3 Days in Oxford: A Harry Potter & His Dark Materials Itinerary

If you love Harry Potter or His Dark Materials (or both, like us!), Oxford is probably high on your bucket list of destinations to visit.

It definitely was on ours, for many years!

And when we finally got to go?

It was a million times better than we imagined! The Hogwarts and Lyra’s Oxford vibes are insane!

Good news?

You can cover so much even if you only have 3 days in Oxford.

All you need is the right itinerary, and that’s what we share in this post. 

This is how we spent 3 days in Oxford as Harry Potter and His Dark Materials fans.

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Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Btw, even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful travel tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own epic adventures too!

What do you need to know about our 3 days in Oxford

Here are some basics about our trip to Oxford, so it all makes sense to you – and so you can plan your holiday better!

When did we visit: October 2025. This was great not just to avoid crowds, but also to do the trip on a budget (Oxford is soo pricey, make sure to keep that in mind and check out our money-saving tips!).

How long did we spend in Oxford: 3 days. We arrived on Tuesday at 15:20 by bus and left on Friday at 15:49 by train.

Where did we stay in Oxford: At The Mad Hatter! Yes, it was Alice in Wonderland-themed, and as cool as the name suggests! And we stayed there on a budget! (full review with pros and cons)

How much did it cost us: £106.47 per day per person. But that includes an expensive side quest to London (to see the Hunger Games On Stage theatre show – yes, this post is full of big fandoms!) and one night in London at the end of the trip, before our flight home.

How did we get to Oxford: We travelled via London, and because of the Hunger Games adventure, we did the London – Oxford trip 4 times.

Can you do Oxford as a day trip from London: Yes! Here is all the info, plus tips. (COMING SOON)

If you have any questions as you’re planning your Harry Potter or His Dark Materials adventures in Oxford, give us a shout on our Instagram.

Or, even better, book a call with us, and we can help you plan your trip + talk all things HP and HDM!

So close, yet so far away

Are 3 days in Oxford enough?

Enough to blow through your yearly holiday budget?

Definitely, especially if you don’t use our money-saving tips!

But are 3 days in Oxford enough to see everything?

That depends on:

• What exactly you want to see
• How long you spend in each place
• How busy Oxford is when you visit
• How much chilling you want to be doing in the city

For us, 3 days were perfect – or would have been, if we didn’t have to rush to London for a theatre play during one day (unhinged planning – more on that here if you want to know why we sacrificed time in Oxford for a terrible theatre show).

You can absolutely see all the highlights of Oxford, including all the main Harry Potter and His Dark Materials locations in 3 days.

Having said that, in this 3-day itinerary, we’ll tell you:

• What we managed to cover in 3 days
• How long we spent in each place
• The things from our Oxford list that we didn’t manage to fit in – future trip!

Best time to visit Oxford as a Harry Potter and His Dark Materials fan

First thing you should do when you start planning your Oxford trip?

Decide when you want to go.

This might be more important for Harry Potter, than His Dark Materials, because which HP vibe do you want?

• Do you want the bright colours and sunshine of the first 2 movies?
• Or the dark vibes of the later ones?
• Does Harry Potter mean rainy weather, colourful leaves and cosy clothes for you?
• Or are you hoping for snow, recreating Christmas at Hogwarts?

For us, autumn is Harry Potter vibes, so travelling in October was perfect, even though we actually went in October because of His Dark Materials – more on that below!

Plus, going in October meant we did the trip on a low budget and avoided the summer crowds big time (including being alone in many cool places – we’ll tell you all about that)

Harry Potter locations in Oxford

First a bit of good news for you: so much of the city centre of Oxford feels like the world of Harry Potter.

Why is this good news?

If you’re planning on doing a Harry Potter-themed photoshoot, for yourself, your partner or kids, it means you don’t have to stress about how to make it work in the super popular (and often also super limited) actual HP locations.

You can absolutely take pictures there, but keep in mind that you can easily take Hogwarts-like pictures around the city as well:

• without as many people around
• during evening/at night for spookier or more magical feel
• and while being more relaxed, because you won’t have 30 other people lining up behind you as you try to take a pic on the famous Harry Potter staircase

Sadly, we didn’t do a Harry Potter photoshoot, in fact, we didn’t even have our house scarves with us (the curse of half-nomadic life, our possessions are all over the place), but it’s a fun activity that you should keep in mind when building your 3 days in Oxford itinerary.

Harry Potter at Christ Church College

Christ Church College is probably the most popular Harry Potter location, so make sure you book your tickets early before they sell out (it’s also cheaper).

There are 3 main Harry Potter locations at Christ Church:

1. Bodley Staircase (filming location)

This is THE staircase from Hogwarts, the one the students gather on in Year 1, before entering the Great Hall.

Tips for visiting Bodley Staircase:

• The staircase gets awfully busy, but if you wait long enough (and travel during low season), you might be able to snap pretty decent pictures there without people
• You won’t be able to access the staircase when the Great Hall (the actual dining hall at Christ Church College) is closed. There is a staff member on guard, stopping visitors from accessing the area as students go to have their lunch
• Keep the Great Hall closing time in mind (you can check this on the official website), and plan your Christ Church visit accordingly, so you don’t get stuck there for 2 hours, waiting while the students eat

2. The Great Hall (inspiration)

Speaking of the Great Hall at Christ Church College, while not the actual Hogwarts Great Hall, since the movies were never filmed inside, here’s why it’s considered a Harry Potter location:

• It’s a dining hall named the Great Hall
• You access it by taking the Bodley Staircase, the exact staircase which in the movies leads into the Hogwarts Great Hall
• The Christ Church Great Hall looks very much like the Hogwarts one  – you’ll see once you’re there (just minus the enchanted ceiling, sadly)

Again, a big note here: check the Great Hall closing times and plan accordingly.

