Top things to do in Oxford in 2025: the ultimate day trip itinerary

What is it? A behind-the-scenes tour of the university’s colleges, quads and libraries, often led by those who know it best – its students and alumni.

Why go? Didn’t make the cut for the UK’s most prestigious university? Don’t worry, you can still see its hallowed halls, hushed quads and candle-lit chapels on this walking tour that explores its history, ceremonies and weird traditions as well as offering a personal account of what it’s like to study here.

🤫 Insider tip: Not a lot of people know that there are roe deer behind Christ Church college – and you can get right up close. –Ralph Jones

What is it? Britain’s oldest public museum, home to a collection that spans continents and cultures.

Why go? A redevelopment turned this magnificent, neo-classical but once-stuffy museum into a modern, light-filled space packed with treasures. Choose a theme and delve into the history of Chinese porcelain, medieval musical instruments or European art. You’ll find works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Pissarro and Turner here, along with Samurai armour, a Stradvari violin, Japanese netsuke and everything in between. Plus the restaurant has a cracking view. 

🤫 Insider tip: Getting hitched? The Ashmolean is actually one of the many ludicrously sophisticated wedding venues in Oxford. It’s never too early to get it booked in for 2030. –Ralph Jones

What is it? The UK’s oldest botanic garden and its 130 acres of woodland, which between them, house species from across the globe.

Why go? Established 400 years ago to grow plants for medicinal research, Oxford’s botanic gardens and giant glasshouses contain more than 6,000 types of plant including specimens used to treat cancer and heart complaints as well as carnivorous plants and tropical wonders.

Don’t miss: The Harcourt Arboretum, a ten-minute drive away, to see spring magnolias, rhododendrons and bluebells in full glory, or the autumnal glow of acers and redwoods.

👀 Our take: ‘If you’ve ever wanted to improve as a gardener, here’s the place to get some inspo. Sidle up to the staff and ask them to whisper a couple of trade secrets. No harm in trying?’ –Ralph Jones

What is it? A river trip past Oxford’s boathouses and meadows into bucolic English countryside. The same scenery, as it happens, that inspired ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Why go? Like its academic rival Cambridge, Oxford is encircled by pastoral scenery. You could strap on your walking boots, or you could kick back and relax on board a boat that plies the same river Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell once floated down while befriending white rabbits, red queens and sleepy dormice.

What is it? A three-day festival (August 23-25) of food and music, taking over Oxford’s iconic South Park.

Why go? In late August, when summer is packing away its things and nonchalantly leaving behind the best weather of the year, an extravaganza of goodness rolls into Oxford. The Foodies Festival is 72 hours of culinary bliss, featuring cooking tutorials, great food, chilli-eating competitions, and free samples galore. This year, Example, Blue and Scouting for Girls will be singing for their supper. It’s a no-brainer – easily one of the most enjoyable days out in the Oxford calendar. 

🤫 Insider tip: Because you can’t park on the beautiful green grass, look nearby for residents who have rentable spots available in their driveways – often cheaper and more convenient than the municipal ones in the area.

What is it? A massive country house with landscaped formal gardens and extensive parkland. It was the birthplace of Winston Churchill and is now home to the 12th Duke of Marlborough as well as regular festivals and events.

Why go? Escape the city and get a glimpse of how the other half lives in this baroque pile in the Oxfordshire countryside. Although strictly speaking, it’s not a palace, its size and splendour are such that it could easily be. Tour the ostentatious State Rooms, see where Churchill was born, walk the parklands, lose yourself in the yew maze, and check out Ai Weiwei’s monumental Gilded Cage.

🤫 Insider tip: Take the ‘Upstairs Tour’ for an exclusive peek at the private apartments of the Marlborough family and see where Charlie Chaplin, Bill Clinton and Sylvester Stallone once stayed.

What is it? A small-group tour of the spellbinding Oxford locations used in the shooting of the Harry Potter films. 

Why go? Know right where the sorting hat would put you? Run into the wall at King’s Cross station? Need to know more? Tour Oxford’s streets and colleges to see the inspiration behind Hogwarts’s great hall and Knockturn Alley and visit the real life Divinity School which was used as a backdrop for the Hogwarts infirmary and classroom scenes. Geek out with a Potter-mania quiz along the way and learn how life in Hogwarts compares to university life today.

What is it? Oxford’s world-famous museum of archaeology and ethnography where you can discover everything from reindeer knickers and mummified cats to blowpipes and Japanese libation sticks.

Why go? It takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the half light of the enormous tiered galleries of the Pitt Rivers Museum but once they do, you know you’ve arrived somewhere special. A vast and otherworldly collection of treasures from around the world packed into glass cases and dominated by a giant totem pole, it’s an armchair traveller’s delight and the place to find out about tribal rituals, ancient ceremonies and cultural beliefs across the globe.

Don’t miss: There’s so much to see here it’s hard to take it all in, but the body art and ornament section explores the history of beautification from head shaping and tooth sharpening to piercing and tattooing.

What is it? Oxford’s first (legal) distillery with a suitably quirky edge, a link to medieval farming and an eye on the future.

Why go? To sip the award-winning spirits of course – vodka, gin and rye whiskey made from heritage grains rescued from a medieval thatched roof and now farmed locally. Follow their journey from seed to still to bottle, hear about ancient methods of farming, see the handmade custom stills Nautilus and Nemo, and savour how it all comes together in silky-smooth spirits with distinctive flavours.

Don’t miss: The distillery’s garden bar sits at the highest point in hilly South Park. Come for a weekend drink and walk the park for views down over the city. 

What is it? A Sunday lunch at the Chester Arms, off the Iffley Road in the east of Oxford.

Why go? Less of a Sunday roast and more of a religious experience, the lunches here attract round-the-block queues full of salivating diners. This is because they are the finest roasts in the city – generous, overflowing plates full of all things meaty (and veggie) – served in a gem of a friendly pub that you’re unlikely to stumble across during an amble through the city. 

🍺 Discover more of the best pubs in the UK