Slowly we are approaching to our third year in England, which means that we mercilessly kill one destination after another. After a long silence in our England section, we are back with some new stuff (though who can really name Oxford or London new stuff?)

We exhausted the North of the Country as much as we could, now let’s shift to the South. In fact, the South of England kept so many surprises, that it was difficult to bring ourselves into sorting it all out. Oxford will be “our first” then.

The more English cities you visit, the more you find difficult to differ one from another. It doesn’t mean that they are not beautiful, but rather quite similar. Pretty houses, pretty doors, pretty pubs. At some point you confuse the images in your head. It’s all about the right dosage, but each new town is welcomed with less excitement. All this just to say that Oxford is not concerned by this phenomenon. Not entirely. Despite our low expectations (which is always a clue to joy, mind it!) we didn’t have the sense of déjà vu since a very long time. Because Oxford is different.

Oxford, like London or Paris is an incredibly famous name. Being one of 20 000 students of the Oxford University is the ambition that so many talented people don’t dare to realise. Visiting Oxford feels almost as something sacred, at least we considered it this way. And indeed, the biggest part of the sights to see there is connected to Colleges, Libraries and… Harry Potter, which was partially filmed in Oxford (though tell me where in the UK Harry Potter WAS NOT filmed? *deep sigh*).

But. Before we go on with how one can spend a day in Oxford, you would probably have a look at the common mistakes people do (or rather mistakes that we’ve made) when they plan their visit.

Spending ONLY ONE DAY in Oxford. Take at least two for an intensive visiting. Even if we enjoyed a lot our full walking day, I realise that we missed quite a lot by not entering the Colleges or Bodleian library or not having taken more time to walk in the Natural History Museum.

Thinking that Oxford is a budget destination. If you want to enter the Colleges, prepare to pay, sometimes a lot.

Relying too much on the off-season period. Oxford was literally invaded by tourists, mainly from China even if it was an ugly February day. Judging by the amount of signs and advertisement in Chinese, it was not just a coincidence.

Forgetting another World Classics Masterpiece – “Alice from Wonderland”, who was a real person and whose father worked closely to Lewis Carroll himself. It is not all about Harry Potter movies!

The train London-Oxford takes only one hour to bring you to the city (count 25£ for a return ticket per person). Luckily, Oxford is quite dense, so you don’t need to use any public transport. What we loved immediately was the quantity of bicycles – no city can be bad when there are so many cyclists!

Then just let yourself go, because you will definitely not miss (even if you wanted to), the most iconic sights of Oxford. Such as:

Christ Church College (8£) Lewis Carroll worked here as a professor, he was inspired by Alice Liddell, a daughter of the dean from this very college, to create one of the world’s best-known chef-d’oeuvres.

Magdalen College (5£), New College (4£) and All Souls College (pictures are in a random order!)

If you google “Oxford”, you will definitely see this picture. However, Radcliffe Camera is inaccessible to public (unless a special reservation was made), it serves as a reading room for the Bodleian Library.

And here it is, the Bodleian Library itself. I do wish we had taken a tour to see it inside, but well… next time then. Naturally, it’s also a library of YOU KNOW WHO (Harry Potter, yes). The more complex guided tour you take, the more rooms of the library you will see, but despite the undoubted historical importance, we couldn’t squeeze it in our day.

When you walk in Oxford, you feel that you trace the steps of hundreds of philosophers and scientists, authors and discoverers – what a pleasant feeling. A Bridge of Sighs at Hertford College – just like in Venice (and in Cambridge!), though each of them has a different reason for this very sigh. I will stick to the romantic version in which you can’t help but sigh when you see the beauty of Oxford from the bridge.

No matter how perfect the Natural History Museum in London is, we still couldn’t resist having a fast glimpse at the Oxford’s one. And, we didn’t regret. Dozen times smaller, but as much cozier, this bright beautiful building stole our hearts. By the way, in this very museum in 1860 Darwin debated on his brand new theory of species – how amazing is that? The symbol of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History is the famous Dodo, which also served as inspiration in the creation process of Alice in Wonderland. :)

At the end we spent much more time in the museum than we thought and the little daylight which was remaining had to be used sensibly – thus we walked towards Jericho – an almost hipster area of Oxford with typical houses and cute cafés. But any Oxford street outside the University core is pretty and authentic in its own way.

The day was ended by a view from the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (4£) – yes, a certain number of stairs is ahead, but the reward is on the top level (literally).

The Covered Market – a nice and vibrant market for where you can get some take-away food as well as British souvenirs (or get your shoes fixed).

Tuff Tavern – everything you love about typical British cuisine. The food is of a good quality, and the location in a little pass way is excellent.

 A proper visit of a Bodleian Library and at least one of the colleges.

 A punt tour (which we took in Cambridge, though)

A visit of The Pitt Rivers Museum

A visit to The Botanic Garden (in summer, obviously!)

Listening to the Evensongs – one of numerous Oxford traditions (as old as the hills) a service where college choirs sing religious songs. An authentic experience not to be missed.