Top Oxford Culture

Even before Harry Potter, Oxford was a magical city. Add even more magic to your day on this unique tour led by an actual magician who’s performed for the British royal family and A-list celebrities. As well as top sights and fascinating trivia, expect mesmerizing tricks and illusions, including a recreation of a famous spell from a Harry Potter movie. Book in advance as tours do sell out.

See more of the picturesque Cotswolds than you could on your own on this full-day trip from Moreton-in-Marsh or Stratford-upon-Avon. Showcasing the region's must-see villages that can be tricky to find on your own, this excursion visits Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Camden, and lesser-known sights that many Cotswolds tourists miss. You have ample free time to explore, along with commentary and tips for places to eat or see through the day.

Discover the Harry Potter movie locations of Oxford on this walking tour. Visit the famous Bodleian Library to see the hall used as Hogwarts’ Infirmary in many movies, and view other locations in one or two of Oxford’s oldest colleges. As you walk, enjoy a fun Harry Potter quiz, and learn about Oxford University and other famous children’s books written in the city. Entrance fees to the Bodleian and select colleges are included.

Follow in the footsteps of famous former residents like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis—and discover many of Oxford’s top landmarks in just a couple hours—on this introductory walking tour. Meet your group in central Oxford, and set off on foot. You’ll see key attractions like the Bodleian Library and Sheldonian Theatre, will explore the university area, and you will see many of the elegant colleges from the outside. Note: book an afternoon tour to tour inside the colleges (subject to availability).

Get an overview of the City of the Dreaming Spires on this guided, small-group walking tour. Pass by some of the key attractions around this historic university town, including Carfax Tower, Christ Church College, Queen’s College, The Bridge of Sighs, Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library and more. Learn about the city’s long and rich history from your guide.

Squeeze all of Oxford's most popular sights into one day with this small-group, full-day tour. Explore the oldest Colleges in Oxford with the knowledge of your Oxford student tour guide and step inside Oxford's largest College with its own deer park. Then, continue your tour with a trip back in time at England's most iconic library. Harry Potter fan? Upgrade your ticket to include access to Christ Church, the famed college.

Enjoy the iconic Oxford experience of punting on the River Cherwell without doing the hard work on this private tour led by an Oxford University student. Relax and take in views of key landmarks, colleges, and literary inspirations as you glide along the river with your student guide directing the punt.

Explore Oxford University’s famous regatta course on this Thames River sightseeing cruise. Hop aboard your sightseeing boat in the heart of Oxford and cruise out onto the famous waterway. Learn more about the city’s rich history from your guide, and discover local landmarks such as Folly Bridge, Christchurch College, the Oxford University boathouses and the Meadows.

Feel like you’ve gone back in time on this 1-hour tour of Oxford Castle. Led by a costumed guide who plays a real-life character from history, you’ll explore the Norman castle’s medieval remains, from the prison to the 900-year-old crypt. Climb up the steps to the top of St. George’s Tower, discover the Debtors’ Tower and the prison’s D-Wing, and make your way to the mound of the 11th-century motte-and-bailey castle.

Walk the halls of one of the world’s oldest and most famous universities on this walking tour of Oxford University. Get a glimpse of student life as you peek inside the famous Bodleian Library and see landmarks like the University Church of St. Mary, Radcliffe Camera, and Trinity College. Learn about the prestigious university’s famous alumni, hear fascinating stories and anecdotes about its history, and see on-campus locations used in the Harry Potter films.

The Cotswolds' prettiest villages are spread across narrow country lanes that coaches can't reach. This private tour puts in a luxury Mercedes-Benz handles the back roads with ease, delivering you to stops like Bourton-on-the-Water, Bibury, and Stow-on-the-Wold. Your itinerary is designed around your interests, with optional pauses at farm shops and village bakeries.

This tour will give you access to one of England’s most scenic regions—The Cotswolds. Convenient round-trip transport from Oxford is provided, and you’ll save hours researching Cotwolds highlights by having a curated itinerary of quaint village stop-offs on this tranquil tour. Highlights include Burford, Bourton-on-the-Water, and scenic Bibury.

As darkness falls, Oxford’s haunted history stirs to life! Journey through the oldest parts of the medieval city, uncovering its grim and gruesome past. Hear of murders and executions, phantoms and spirits, ancient libraries and unsolved mysteries—and the fascinating history behind them! From Martyrs Cross, where bishops burned in Bloody Mary’s reign, wander down shadowy streets to Dead Man's Walk, where a spectral soldier guards the city walls. Learn how Oxford’s brooding architecture has inspired storytellers like Tolkien, Lewis and Wilde, and hosted literary icons from Hamlet to Harry Potter. As you walk the moonlit passageways, your guide will share horrible histories and spectral stories from across the ages. They may even tell of their eerie experiences on Oxford's most haunted lane... if they're sure the poltergeist isn’t listening! Join us—and the ghosts of centuries past—for a tour of Oxford's macabre history, fantasy heritage and sinister tales to haunt your imagination…

All aboard the Hogwarts Express! From the gates of Trinity College, embark on an enchanting Harry Potter experience with your witch or wizard guide. Receive your wands, and be sorted into Hogwarts Houses, before a visit to Oxford's own Flourish & Blotts. Enter the Bodleian Library Divinity School, where Harry was visited by Dumbledore in The Philosopher’s Stone. Wander through the medieval corridors of New College (founded in 1379), following the footsteps of Hogwarts students in the films. See the oldest dining hall in Oxford, where students have been eating in gowns for almost 650 years. Stand under the tree where Draco Malfoy tried to curse Harry Potter—but ended up transfigured into a ferret! Gaze at the windows of the Restricted Section of Hogwarts, where real-life books were also chained to the shelves. Dance where Professor McGonagall taught Ron Weasley how to waltz in The Goblet of Fire. Test your knowledge in our Harry Potter quiz along the way!

