Hopefully the weather will allow me to visit Oxford next week. Was planning on flying to EGTK, take a taxi to the city and stay one night. Will be flying with my 11 y/o daughter with a diesel C172 from EHTE (IFR). Any tips for 24 hrs in Oxford? Especially a nice place to eat and stay perhaps? In Cambridge we went punting and visited Kings College. Enjoyed that very much.
There should be loads of places to stay and eat. Oxford is very popular. Accommodation may not be cheap.
Sorry. Found some older threads hence the enquiry.
Take good shoes. Oxford is fabulous by foot. With an 11 year old, Christchurch College is a must especially if she is a Harry Potter fan. Punting from Magdalen bridge. Get a student to take you if there any – it’s out of term now – make sure you ask to go boathouse island where all the eights launch. The columbian coffee house in the covered market does the best coffee in Oxford by far. Try and book number 1 Ship for dinner or the Ivy is very good. We usually stay in the Randolph or the Old Parsonage just walking to all the colleges is incredibly inspiring. Without a doubt plan your arrival / departure to fly over Oxford. Simply not to be missed. ATC are very accommodating and actually tower is only interested in you five miles out. Also fly over Blenheim Palace when departing. Just watch for a ride and check if Weston is active. Have a great time.
We always eat at Pierre Victoire, which is a ‘real’ French restaurant: set menu, good quality, inexpensive. Maybe less interesting for you, as it’s easier to just go to France 
As Pig says, Christ Church is simultaneously a university college and cathedral and is worth a visit. I’ve taken friends/family from abroad and they all said it was the best attraction in Oxford. You used to be able easily to bypass the long tourist queue, but I think they’ve got wise to freeloaders and you now have to register.
Just walking around there’s plenty to look at just from the outside, like the various colleges, Radcliffe Camera or Bridge of Sighs.
There are a few cool pubs too: the Bear Inn has the walls covered in thousands of ties; the Eagle and Child isn’t amazing, but was the haunt of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
Otherwise @Graham is a local and might be able to help?
Bodlean library as well…
Capitaine wrote:
Otherwise @Graham is a local and might be able to help?
I second what @Pig says: there is plenty to see and expect to do a lot of walking – the city is distinctly (in fact actively, overtly and proudly) anti-car.
If you are staying in the city itself, I’d probably look to get an Uber from the airport. Outside of London, taxis in the UK are pretty unreliable. They frequently decline your booking because they don’t fancy it, or they accept it and just don’t turn up because they got a better booking, and punctuality doesn’t seem to be a thing. They will also cost at least 2x much as an Uber for a given journey, and this will be magnified somewhere like Oxford Airport (where there will be kickbacks for ‘preferred’ taxi companies).
A bus from the airport is perhaps possible. I don’t use buses so I don’t have details, but google will tell you. If you only have 24hrs though, anything other than an Uber is just consuming time.
I have had an extremely nice lunch at Pompette not so long ago.
The most well-known hotel in the city, pretty upmarket, is The Randolph.
Some very good suggestions! Am in Oxford by adoption and wish I had discovered the city twenty years ago. I would add The Perch as a nice riverside pub which you get to by walking across Port Meadow from Jericho.
Silverstone is this weekend, and Fairford later in the month, so check NOTAMs as controlled airspace around Brize Norton can expand. Oxford EGTK gets a lot of corporate traffic, both helicopter and jet, so it can be busy.
Thanks to all, very much looking forward to our visit!
