Abingdon Things to Do

Raoul's Bar is an old favorite on Walton Street. It sells the strongest and tastiest cocktails you could want, at very good prices. The music is loud, but once you're cozily ensconced in a nook, you won't mind the lively, busy... more

Although part of a chain, Pierre Victoire does manage to convey the sense of being a truly authentic French restaurant—it is even managed by a French lady! Wooden tables and rickety wooden stairs dominate the restaurant's close... more

The bar at the Beat Cafe is decorated with big black and white photos and seems to have a constant techno soundtrack on the go. However, don't let that make you think it's an uncomfortable or overly trendy kind of bar. On the c... more

Christ Church Picture Gallery is no ordinary college picture gallery. The collection began in the 18th century as the result of a gift of hundreds of paintings and nearly 2000 drawings from General John Guise, a former student... more

Being opposite the New Theatre, The Grapes makes for a natural stopping-off point after a show. A beautiful brass and mirror-bedecked watering hole, it is friendly and busy; but despite its popularity, you can nearly always fin... more

The Old Tom, situated opposite Christ Church College, is one of Oxford's most famous and popular pubs. Its position and name clearly help it to pull in the passing tourist trade, but the pub is worth a visit in its own right. I... more

Carfax is where the four principal roads of Oxford meet. This 13th-century tower is all that now remains of the former town church of Oxford: St Martin's. The church became unsafe and was demolished in 1820, and then rebuilt an... more

Schools in this context means teaching rooms—the quad was built in 1613-24 to bring together the lecture rooms, which were, until then, dispersed throughout the city. Teaching was in Latin, and over the doors the early 17th-cen... more

This is one of a number of grand and architecturally important buildings at the eastern end of Broad Street. The Clarendon was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor (a pupil of Wren), and built in 1712 by the Oxford University Press f... more

Known as 'The Taylorian' and completed in 1844, this building, with its impressive classical features inside and out, houses lecture theaters, offices and the main libraries and reading rooms of the Modern Languages Faculty, an... more