Discover the filming locations of the Harry Potter movies on a 90-minute guided walking tour with an Oxford University alumni and a small group. Visit sites such as the New College. Along the way, also learn about J.K. Rowling’s relationship with Oxford.

Hear the whole story of Oxford. From Vikings, Saxons and Normans to the modern University, the ‘Ox-ford’ has been at the centre of English history for over a thousand years.. And learn about what 800 years of dreadful Dons and sickening Students have got up to since, in the company of one of our expertly entertaining guides. If you want a long talk about different types of arches we are not for you - if you want to learn by laughing we are!

Waddesdon Manor is a French Renaissance-style chateau, built in the 1870s by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to entertain the fashionable world and house his impressive art collection. Waddesdon Manor was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild between 1874 and 1885 to display his collection of arts and to entertain the fashionable world. Opened to the public in 1959, Waddesdon Manor is managed by the Rothschild Foundation, a family charitable trust, on behalf of the National Trust, who took over ownership in 1957. It’s home to the Rothschild Collections of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Make the most of your visit. Take a stroll in the Gardens, explore the paintings, furniture, porcelain and tapestries collected by generations of Rothschilds in the House. Meet the Aviary Keeper and see the colourful birds housed in the ornate Aviary. Explore the Cellars storing over 13,000 bottles of Rothschild wines, and hear about their history and so much more.

Enjoy a tour exploring the lives, works and ideas of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and their circle. This tour is focused for an adult audience. Children may join it but the private tour option is more suitable. This tour typically lasts 2 hours to 2.5 hours and it includes entry to Magdalen college, where CS Lewis taught. If Magdalen is ever closed, we will inform you & offer refund or reschedule date or proceed with a visit to an alternative such as Exeter college, where Tolkien studied. This tour introduces both these famous writers and their lives here in Oxford plus offers insights into what life is like as an Oxford academic. Magdalen entry fee worth £10 per person is included. NOTICE: any known closures for Magdalen college will be published under the What's Excluded section. Please note that Magdalen only permits entry to up to 10 persons with guide before we must instead pre book with Magdalen. Thus, if you book at very short notice, you may instead be asked to do private tour.

Explore the fascinating world of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis on this guided walking tour through Oxford. See iconic locations such as Exeter College, the Sheldonian Theatre, the Bodleian Library, and Magdalen College, where the Inklings met. Discover how these writers inspired and helped one another. Enjoy a visit to Magdalen College, where Lewis spent nearly three decades. This tour provides a unique insight into the lives of these authors and the city that inspired them. - 2.5 hour guided walking tour of Oxford’s literary landmarks - Visit Magdalen College, where Lewis worked from 1925 to 1954 - Suitable for teenagers and adults; private tours are also available for families with young children - Learn from an expert guide about the lives of Tolkien and Lewis and their friendship - Learn how Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) met the young Alice Liddell at Christ Church College and how she inspired him to write Alice in Wonderland! - Avoid the crowds - maximum group 12 people

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Blenheim Palace is home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Set in over 2,000 acres of beautiful Parkland landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown, the exquisite 18th century Baroque Palace is surrounded by sweeping lawns, formal gardens and the magnificent lake. Discover over 300 years of history, architecture and artefacts Stroll around the majestic Formal Gardens and 10 other gardens Explore the Butterfly House and Stables Exhibition

Avoid wandering Oxford without context or missing its hidden corners on this roughly 90-minute walking tour of Oxford University’s historic colleges. Benefit from the insider knowledge of a local guide as you follow the footsteps of alumni such as Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and J.R.R. Tolkien, admire landmarks including Trinity College, New College, and the Radcliffe Camera, and step inside selected colleges and chapels to understand the traditions and stories that have shaped one of the world’s most famous universities.

Admire the highlights of England’s Cotswolds on this full-day, small-group tour from Oxford. Traveling by air-conditioned minivan with a driver-guide, stop to explore villages such as Great Tew and Stow-on-the-Wold. En route, enjoy lunch (own expense) in Burford, stroll around Bourton-on-the-Water, and visit the village and 15th-century ruins of Minster Lovell. Includes transport and central Oxford pickup and drop-off, with entrance fees at your expense.

Admire Oxford from the water on this cruise, and see a side to the city that many travelers miss. Float along the tranquil Thames River as your skipper points out places of interest such as Christchurch College, the Meadows, Port Meadow, and Folly Bridge—which you can enjoy without having to jostle the land-based crowds. A picnic lunch midway keeps you fueled throughout.

Explore the world of ‘The Inklings’—the mid-20th-century writers’ group that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien—on this private Oxford walk. Rather than researching locations yourself, let a guide show you where the writers worked and relaxed. Visit Exeter College where Tolkien studied; and see Lewis’ Magdalen College and other sights while learning history and literary tales you’d otherwise miss. A choice of departure times gives you flexibility.