Travel information
It is difficult to drive through the city centre, owing largely to insufficient bridges over the river coupled with few road options leading from the main Magdalen bridge. This has been exacerbated by a City Council determined to make life pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists with car parking and access restrictions. The Oxford park-and-ride system [15] and other local buses generally work fairly well. Although they are expensive (see Get in). If you do take your car into the city centre, expect to pay a huge amount for parking, more so than any city apart from London.
Once you have arrived in the centre, everything in Oxford is within easy walking distance; for destinations further afield there are many buses that run regularly. Locals either walk, or use bicycles. Tours of the city are available on foot or by bus, with live commentary talking about the history and tradition of the university and city.
Photos from Oxford, United Kingdom
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- Covered Market, High Street. [63] Oxford has the oldest covered market in England. Unusual small shops, including a chocolate shop, cake shop, fine butchers, hat shop, florists, glassware, and charming cafes.
A large number of shops in the city centre specialise in selling the ubiquitous Oxford University range of souvenirs. One is official, the others less so, but all do a roaring trade in T-shirts, sweaters, calendars and paraphernalia:
- the University of Oxford Shop, 106 The High Street, +044 01865 247414, fax +044 01865 724379. [64] M-Sa 9AM-5.30PM, Bank Holidays and Sundays in June 11AM-4PM, Sundays in July and August 11AM-5PM. Since 1990, the official outlet for official university souvenirs and gifts
Books
Unsurprisingly for a university city, Oxford is noted for both antiquarian, specialist and new books.
- Blackwell's Books, 48-51 Broad Street (opposite the Sheldonian Theatre) - founded in 1879, Blackwell's main Oxford store is a veritable tourist attraction in itself, the vast 10,000 square foot Norrington Room excavated beneath Trinity College Gardens laying claim to being the largest space dedicated to book sales in Europe. Another 9 specialty branches of this Oxford institution dot the city.
- Oxford University Press Bookshop, 116 High Street, +44 1865 242 913, fax +44 1865 241 701 [65] - stocks a wide variety of books published by Oxford University Press.
Equipment
- Elmer Cotton Sports, 18-19 Turl Street, +44 1865 241 010, fax +44 1865 790 768 - probably the most convenient sports store in the heart of the city, official suppliers of Dark Blue label sportswear and Oxford University Sports [66] kit and memorabilia
Photos from Oxford, United Kingdom
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