Things to Do in Oxford

Inside the Radcliffe Camera on a timed library slot

You'll pad across worn 18th-century stone. Breathe air that carries a whiff of leather and slow decaying paper. Shafts of pale green light drop through the dome onto desks. Students still scribble in respectful silence. The echo when someone turns a page sounds almost indecent.

Punt to the Vic. Arms meadow at sunset

The pole clacks against river stones. Ripples smell of mud and bruised mint. You glide under low bridges where cyclists shout warnings. The city hush widens into cow-chewed water-meadows. Swallows skim the surface. The towers behind you blush pink.

Ashmolean Museum rooftop after dark

On Friday late openings the Egyptian mummies stay awake. Saxophones drift up from the café below. From the glass-walled terrace you look over the crooked spine of Oxford's skyline. Lights flicker on limestone that once formed seabeds.

Early-morning climb of St Mary the Virgin tower

The spiral stair smells of cold iron and centuries of candle wax. Half-way up, you squeeze past the bells that still thunder out across the city. At the summit the wind tastes faintly of diesel and cut grass. You can spot your next pub between the gargoyles.

Ghost tour in the old city walls

Lanterns throw leaping shadows down narrow lanes where house-masters once duelled. Your guide will pause by the mound where Protestants smouldered. Let the hush settle until you hear only your own pulse. The scent of damp earth and malt drifts over from a nearby brewery.

Jericho - North of centre, record shops and indie cafés, faded pastel terraces where bells echo at dusk

Cowley Road - student-land, curry houses and neon pub signs, cheaper beds with bus links straight in

Summertown - leafy, villagey north Oxford feel, ten-minute bus ride but calmer nights

Headington - east rise, hospital proximity, more parking if you're driving in

St Clements - quick walk east of Magdalen Bridge, pubs with riverside benches

City centre colleges - sleep in medieval rooms in vacation term, breakfast in ancient halls