Rail service to Oxford
Trains to Oxford take 60–70 min (£5–£32) from London's Paddington Station
Regular trains run to Oxford from London's Paddington Station (Great Western Railway) and London's Marylebone Station (Chiltern Railways).
The trains take between 58 min. and 110 min. (a few are longer).
Most tickets cost £5.40 to £20 if purchased a few days in advance, £15 to £32 if purchased on the day (or the day before).
Oxford's train station is on the western edge of the center, along Botley Road (A420) just W of the intersection with Hollybush Row.
- Nationalrail.co.uk - Covers all of the lines once operated by the (since-privitized) old British Rail, as well as info on all British rail stations, including maps and services. This includes most major British railways, but notably does not cover many urban area light rail systems (such as London, Glasgow, Manchester, Blackpool, Sheffield, and Midland Metro), nor does it cover the Eurostar, Heathrow Express, nor a handful of heritage or privately owned railways. Still, it's the closest thing to one-stop shopping for finding train connections across the mainland U.K. (though not Northern Ireland).
- BritRail passes - Book railpasses good for travel all over Great Britain—or just in parts of all of England or Scotland.Partner
- Eurostar.com - The super-fast train through the Channel Tunnel connecting London with Paris (2.5 hrs.), Brussels (2 hrs.) and—though those hubs—the rest of Europe. » more
- Europetrainsguide.com - General train info from a private site devoted to European rail travel.
- Seat61.com - General train info from a private site devoted to rail travel, including detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to get from London to just about any other country in Europe via rail.
- Traintaxi.co.uk - Search stations to find out whether they have taxi ranks/stands, and the phone numbers for pre-booking a cab. (Not being updated after April 2016, but still handy.)
- Sleeper.scot - overnight train
- Heritagerailways.com - An association of historic, heritage, and narrow guage railways—many operating steam trains on historic scenic routes. The site is pretty bare-bones, but if you click on a railway and then look for the link in the box below the map (not teh name on the map itself), you can get to the website for that heritage rail line, train museum, or tourist train
- Train map - A rail network map courtesy of Nationalrail.co.uk.
General tips of similar interest
Is the Britrail pass—good for unlimited travel on the national rail network—worth it in the U.K.?
Sleeping on an overnight train is a relatively safe endeavor, but take a few sensible precautions to avoid pickpockets and thieves and sleep more soundly
Like the trains themselves, European train stations tend to be clean and user-friendly—with tourist info, hotel booking service, left luggage lockers or offices, and decent snack bars (in case you forget to pick up train picnic supplies in town)
More on Getting to Oxford
Coach transfers to Oxford from Heathrow take 80–90 min (£23), from Gatwick 2–2.5 hr (£28)
The drive west from London to Oxford takes about 105–120 min.
Also in Getting to Oxford:
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Similar interests:
- Botley Road
On the W edge of town, just beyond the intersection of Botley Rd and Hollybush Row
See/Do
Also in Getting to Oxford:
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Similar interests:
Oxford writers
In addition to its notable literary history, Oxford currently has more published writers per square mile than anywhere else in the world.
