kmandrew

Booked a June week in Copenhagen/Stockholm; we then plan fly to London July 1. We are leaning towards taking the train to Cardiff (Hilton Diamonds) staying 2 days then visiting Oxford on July 6th (home from LHR 7/7); this leaves July 3-5 open. We do not have to stay in a Hilton for these 3 days but will lean that way if convenient -just looking for suggestions. I did read that staying at the Oxford dorms might be fun for our last night then taking to bus to LHR. I am very open minded to renting a car for those 3 days and exploring Wales?

Gagravarr

A lot of Americans seem to really like the Cotswolds (I think they're good but not quite that great!). Maybe plan to drive from Cardiff to Oxford via one or two villages / market towns / countryside pubs, depending on what you're into!

If you like serious hiking, then maybe head somewhere like the Brecon Beacons, find a nice B&B / country hotel and explore from there. It's then a fairly good drive through the Cotswolds to Oxford.

During the vacation, there are normally loads of Oxford college rooms available to rent, including some nice ones. During term-time it's just a handful. July is out of term time, so you ought to have a decent choice. You probably won't want to book until something like 2 months out though - colleges probably won't list things until they know what conferences / summer schools / etc they're hosting to know how many rooms are free. Some may even offer you the chance to dine in hall in the evening, which ought to be pretty good food (depends on the college) but generally an amazing experience in the surroundings.

stut

University Rooms is a good place to find college accommodation:

http://www.universityrooms.com/en/city/oxford/home

However, as Gagravarr points out, you won't get a decent selection until close to the date.

In general, though, it really depends what you prefer to do between the two end points. If you prefer cities and the big attractions, you can travel via Bristol and Avebury/Stonehenge. If you prefer something more rural, you can head further north through the Wye valley (wonderful food!) and Cotswolds.

BearX220

Hay-on-Wye. Bookshop heaven.

stut

Annoyingly, the Hay festival ends a couple of days before the OP arrives...

MSPeconomist

Bristol is a relatively unknown gem. Go to Bath if you've never been there. There are some stunning hotels in town, including one in the Royal Cresent. Stonehenge is nearby.

Be sure to manage your expectations before staying in a university room. Do not expect en suite facilities or air conditioning. Furniture might be old and battered with threadbare dusty carpets, etc. There won't be elevators or bell staff, so plan to carry bags across the courtyard and up some long steep staircases. You might be required to arrive and depart during certain hours. The modern colleges will generally have nicer rooms but they tend to be located away from the center.

I once stayed in a room in college that had a coin operated gas heater and a filthy bathroom shared with a bunch of students. Bathtub looked dirty and to get hot water, you had to light a gas water heating tank over the tub and wait, then be careful not to use all the hot water before you were finished with the hand held shower. The "bathroom sink" was in an old kitchen and always had rotting food and dirty dished stacked in it. It smelled bad. The single bed was miserable, although the linens were clean. This was on the top floor of an old dilapidated building with a nice view of a historic quiet back courtyard.. IIRC check out time was 9 am.

stut

Wow, when was this?

exilencfc

Against which some of the older colleges have some newer accomodation which is pretty nice - I stayed at Merton a few years ago and that was fine. We had breakfast in hall but it was arranged as part of an academic conference so we possibly got favourable treatment.

Don't try taking your hire car into Oxford, the roads there tend to be congested and there is a one way system which apparently has some interesting perculiarities. Parking is an issue too.

Oxon Flyer

+1 for a 3 day leisurely drive via the Brecon Beacons, Hay-on-Wye, the Malvern Hills and the Cotswolds.

There's a Hilton conveniently located half-way at Tewkesbury, where you could spend both intervening nights.

There are parking options available in if you're staying in central Oxford - an alternative is see if you can drop the rental car in Oxford, then stay the night and take the bus to Heathrow the next day.

kmandrew

That is what we planned on car wise; pick up in Cardiff and drop in Oxford; do UK car companies charge a drop off fee? I suppose we could pick up and drop off in Cardiff and take the train to Oxford. If we take you suggestion with Tewkesbury that would still leave one night free; are we near the coast I would imagine there must be some fabulous coastal inns? Last year we drove from Portland to Carmel hugging the coast and loved it.

Gagravarr

That's not a trivial train trip to do, you'll have to change in either Didcot Parkway or Reading, and depending on which changes which ticket you need.

Oxford does have direct trains from Hereford and Worcester, so if you want to avoid driving in Oxford you could look at heading to one of those two, spend some time there (they're both very nice cities for a short visit), then hop on the train from there to Oxford. It's a very picturesque line through the Cotswolds

If you're getting the train from Worcester to Oxford, it might be worth getting a Cotswolds Railcard - only costs £7.50 and saves you 1/3 of the price, so IIRC you'll save money on just one journey!

kmandrew

How does this sound - bus from LHR 2 nights in Cardiff, pick up a car and drive to Aberystwyth stay 1 night, then to Tewkesbury stay 2 nights, drive to Oxford (still like the dorm idea) return the car then take the bus to LHR?

Or would it be smarter just to pick up the car at Heathrow and book it for a week, I see the Hilton Cardiff is spendy for parking (public car park cheaper)? I assume there will be interesting places to drive to from Cardiff so it would be handy to have a car for these 2 days. I understand when we get to Oxford we should use one of the public car parks outside the city; our flight back to the US is not until 3 pm so traffic hopefully will not be a problem. We will not get to LHR until 6 pm from Stockholm; maybe stay near Maidenhead - I lived in High Wycombe from 62-66 so a bit interested in seeing how it has changed.

Gagravarr

The bus from Oxford to Heathrow is very nice, almost as quick as driving, and much much easier. Driving in Oxford is no fun, parking really expensive, and if you're not careful you can rack up fines for driving where you're not supposed to. (It's well signed where private cars can't go, but if you're lost and confused by the very small and busy roads + trying to find a hotel, you might miss them, quite a lot of tourists somehow seem to...)

I'd suggest therefore that you arrange to drop the hire car back to a depot in Oxford, then walk or taxi to the college you're staying at, and walk/taxi back to get the bus when you leave.

If you do end up with a car in Oxford, seriously consider leaving it at one of the Park and Ride locations around the city's edge, and get a bus into the city centre from there.

Oxford doesn't really have enough hotels to meet demand, so everything is expensive. There are some very nice hotels in the centre, but they're not cheap... Staying in a college is a unique experience, and picked well an amazing stay, so I'd say you should try it if you can

kmandrew

Thanks - we will use the Oxford Park n Ride; looks like cars are a fair amount cheaper if you book them for a week from LHR. The plan is Cardiff/Tenby/Tewks/Oxford - we were able to book everything except the Oxford dorm which will have to wait until 2/3 months out.

BearX220

I very much endorse all of this. That blue bus to and from LHR works a treat; it's very easy to use, and the Oxford coach depot is right in the center of town. You can walk to everything from there (colleges, shopping, Ashmolean, hotels, rail station) in just a few minutes. And driving in the city is terrible for the uninitiated owing to crazed one-way schemes and profusion of private lanes (that are not always indicated as such on Google Maps).