Where to Stay in Oxford, England

What is Oxford known for?

Oxford is known as the oldest university city in the United Kingdom, its skyline crowded with medieval college spires. The learning shows in its museums. The Ashmolean Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the History of Science Museum each grew from the university's collections.

Beyond the colleges stand Oxford Castle, the Martyrs' Memorial, and the green expanse of the Oxford University Parks beside the Cherwell.

What are the main landmarks in Oxford?

Oxford's landmarks are dominated by its university collections. The Ashmolean Museum, Britain's oldest public museum, anchors them, joined by the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the History of Science Museum. Among the colleges stand the Martyrs' Memorial and St Michael at the North Gate with its Saxon tower.

Older and greener corners include Oxford Castle, the ruins of Osney Abbey, and the University Parks running down to the Cherwell.

What is the history of Oxford?

Oxford grew up around the year 1000 at a ford across the Thames, the crossing that gave the town its name. It began as a river settlement. A Saxon minster stood where St Michael at the North Gate still keeps its tower, and after the Conquest the Normans raised Oxford Castle to hold the crossing, its mound and church surviving beside the modern streets.

Osney Abbey rose on an island in the Thames. The university made the rest of the story. Scholars gathered here from the twelfth century, and college after college walled off its quadrangles until the town was threaded with them.

The Reformation left its mark in the Martyrs' Memorial, raised where Protestant bishops were burned. Curiosity built the museums: the Ashmolean Museum opened as the country's first public museum, and later ages added the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the History of Science Museum. Through it all the Thames and the Cherwell framed the city, their meadows still holding the spires apart from the country beyond.

Where is Oxford?

Oxford sits in Oxfordshire, England, where the Thames and the Cherwell meet on low ground west of London. Water rings the old town. Riverside meadows and the two rivers hold the built-up centre in check, and the medieval colleges, the Ashmolean Museum, and Oxford Castle cluster on the higher ground between the streams, with the University Parks running down to the Cherwell on the town's eastern side.

What is the climate of Oxford?

Oxford has a mild, moist lowland climate typical of southern England. Summers are warm and often changeable. Winters are cool and grey rather than harsh, with frost and mist forming readily over the low riverside meadows, and the Thames and the Cherwell are prone to spilling onto their floodplains after heavy rain.

Damp air lingers along the water in every season.

How do you get to Oxford?

Oxford is quick to reach from London. Trains run west from the capital to its central stations, a short walk from the Ashmolean Museum and the colleges, and coaches follow the motorway that links the two cities. Roads feed in from across Oxfordshire, though the historic centre is best left to foot and bicycle.

Once there, the museums and colleges lie within an easy walk of one another.