The Smart Guide to Oxford: An essential guide to the City and University of Oxford that sticks to the best and leaves out the rest

By Johnny Oxford

Have you ever looked through a travel guide and thought, “how will I decide”? I bet you have. Most travel guides contain too much information: too many things to do, too many things to see, too many places to eat. And everything is awesome and unmissable. How do you decide?

Simple. You buy a guide that understands that you need advice, not a directory of a billion options. A guide that understands the verb “to guide”. A smart guide. This is that guide.

The Smart Guide to Oxford contains the best things to do in Oxford – the best Colleges to explore, the best scenic walks, the best museums to visit. Close to starvation and dying of thirst too? No problem. You’ll find Oxford’s best pubs, restaurants, fast food and coffee shops in these pages as well.

And it’s up to date – or at least it was when it was published in May 2014.

About the Author: Johnny Oxford has lived in Oxford for a long time, first as a student and then as a real person. His opinions have been forged on the anvil of experience and sharpened over the years on the whetstone of disappointment. The stuff in this guide is what he recommends to friends, family and Presidents of the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Johnny Oxford
• Release date: Jun 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311766557

Book preview

coverv1.jpg

The Smart Guide to Oxford

An essential guide to the City and University of Oxford that sticks to the best and leaves out the rest.

Johnny Oxford

The Smart Guide to Oxford

All text copyright © Johnny Oxford 2014.

Cover photo is printed with the kind permission of Dr Patrick Tomlin.

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the express permission of the author.

Get in touch!

Email: [e-mail]

Twitter: @SmartOxford

Oxford Map

Contents

Oxford Map

What This Guide Is and Is Not

Getting Around Oxford

What To Do

The University

What Is A College?

Visiting the Colleges

Big, Showy Colleges

Smaller, Spectacular Colleges

Other University Buildings

Museums

Retail

Essential Walks

Disaster Tourism Walk

Punting

Eating and Drinking

Pubs

Coffee Houses

Restaurants

Food on the Hoof

Getting to Oxford

Staying in Oxford

Stay in College

Hotels and Hostels

Author Q&A

What This Guide Is and Is Not

Have you ever looked through a travel guide and thought, how will I decide?

Me too. Most travel guides contain too much information: too many things to do, too many things to see, too many places to eat. And everything is awesome and unmissable. How do you decide?

Simple. You buy a guide that understands that you need advice, not a directory of a billion options. A guide that understands the verb to guide. A smart guide. This is that guide. Well done for buying it.

This guide is short. It contains the best things to see, do, eat and drink in Oxford. It is not comprehensive. There are things that I have omitted from this guide on purpose. They were omitted because they are either not as good as the things that are in this guide or because I can’t for the life of me work out why a visitor on a timetable would end up doing them. For example, Oxford has a selection of acceptable golf courses. They are not essential for the authentic Oxford experience I know you are seeking. Likewise fancy dress shops.

The guide also concentrates on a relatively small part of Oxford, a part which can be explored on foot and which contains 99%* of Oxford’s best buildings, scenery, restaurants and pubs. This is the Oxford you have come to see, the Oxford you imagine.

*Fact.

Yes, there are other bits to the city. The fact is, though, that you don’t want to marvel