We are spending 1 day in Oxford. Advice on walking tours. Any advice regarding best to take. We are looking at the Endeavor/Lewis/Morse tour that highlights sites from the long running shows. Will we see enough of Oxford or better to take a different one?
Posted by
Edmond, OK
197 posts
In July 2023 we had a very good 2-hour tour with https://www.oxfordofficialwalkingtours.org/
Don’t miss the bar in the Randolph Hotel. It has many photos from the Morse TV series.
Posted by
Buckinghamshire
127 posts
There's a lot to see in Oxford. The tour you mentioned will take you past the outside of several colleges and maybe into one or two. The best-known ones - notably Christ Church (of Harry Potter film fame) - charge to go in but not all do. It's worth trying to look at a few just to get a feel of the place.
The covered market is worth a browse and a tour of the Bodlean Library is very interesting but these get booked up and you can only see the really interesting bits on a guided tour. Lots of places to eat,but my favourite is the Turf Tavern - down a tiny alley way from New College Lane (easier to enter, but less fun, from Holywell St).
Posted by
Twin Cities, Minnesota
1948 posts
I love Morse, etc. and took that tour in 2022. I was very disappointed in it, but I think it might just have been that tour guide. Oxford is a great place to just walk around. The thing I did like about the tour was being able to enter a couple of the colleges-if only for a peek. On the plus side you do get to see alot of the central area on the walking tour.
Posted by
Buckinghamshire
127 posts
You can enter pretty much any college but some charge a fee. They might be closed for events etc but speaking to the porters about a mythical niece or nephew who is really interested in applying there may get you in if you agree to keep out of the way. If they don’t let you in, they will say so very politely.
Posted by
Buckinghamshire
127 posts
The following gives details of the opening times of all of the Oxford Colleges and their entry fees where applicable. The various (very high, in my view) charges for going around Christ Church are on their website but it seems to be a must for Harry Potter fans and does get booked up.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors/visiting-oxford/visiting-the-colleges
A number of the colleges have virtual tours on their websites, so you can pick which ones you'd like to visit before you get there.