest. I take it that this would be a tour from London?

That said, Windsor + Stonehenge + anywhere else seems like an awful lot for one day!

I can't advise you where to go, as I've never been to Oxford and I'm sure it's lovely. But I did take an amazing day trip to Bath, so thought I'd tell you about it and maybe... that will help with your decision.

My day trip began on a lovely bus that took my daughter and I to Stonehenge first. Our trip included a "bonus" that let us be there at sunrise and walk around among the stones. Most Stonehenge tours only allow you to stand behind a little fence about 20 feet away from the stones and you can only circle the outer perimeter. Instead, we were a small group and we had lots of time to wander around the stones, takes tons of pictures and ask any questions we wanted of the guide. It was worth the extra money to walk among the stones- after all, how many times will you visit Stonehenge?! After time shopping in the gift shop we were then driven to the town of Lacock. This little town was featured in Pride and Prejudice, the Harry Potter movies, etc. They took us to the George Inn, a tiny little tavern dating back to the dawn of man (okay, the 1500's) where we were served a traditional English breakfast, while looking at the old dog wheel. We had to wonder about and feel for the poor pooches who had to be shut in to run for hours at a time to turn the spit over the fire and roast the meat. Hopefully they got some juicy bones out of the deal! Out back was a lovely courtyard and a stock where we had to be shut in and pose for pictures! After breakfast, we toured this perfectly preserved ancient and charming town. Wonderful! Finally, we got to the town of Bath. We had a brief tour and were then taken to the Roman Baths to visit the museum and enjoy the bath house and the healing waters of Bath (which taste awful, but you have to try!). We were given free time in the town and my daughter and I found a quaint little restaurant where we enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate and scones with clotted cream. It was a long, exhausting day, but worth every penny we paid for an amazingly fun and interesting day!

Which ever place you choose will be a great time. Have fun!

Did you mean three destinations in one day, or one day for each? Regarding proximity of travel by train, direct trains leave from Paddington station to either city about every half hour and take 1 hour to Oxford or 1.5 hours to Bath (each way).

You may want to avoid visiting Oxford during any of their exam periods, which they have periodically, you can get the dates online. During these exam periods, many of the things you'd want to see, that are related to the colleges, are off limits to visitors.

Are you looking at Evan Evan Tours? I've done 3 bus daytrips w/them (and one by train to Paris). The first was the best: Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge. Those are must-sees, IMHO. The next was good (Leeds Castle / Canterbury / Dover), and the last was ok (Wawrick Castle / Stratford (Shakespeare) / Oxford). Maybe you would love Oxford enough to do a tour with it, not Bath, but Bath is a very impressively beautiful city of great history. Enjoy!