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Oxford or Greenwich?

Posted by (Omaha, NE USA) on

My wife and I are going to Great Britain in June and we will be spending nine days. We have some wiggle room while we are in London to do a day trip and we have decided to pick between Oxford and Greenwich because of their close proximity to London and we don't want to spend the time to travel to and from Bath/Cambridge/Stratford etc.. This is our first trip to Great Britain.

What do you consider the pros and cons of each location and what would you recommend?

My wife and I are both biologists, and I also teach a lot of astronomy and other topics in science. My wife likes shopping/browsing/antiquing/crafting. I especially like history, but the rest of our time in London will be chocked full of the Tower, British Museum, etc.

I have the Rick Steves Great Britain guide, which does not have Oxford in it, so I'm going in a little blind on that one.

As I see it:

Oxford: Pros include atmosphere, old world buildings, punting on the Thames (which my wife would enjoy I think) and pubs. Con seems to be that, other than the University and its historical context, there don't really seem to be too many "attractions" in Oxford. My guess is that, without official attractions, Oxford may be a bit cheaper than seeing the major attractions in Greenwich?

Greenwich: Pros include two major "attractions", both of which I know I would enjoy, but I'm a little worried about my wife enjoying them. My wife and I both love Tea, so that angle may make the Cutty Sark attractive to her. I know that I will love the Royal Observatory, unless people think its more hype than learning/fun. It also seems that there are some open air markets/craft/swaps there? My wife would enjoy that and any little shopping. That gives the flexibility of giving her something to do that she would enjoy even if I choose to take in both attractions and she only does one. It also seems that taking a Thames Clipper to Greenwich with the commentary may be a fun thing as well. Cons: This may be a little repetitive for us because we were planning on seeing the Britannia while in Edinburgh and there will be no shortage of history at other locations.

What would you advise, friends? Thanks in advance for your responses.

Posted by
9110 posts

You only missed three points:

  1. There's plenty of shops down around the the Greenwich waterfront.

  2. The Observatory is twice as good as any amount of hype you could pile on it.

  3. Britannia is a distinct category - - there's no similarity except floating ability.

Going down the river on the boat wouldn't ring my bell. We did a shorter loop last year to keep the runts entertained and the commentary was stale. It probably took me a hundred trips to find out what I hadn't missed. Conversely, we also took them on a Duk ride and it was a hoot, stale commentary or not.

Posted by
376 posts

I think I'd choose Greenwich also. It was one of my husband's must-sees on our first trip, and though I'm not into ships or navigation I enjoyed both the Cutty Sark and the Observatory. (I am into history, so that may make a difference.) Perhaps your wife would enjoy the Fan Museum? www.thefanmuseum.org.uk. Haven't been there myself (our 2 teen-age boys were with us on the Greenwich trip), but it's on the list for another visit. Plus they serve afternoon tea a couple times a week. :-)

While I enjoyed Oxford, a big part of that was knowing a university student who was able to take us around his college, not something everyone can do. Punting can be iffy in June--that was when we were there and it was pouring rain, not unusual for June. (Ironically it was blazing hot when we were in Cambridge in July, so we didn't punt there either!)

Posted by
3592 posts

I would do Greenwich. In addition to the attractions already mentioned, Greenwich has the Royal Naval College, whose Georgian Chapel has an exquisite interior. The Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones, and the National Maritime Museum are also enjoyable sites to visit. If the weather permits, taking the boat, at least one way, is fun. On one of our forays there, we had lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern. While some might blow it off as touristy, we had a nice meal; and it is so-o-o historic.

Posted by
9110 posts

The Royal Naval College moved out to Watchfield right before the turn of the century and became part of the JSCSC. What remains are the buildings where it used to be.

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