Oxford Scholars and Secrets Self Guided Tour with App
Description
Did you know Oxford’s Great Tom bell chimes 101 times every night—and the university runs 5 minutes behind the rest of England? Discover the stories behind Oxford’s most iconic landmarks on this comprehensive 18-stop self-guided audio walking tour. From Christ Church’s Harry Potter connections to the hidden Narnia door, from a 14th-century rebel tavern to the world’s oldest public museum – this tour covers more ground than most guided walks, at a fraction of the price. Crafted with insights from Oxford students, the tour is available in 9 languages. Unlike fixed-time group tours, you control the pace. Start anytime, pause to explore colleges and museums, grab lunch at the Covered Market, or linger over a pint at the Turf Tavern – your tour waits for you. Over 1000 customers have taken this tour and a full refund guarantee means you can book with confidence
Tour Options
Itinerary
Discover the college that inspired Harry Potter’s Great Hall, and where Great Tom tolls 101 times each night at 9:05 PM
Take photos at Christopher Wren’s first masterpiece, where Einstein and Tolkien received honorary degrees
Admire the library from the outside and discover fun facts like the oath you need to take to enter the library
Pause at yet another iconic Oxford building and discover more about its architecture and heritage
Take a break to explore the covered market and pick up souvenirs or grab a bite to eat
Pause at the world's first public museum — home to Guy Fawkes' actual lantern, Egyptian mummies, and a Van Gogh, all for free
End in front of a historic pub where literary legends used to gather
See the spot that hosted the trial of the Oxford Martyrs and a nearby door that inspired parts of Narnia!
Hear the story behind the not-so-new New college
Take an optional detour to two museums with one entrance: from Darwin's evolution debate to a dimly-lit labyrinth of shrunken heads and ancient artifacts
Tucked behind the city wall, find the secret pub where presidents, movie stars, and Nobel laureates have been sneaking off to for centuries
Puase for photos in front of Oxford's most photographed bridge — named after its Venetian twin
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The total tour duration includes the time spent listening to information at the stop and time required to walk through all the stops.
Reviews(11)
Many things not accessible that were on the route and pay everywhere to gain access. Oxford is a pretty city, though.
Het spijt ons dat de toegang tot sommige locaties niet inbegrepen was — dit staat echter al vermeld in de tourbeschrijving op ons platform, aangezien wij zelf geen toegang tot bezienswaardigheden aanbieden. Fijn dat Oxford u desondanks als stad heeft weten te bekoren. We hopen dat u Tourific een andere keer een kans geeft.
I liked the self guided tour. It guided us to main sites with some background in each. It was an easy and organised way of seeing Oxford
Thank you for your feedback. We're glad the tour helped make your visit enjoyable and easy to navigate.
Tour was just what we wanted except for One thing. She is very clear that you cannot go into the colleges but that doesn’t mean the buildings only. It also means the courtyards/grassy areas. Each college charges about £10 to enter which is more than we paid for the whole tour. Maybe other people know this; we didn’t.
Thank you for your helpful feedback! We’re glad you enjoyed the tour overall. We appreciate your suggestion about clarifying access restrictions and entrance fees for the colleges, and we’ll work on making this clearer for future visitors.
This might be an OK tour if they reworked the app to make it even slightly user-friendly. The purchase process is absurdly complex -- requiring multiple verification codes to be sent (why? On a £5 purchase?) Finally downloaded, it's awful -- keeps cutting out; very hard to get it back (MORE codes must be sent). On the rare occasions we heard any comments, they seemed like they might be interesting. Also, no directions are offered for movement from one attraction stop to the next. So you need to run Google Maps beside it. It wins the prize as the worst walking tour app I've ever tried. We abandoned it, after 4 of 18 stops, feeling "well, we got scammed."
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, and I’m very sorry to hear that the app did not meet your expectations. We’re actively working on a much-improved version, which will be released this month with easier access, and better navigation between stops. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us address these issues. We absolutely want to make this right for you—please email us at support@tourific.org (as we cannot see the booking ID from this review alone) and we’ll issue you a full refund
Super tour that took us to the highlights of Oxford with just enough explanation to keep a family with teens entertained.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review! We really appreciate it and we are glad that you enjoyed the tour. We hope to guide you again in a different location in the future. Best regards, The Tourific team
This experience was nice if youre a bit short on time or want to supplement other experiences. We got the most use out of the map that had the locations marked.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We're glad the map feature was helpful and that the tour fit well into your plans. Since you rated it 3 stars, we’d really appreciate hearing what we could have done better to improve your experience. Your feedback helps us make future tours even better. Best regards, The Tourific Team
Wonderful app and I will use it again in other cities. Very clear and easy to use. Able to use the app on my schedule. Stop and restart at my convenience. Described all of the sites I had planned on visiting and introduced me to new destinations and discoveries. I would recommend Tourific to anyone who wants to experience a destination conveniently.
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re delighted that you enjoyed the flexibility of using the app on your own schedule and found it clear and easy to use. It’s great to hear that it not only covered the sites you planned to visit but also introduced you to new discoveries. We truly appreciate your recommendation and look forward to welcoming you on another Tourific experience soon! Best regards, The Tourific Team
I found this tour on TripAdvisor and it suited our needs perfectly. So easy to use and really informative. We could do it at our own pace and mix the route up if we wanted. Really impressed.
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed review! We really appreciate it and we are glad that you enjoyed the tour. We hope to serve you again in the future. Best regards, The Tourific team
It was easy to follow , the map was very useful and it was nice to be able to do the tour at your own pace . The guide spoke very clearly and made the tour interesting and easy to listen to , and she was clearly very knowledgeable about the chosen locations .
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed review! We really appreciate it and we are glad that you enjoyed the tour. We hope to serve you again in the future. Best regards, The Tourific team
This tour offers nothing you can’t get using Google Maps. Minimal descriptions of the “points of interest” and no narration of any of the hundreds of buildings of architectural or historical interest along the way. My advice is get a live guide.
Hello, Thank you for sharing your feedback, and we're sorry to hear that the experience didn't live up to your expectations. We’ve refunded the full booking amount, as it’s important to us that our users feel satisfied with their purchase. While our tours are designed to provide flexibility and cover the main highlights for a wide range of travellers, we understand that some visitors may be looking for more detailed, building-by-building commentary—which is something a live guide can offer better. Your feedback is helpful as we continue to improve and expand our content. We appreciate you giving it a try and hope you had a good time exploring Oxford, regardless.
