The Fantasy Worlds of Oxford: Private Tour including ticketsPrivate Tour

Things to know

What makes this tour special

Experience the magical university city of Oxford, and see how it inspired the beloved fantasy worlds of Narnia, Middle Earth, and Wonderland and where Hogwarts was brought to life. 

On your private tour, you will: 

• Enjoy the personal attention of your private guide and enjoy a private tour of one of Oxford’s many colleges.
• Experience the myriad of Oxford’s enchanting streets and uncover the city’s fascinating history.
• 'Speak Friend and Enter' Tolkien's world, as you explore the streets which he called home around his two colleges.
• Journey around the classic sights - the Bridge of Sighs, Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre, and see the Divinity School, which showed up throughout the Harry Potter films.
• Wander past the Botanical Gardens, and learn about how Tolkien and Lewis both passed many hours in the gardens.
• Stroll through Christchurch Meadow, enjoying views of Merton College where Tolkien taught, and Christ Church where young Alice Liddle inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
• See Pembroke College, where Tolkien was a fellow and peer into the quadrangle where the ‘flying lessons’ in Harry Potter took place. 
• See the Ashmolean Museum where Tolkien worked for two years on the Oxford English Dictionary.
• Browse Blackwell’s, the student bookshop and where Tolkien’s first book was published. 
• End your tour in Blackwell’s with a delicious coffee, or if you are up for a longer walk, head to the famous Eagle & Child where the Inklings met to discuss their fantasy worlds over a pipe and a pint! 

Your tour of Oxford is for the young and the young at heart - for those who daydream of other worlds, of "golden afternoons" amongst the flowers and gardens, of snowy fields and Turkish delights, fantastically larger-than-life battles, of magical lions, and ethereal elves.

To step into an Oxford college is to enter another world. It's no wonder some of the English world's most famous fantasy stories were written and filmed here. It's the city in which the land of Narnia was invented, where Lewis Carroll wrote Wonderland, where Tolkien penned Middle Earth, and where Rowling's Hogwarts came to life. 

Wander the cobblestone streets and learn about the wonderful, life-long friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, who both penned their famous works out of a historic bet with one another. Hear about the world events that shaped Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and stumble upon the lamp post rumoured to be the entrance to Narnia. 

Enjoy a pint ('they come in pints?') or a light refreshment at the Eagle & Child pub, where the two authors and professors met each week to discuss their progress and the state of the world. No matter your age, perhaps you too will be swept away by this tour into the magic that inspired some of our most beloved tales. 

What you'll see

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