Discover Oxford
The university city that is also a real one: honey-stone colleges, a working covered market, and rivers on three sides
Town and gown on the Thames
Oxford grew up around a ford for oxen where the Thames and Cherwell meet, and the university grew up inside the town from the late 1000s onward, which is why there is no campus, just thirty-nine colleges threaded through ordinary streets. The tension between town and gown is real and centuries old, and it gives the city its character: a working county town of markets, breweries and later car factories, wrapped around some of the most famous academic buildings in the world.
For a visitor the practical consequence is choice. On one side, the Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe Camera, Christ Church and Magdalen's Great Tower. On the other, the Covered Market's traders under a Georgian roof, the pubs on Bath Place and Alfred Street, Cowley Road's restaurants, and Port Meadow, where cattle and horses still graze common land between Jericho and Wolvercote and the Thames Path runs out to the ruins of Godstow Abbey.
What's On
Upcoming events and things happening in Oxford
St Giles' Fair
RecurringTwo days in early September when funfair rides fill the length of St Giles, a tradition dating to 1625. In 2026: Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 September.
Oxford Christmas Market
RecurringWooden chalets, food and a bar on pedestrianised Broad Street, 21 November to 31 December 2026, with the Sheldonian and Blackwell's as backdrop.
Oxford Literary Festival
RecurringAuthor talks and debates in the Sheldonian, the Bodleian and the colleges. Next edition confirmed for 13-21 March 2027.
May Morning
RecurringAt 6am on 1 May the Magdalen College Choir sings from the Great Tower to a packed bridge below, then the city celebrates. Next: 1 May 2027.
Oxford Right Now
Oxford's weather is classic inland southern England: changeable, rarely extreme, wet enough that a rain layer belongs in the bag in any month. The good news is that the free museums, the Bodleian's rooms and the Covered Market make a wet day here easy to spend well. In winter, check conditions before planning a Port Meadow or Thames Path walk, since the meadow floods after sustained rain.
🚆 National Rail from Oxford
Live departures
National Rail service from Oxford. Updates every few minutes.
Where To Eat
From fine dining seafood to fish and chips by the harbour
Quod Restaurant & Bar
The Old Bank's all-day brasserie on the High Street: European classics, an onyx bar and a garden terrace, two minutes from Radcliffe Square.
Restaurant
Gees Restaurant & Bar
Gees Restaurant & Bar
Seasonal Modern British cooking in a listed Victorian glasshouse on Banbury Road; the prettiest dining room in Oxford.
Turf Tavern
The famous hidden pub under the old city wall, dated to 1381, found down an alley off New College Lane. No bookings May to September.