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TPHOLs 2005
Oxford, UK
22-25 August 2005
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Travel to Oxford
Travel information
By air
There are three major airports within 90 minutes of Oxford:
London Heathrow, London Gatwick, and Birmingham. Regular coaches and trains
connect the airports with the city.
If you are coming from overseas, you should plan to arrive at London
Heathrow International Airport (and not London Gatwick or London Stansted)
because of its proximity to Oxford. It is possible to travel by train
from Gatwick and Stansted to Central London and use the Underground to
connect to Oxford trains at London Paddington but this will add considerable
time, expense and effort to your journey.
Public transportation from Heathrow to Oxford
Bus - There are direct coach
services between Heathrow and Oxford Train. Buses run from
Oxford to Heathrow throughout the night at 30 minutes
intervals during the day and less frequently during the night.
The journey takes 70 minutes from Heathrow central bus station
or 90 minutes from Terminal 4. The ticket costs £15
one-way, £16 return, and you can either pay on the day or
book online.
Train - (Heathrow
Express) service from Heathrow to London Paddington station. This
leg of the journey costs £14 one-way and £26 return, and
you can either pay on the day or book online. At London Paddington you
will have to transfer to another train and buy separate tickets (at
the ticket office) from London Paddington to Oxford.
Taxis are available at Oxford railway station.
The rail and bus journeys between Heathrow and Oxford take around the
same time, but as you can see the train is more expensive.
Or you could get a cab (e.g., http://www.oxicars.com/taxifares.htm)
- the cost is £68.
By train
There are regular train services to Oxford from all parts
of the country and from continental Europe via the EuroTunnel.
By road
Oxford lies at the centre of a network of major roads and motorways.
The M40 gives access to the West and Wales. There are regular bus and
coach links, including all-night coaches to and from London. Journey
time approximately 1 hour from London and from Birmingham.
Local Attractions
Oxford attracts some 4
million tourists each year to the "sweet city with her dreaming
spires". Sightseeing can be accomplished either on an open-topped bus, or at a more
leisurely pace on one of the walking tours organized each
day. There's plenty to see and do: exhibitions in the five museums and Bodleian Library;
regular university
events open to all; and there are 39 colleges to
visit, of which 14 were founded before the end of the 16th century.
Oxford also has a wide range of nightlife activities, with many
restaurants, pubs and nightclubs.
Oxford lies in the Cotswold hills, and is surrounded by picturesque
countryside. Eight miles from Oxford is Blenheim Palace, historic
seat of the Duke of Marlborough and ancestral home of Winston
Churchill. An hour's drive east from Oxford is Bletchley Park, wartime
home of Allied code-breakers including Alan Turing. An hour and half
to the north is Stratford-upon-Avon,
where the Royal Shakespeare
Company performs daily. Finally, as Oxford is an easy ride from
London, it is ideal as a base
for visiting the capital.
To whet your appetite, there is a virtual
tour of Oxford, with 360 degree views from many points in the
city.
Weather
Oxford
in late August is near the end of summer, and the weather is hard to
predict. It will probably won't be baking hot or freezing cold, but
that's about the most that can be said, and rain is certainly not out
of the question.
Joe Hurd,
11 November 2004