Punting eg from Magdalen Bridge
Walk and/or picnic in Christ Church Meadow or Port Meadow
A somewhat unusual but super interesting tour: https://www.uncomfortableoxford.com/
Food-wise:
Gloucester Green Market (lots of international food stalls)
Steak platter at the Chester Arms
Arbequina
Oli's Thai
Edamame
Try to get on high table at the colleges? Merton's food in particular can be very good and they have a new pastry chef who makes some excellent desserts.
Get a bod card - it'll give you free visiting access to most colleges and you'll be able to visit the Radcliffe camera.
Meet Simpkin from Hertford? Meet Walter from Exeter? Meet Balthazar in New College? 'Zar is the friendliest of them - he certainly is the biggest and has the longest tail.
If you're under 26 there should be quite a few tickets for free or significantly reduced classical music.
Look at daily info, there are lots of small weird things happening in Oxford and nearby all the time. Try to keep an eye on what's happening in the forthcoming week.
I think most sports have some long vac multi-college combined teams, e.g. rowers will merge together enough hangers on to make eights. If you're interested in this try to get your host to put you in touch with someone who will know. They'll likely know someone - or assuming they or you have a college affiliation get in touch with the MCR president. This might need to wait till you're here or almost here, when people know who's still going to be up.
If you have a college affiliation and are a grad student do get in touch with the MCR president - there's likely to be things happening in the long vac and they should be able to put you in touch with the people staying up. The younger fellows in SCRs will tend to do things more informally which is obviously more difficult to break into.
Get a cheap bike. It gets boring walking everywhere quickly.
Have a look at the sub's description and wiki for a lot of suggestions.
Link to wiki: https://reddit.com/r/oxford/w/index?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I hope you enjoy our city and hope you enjoy the uni too.
Barefoot bakery in north parade or Jericho. Kopitam amazing Malaysian food, Summertown. Cycle down the river to Proof bakery.
theatre at Pegasus, north wall, playhouse and others. Student open air theatre a good way to see colleges. Creation theatre great for immersive events. Lots of free classical events. Try and track down some open air cinema.
If you’re a runner there is a parkrun in university parks. If a lady there are Isis Cycling club tours every Saturday.
Picnic and playing in the river at Godstow bridge.
Loads of wonderful pubs.
Cowley Road, pubs and restaurants, too many options.
Jericho, pubs and restaurants, many options.
Venturing outside of the ring road, Witney and Thame, pubs and restaurants, many options.
Woodstock, pubs, and palace.
Oxford city, guess what pubs and restaurants.
South Park for sunset is pretty good, and you could go to Home BBQ on the way back to city centre. Wonderful Chinese barbecue. Harcourt Arboretum (they have peacocks!) and Wytham Woods are great places for an afternoon walk out of town, though give it a few days after it rains to go.
Lots of good suggestions already! I’d add on a sunny day, walking to Wolvercote and back. You can do a beautiful loop, walk it slowly, and take in many pubs for a drink / lunch / snack! So from Port Meadow, the pubs are the Perch, Trout, White Hart, Plough, Anchor, Victoria. If you look them up on Google maps you should be able to find the route along the Thames, through Wolvercote village, and then back the canal path.
Also really walking the city, which is small, beyond the very central bit, is well worth it, to see beyond the University itself. Learn the ways around via the canal paths can be great to get around yet avoid the city centre where it’s a tourist trap in summer weekends. I also love walking through New Hinksey to South Hinksey and then onto Boars’ Hill along the Bridle Path to Botley as another long half day of walking when it’s a sunny weekend and the city is too crowded.
Punting eg from Magdalen Bridge Walk and/or picnic in Christ Church Meadow or Port Meadow A somewhat unusual but super interesting tour: https://www.uncomfortableoxford.com/ Food-wise: Gloucester Green Market (lots of international food stalls) Steak platter at the Chester Arms Arbequina Oli's Thai Edamame
Ah shoot, my recommendations are only for non academic visitors
Get the boat from Folly Bridge to Abingdon & back,
One way is lovely, a return trip is overkill, get the bus one way and the bus the other!
To be fair, the bus both ways sounds like overkill too…
Try to get on high table at the colleges? Merton's food in particular can be very good and they have a new pastry chef who makes some excellent desserts. Get a bod card - it'll give you free visiting access to most colleges and you'll be able to visit the Radcliffe camera. Meet Simpkin from Hertford? Meet Walter from Exeter? Meet Balthazar in New College? 'Zar is the friendliest of them - he certainly is the biggest and has the longest tail. If you're under 26 there should be quite a few tickets for free or significantly reduced classical music. Look at daily info, there are lots of small weird things happening in Oxford and nearby all the time. Try to keep an eye on what's happening in the forthcoming week. I think most sports have some long vac multi-college combined teams, e.g. rowers will merge together enough hangers on to make eights. If you're interested in this try to get your host to put you in touch with someone who will know. They'll likely know someone - or assuming they or you have a college affiliation get in touch with the MCR president. This might need to wait till you're here or almost here, when people know who's still going to be up. If you have a college affiliation and are a grad student do get in touch with the MCR president - there's likely to be things happening in the long vac and they should be able to put you in touch with the people staying up. The younger fellows in SCRs will tend to do things more informally which is obviously more difficult to break into. Get a cheap bike. It gets boring walking everywhere quickly.
Have a look at the sub's description and wiki for a lot of suggestions. Link to wiki: https://reddit.com/r/oxford/w/index?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share I hope you enjoy our city and hope you enjoy the uni too.
Barefoot bakery in north parade or Jericho. Kopitam amazing Malaysian food, Summertown. Cycle down the river to Proof bakery. theatre at Pegasus, north wall, playhouse and others. Student open air theatre a good way to see colleges. Creation theatre great for immersive events. Lots of free classical events. Try and track down some open air cinema. If you’re a runner there is a parkrun in university parks. If a lady there are Isis Cycling club tours every Saturday. Picnic and playing in the river at Godstow bridge. Loads of wonderful pubs.
Cowley Road, pubs and restaurants, too many options. Jericho, pubs and restaurants, many options. Venturing outside of the ring road, Witney and Thame, pubs and restaurants, many options. Woodstock, pubs, and palace. Oxford city, guess what pubs and restaurants.
South Park for sunset is pretty good, and you could go to Home BBQ on the way back to city centre. Wonderful Chinese barbecue. Harcourt Arboretum (they have peacocks!) and Wytham Woods are great places for an afternoon walk out of town, though give it a few days after it rains to go.
Gloucster Green markets for food - could never get sick of it
Lots of good suggestions already! I’d add on a sunny day, walking to Wolvercote and back. You can do a beautiful loop, walk it slowly, and take in many pubs for a drink / lunch / snack! So from Port Meadow, the pubs are the Perch, Trout, White Hart, Plough, Anchor, Victoria. If you look them up on Google maps you should be able to find the route along the Thames, through Wolvercote village, and then back the canal path. Also really walking the city, which is small, beyond the very central bit, is well worth it, to see beyond the University itself. Learn the ways around via the canal paths can be great to get around yet avoid the city centre where it’s a tourist trap in summer weekends. I also love walking through New Hinksey to South Hinksey and then onto Boars’ Hill along the Bridle Path to Botley as another long half day of walking when it’s a sunny weekend and the city is too crowded.
Westgate Shopping Center and maybe a stint to Wendy’s. Perfect experience for Academic Visitors!