Oxford, arranged properly for your clients
One point of contact, accredited guides matched to each party, clear terms and a booking process built for agents, tour operators, conference organisers and schools.
Twenty years of looking after agents' clients
Tour operators, travel agents, DMCs, conference organisers and schools book our guides. Send us the brief and we'll match the guide, so your clients spend their time in Oxford with someone who knows it well.
We look after anyone from a single family to a coach party of fifty, in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. Guides qualified for the area can also take your clients on to Blenheim, the Cotswolds or Stratford. Rates, terms and how to book are below.
Get in touch
Every brief is answered personally, by the people who arrange the tour and choose the guide.
Send us the brief
Tell us about your clients and we will come back with a proposed guide and a quote per guide.
Built for people who book on behalf of others
One contact, fast answers
One person looks after your enquiry from first email to the day itself. Send the dates, party size, interests and anything we should know, and you'll get a quote and a proposed guide, usually the same day.
Your client's number goes only to their guide, so they can sort out the day together. Everything else comes through us.
Guides matched to your brief
More than thirty Blue and Green Badge guides, with specialisms from Morse to medicine and tours in French, German, Italian and Spanish. Guides qualified for the area can add coach commentary and take groups on to Blenheim, the Cotswolds and Stratford.
Large parties are split between guides so everyone can hear. We've run fourteen guides at once for 250 delegates.
Clear terms
Fees are quoted per guide and start from £185 for a walk of up to two hours. Once the tour and guide are confirmed, we send an invoice with a secure card payment link, due 14 days before the tour. College entry costs extra and is paid on the day or booked in advance. Full cancellation terms are below.
Build the rest of the day around the walk
The places we recommend most often when advisors ask what else a client should do. Each opens the venue's own site.
Museums and galleries
The Ashmolean, the Pitt Rivers and the Natural History Museum.
Climb a tower
St Mary the Virgin, Carfax Tower and St Michael at the North Gate.
Theatres and music
The Playhouse, the New Theatre and Christ Church Picture Gallery.
On the river
Punts from Magdalen Bridge, or a Salters Steamers cruise.
Afternoon tea
The Grand Café, Queen’s Lane Coffee House and the Vaults.
Historic pubs
The Turf Tavern, the Bear Inn and the King’s Arms.
The Covered Market
Independent traders, cafés and the city’s best-known cake shop.
Christ Church
The Great Hall that inspired Hogwarts, and the meadow walks.
Blenheim and the Cotswolds
Blue Badge guides for Blenheim, the Cotswolds, Stratford or Bath.
The walks advisors book most
Each runs privately for your client's party and can be tailored. Hover to pause, or use the arrows.
Discover Oxford
The University, the colleges and the city, with a college visit where possible.
Morse, Lewis and Endeavour
Murder scenes, famous pubs and a college where the series was filmed.
Literary Oxford
Lewis, Tolkien, Carroll, Auden and the places that inspired them.
Science and medicine
From Roger Bacon to thirty-one Nobel prizes. A favourite for medical and scientific delegates.
Walk between venues
Turn the transfer to the dinner venue into a themed tour. We got 250 delegates there for drinks.
Blenheim and the Cotswolds
Blue Badge guides for the region, with coach commentary on the way.
Discover Oxford
The University, the colleges and the city, with a college visit where possible.
Morse, Lewis and Endeavour
Murder scenes, famous pubs and a college where the series was filmed.
Literary Oxford
Lewis, Tolkien, Carroll, Auden and the places that inspired them.
Science and medicine
From Roger Bacon to thirty-one Nobel prizes. A favourite for medical and scientific delegates.
Walk between venues
Turn the transfer to the dinner venue into a themed tour. We got 250 delegates there for drinks.
Blenheim and the Cotswolds
Blue Badge guides for the region, with coach commentary on the way.
Getting your clients to Oxford
Oxford is easy to reach by coach, train and car. The M40 is close, the station is a ten-minute walk from the centre, and several coach companies serve the city day and night.
By coach and bus
The Oxford Tube runs from London Victoria every 10 to 15 minutes, calling at Marble Arch and other London stops, and takes about an hour and three quarters to reach Gloucester Green in the city centre. It runs through the night.
From the airports, The Airline coach runs directly between Heathrow, Gatwick and Oxford. National Express connects Oxford with Stansted and Luton, and there is a train service between Oxford and Birmingham Airport.
By rail
Trains run regularly between Oxford and London Paddington and take about an hour, apart from some slower services. Do check the Sunday timetable before travelling.
Oxford Parkway, on the edge of the city beside a Park and Ride, has a direct service to London Marylebone via Bicester Village. Trains from Oxford station also call at Oxford Parkway on the Marylebone line.
By car and coach
Parking in the city is very limited and on-street parking is often restricted to two hours. The best advice is to use one of Oxford's five Park and Ride car parks, where you can park all day for a small charge and catch a very frequent bus into the centre. Thornhill Park and Ride allows stays of up to 72 hours.
There are city-centre car parks at Gloucester Green, Worcester Street and Oxpens. For large groups, we recommend a stop at the services just outside Oxford before coming into the city.
Meeting your guide
We can meet wherever suits the group. The most common meeting points are the Ashmolean Museum, the Martyrs' Memorial and the train station. Coaches can drop off and pick up at the St Giles coach stop, the Oxford Playhouse on Beaumont Street and the Crown Court on St Aldates, for loading and unloading only. A guide can also meet a coach at the services and accompany it in.
Your client will have the guide's mobile number for the day. Guides are booked for the agreed duration, so please keep us updated if a group is running late, as extra time cannot always be given.
The terms, in plain English
Payment
Once your guide and tour are confirmed, we'll send an invoice with a secure card payment link. It's due 14 days before your walk, or straight away if you book closer than that.
Cancellation
Our guides are freelance and hold your date for you, so there's a charge if plans change. It's in line with Guild of Registered Tourist Guides guidance, and if you've already paid, we'll refund the difference.
- More than 7 days before: £50 per guide
- 7 days to 48 hours before: 50% of the fee
- Within 48 hours, or if you don't show: the full fee
If we have to make a change, for example through illness, we'll do our best to find a replacement guide. If we can't, we'll tell you as early as we can and either refund you in full or offer another date.
Late arrivals
Guides are booked for the agreed time and may have another tour afterwards, so they might not be able to stay on. If you're running late, let them know.
Larger groups
Pricing is per guide. One guide takes up to 19 people. Colleges set their own limits, from 6 to 19, and tour leaders count towards the numbers, so larger groups need an extra guide at an extra fee.
If a larger group wants to go inside a college, entry costs extra and the college's guide-to-student ratio applies. If a college caps groups at 14, for example, a group of 25 needs extra guides to go in.
Safeguarding
Children up to 17 must be accompanied by a supervising adult or teacher over 18, and we need advance notice of wheelchair users so we can plan an accessible route.
What costs extra
Your price covers the guided walk itself. These are paid on top:
- College or attraction entry
- Punting
- Food and drink
- Transport
- Extra guides for larger groups
We can book college entry for you and add it to your booking, or you can pay on the day where that's possible.
College access and entry charges
The colleges are working institutions and access varies with ceremonies, open days and events; more are open in the afternoon than the morning. Entry charges of roughly £3 to £12 per person are additional to the guide fee and are paid on the day or booked in advance.
Bank holidays and other languages
Tours on UK bank holidays cost £20 more per guide, and Christmas Day is double. Tours in a language other than English cost £10 more than the listed fee for up to two hours, £20 more for a half day and £30 more for a full day.
Send us the brief
Dates, party size, interests, languages and any constraints. We will reply with a quote and a proposed guide.