Twenty years of showing people Oxford
An independent Oxford company offering private tours shaped to each party, with every enquiry answered by people who guide here themselves.
An Oxford company, run by guides
Oxford Tour Guides has arranged private walking tours for more than twenty years, for individuals, families, schools, conferences and travel advisors. We started because we love the city, its history and its traditions, and we wanted visitors to be shown around by people who really know it.
The company was founded by Sandra Bingham, a Green Badge guide who came to guiding after a career in education. She brought together a team of accredited guides and built a reputation for thoughtful, personal tours, and the company continues that work under new management.
Every guide we work with holds a Blue or Green Badge from the Institute of Tourist Guiding and is fully insured. Many studied here and know the city well. The people who answer your enquiry and match you with a guide are guides themselves.
Our aim hasn't changed: to find you the right guide, and to send you home with good memories and a wish to come back, or even to study here.
What a shared tour can't give you
Most walking tours in Oxford sell you a place in a group. For more than twenty years we have arranged a guide for your party alone, and in 2024/25 we were named City Tour Operator of the Year at the Luxury Travel Guide Global Awards.
Private, and built around you
You book the guide, and the walk is for your party alone. We arrange tours from an hour to a full day, at a time that suits you, and shape the route and stories around what you’re curious about.
Blue and Green Badge guides, matched to you
Over 40 guides, with specialisms from architecture to Inspector Morse, and tours in other languages on request. We match the guide to your group, not the other way round.
Leave the planning to us
Your guide plans the route and the timing, so there are no maps to study or itineraries to build. We’ll tell you what’s worth booking ahead, when to do it and where to eat. All you have to do is enjoy it.
Recognised by the industry
Oxford Tour Guides was named City Tour Operator of the Year at the Luxury Travel Guide Global Awards 2024/25, following earlier Luxury Travel Guide wins in 2018, 2019 and 2022/23. The company holds a Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence and a five-star rating from independent guest reviews.
Behind the awards is the accreditation that matters most: every guide holds a Blue or Green Badge.
Read our reviews
Further afield, with the right guide
Several of our guides hold the Blue Badge for the Heart of England, which means we can help you plan half days and day trips from Oxford to Blenheim Palace, the Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath or Stonehenge, with coach commentary on the way.
Where a destination needs a different accreditation, we signpost you to guides who are qualified for that area, so that wherever you go the standard is the same.
Get in touch
Enquire or book your private tour
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Plan your visit with us
Email or call with your dates and interests. You will get a quote, a guide and help with the rest of your day.