If you’re on a self-guided audio tour of Christ Church, you can always come back after you’ve seen the rest of the college.

3. Cloisters (filming location)

The cloisters at Hogwarts are harder to identify, because they look very similar in many places around Oxford and the UK, but, apparently, when Hermione shows Harry his Dad’s Quidditch trophy, that very scene was filmed in Christ Church cloisters.

Other Hogwarts scenes of students walking around are also said to have been filmed here.

Pro tip: the cloisters are usually less busy and give such Hogwarts vibe – they are perfect for photoshoots!

Bonus tip for Christ Church College

If you want to feel like you’re walking through Hogwarts at night, make sure to attend an evensong at Christ Church College.

It gives you a special, after hours access, and is free, so you can go even if you’re doing Oxford on a budget!

New College Harry Potter locations

New College is the second college Harry Potter location in Oxford and one that seems to divide people.

Some end up disappointed – the entrance fee is pretty high (although you don’t have to book in advance, just pay at the door), and if you visit it after seeing Christ Church College, it might seem underwhelming.

Others love New College – it has a very different, more intimate vibe, which is a nice contrast after visiting the very-touristy feeling Christ Church.

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether New College is worth the cost for you. Check the price on the official website, and consider whether it’s worth these Harry Potter locations:

1. Malfoy’s tree (filming location)

The courtyard and its magnificent oak tree is the place where Draco Malfoy got famously turned into a ferret.

To spare you disappointment: you might not be able to access the courtyard and the tree itself, only walk around it through the cloisters. You’ll see how damaged the ground around the tree is, from people previously walking there.

2. Cloisters (filming location)

The courtyard is surrounded by beautiful cloisters, where Harry warned Cedric about the first Triwizard Tournament task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

3. Dining hall (inspiration)

While not as grand as Christ Church Great Hall, the New College medieval dining hall is actually the oldest in both, Oxford and Cambridge, and looks similar to the Hogwarts one.

As with Christ Church, check the opening times/ask the staff at the entrance about the dining hall closures. We were, for example, advised to go to there first, before seeing the rest of the college, as it was closing soon.

Pro tip: one of the reasons we loved New College? It was almost empty! We ended up hanging out for quite a while, and at times were alone in the dining hall, the chapel, as well as the courtyard with Malfoy’s tree. Admittedly, we visited on a very cold and miserable day in October, but if you’re after a more peaceful experience, where you can really feel like you’re at Hogwarts, you’re more likely to get it at New College, than at Christ Church.

Bonus tip: stay at Oxford colleges

Did you know you can actually stay at the colleges in Oxford, without being a student?

So you can literally be sleeping and dining at Hogwarts?

This is high on our bucket list, we have to admit (especially since we “ticked off” our top bucket list experience, seeing the Northern Lights!)

The issue is you can only stay at the colleges when students are away for holidays, the dates are not the same every year, and they often get released quite last minute.

Best thing is to keep checking the official websites (e.g. Christ Church, New College) and being flexible with your travel plans.

One more thing to note: only adults are allowed to stay at the colleges, so if you have kids, you’ll have to leave them to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs.

Bodleian Library and Harry Potter

When planning your visit to Bodleian Library, start by looking at the guided tours that are on offer.

The tour we did in 2025 wasn’t available anymore less than a year later, in 2026.

The two Harry Potter locations you want to see at Bodleian Library:

1. The Divinity School (filming location)

This room served as the Hogwarts Hospital Wing. Have you ever realised it’s also where the students practised their dancing for the Yule Ball?

2. Duke Humfrey’s Library (filming location)

This was the Hogwarts library – during our tour, our guide pointed out the exact spot where Harry got the screaming book from during his nighttime adventure in the Philosopher’s Stone!

Things to know about the Bodleian Library:

• You are not allowed to take videos in Duke Humfrey’s Library, but you can take pictures
• The library can only be visited with a guide, so you will have limited time to spend there
• On the other hand, you can do a self-guided tour of just the Divinity School (without visiting the library), meaning more freedom to walk around, take pics (and videos) etc. (although on the official website it does say the visit is limited to 15-minutes)
• When we visited, we did the combined tour: Divinity School and Duke Humfrey’s Library, which was ideal, because we got a guided tour of both and afterwards we were allowed to go back to the Divinity School without a guide, and without anybody checking how long we stayed for

We keep going on about visiting in October, when Oxford is less crowded, but it really made a big difference to our trip – something unbelievable actually happened when we visited the Divinity School:

“Daniel stayed behind to talk to our guide, after we visited Duke Humfrey’s Library, while I went ahead back to the Divinity School. I’ll never forget the feeling when I opened the big wooden doors to discover I was the only person there! It only lasted a minute or two, before other visitors entered, but it was such a magical feeling, it really was like I was at Hogwarts for a moment.” -Mirka

As with New College, we can’t promise you’ll have an experience like that, but it’s more likely during the shoulder/low season, than if you visit in the middle of summer.

These are the 3 main Harry Potter locations in Oxford: Christ Church College, New College and Bodleian Library.

But there are few more places you might want to add to your itinerary as a Harry Potter fan:

• University Church of St Mary – free, unless you go up to the tower. One blogger (annoyingly, did not note which one) said the stars on the church’s ceiling remind her of the stars that decorate Harry Potter book chapters. 
• Sheldonian Theatre – look out for a lightning bolt mark on the paving stones outside the theatre, which looks suspiciously like a certain famous scar…
• Blenheim Palace – Churchill’s birthplace is also home to Snape’s tree – the one from his memory shown to Harry in the Order of the Phoenix. Because the palace is outside of Oxford, we didn’t get to visit it, so we can’t share any tips from our own experience. If you end up going, do let us know, we’d love to see your pics of the tree!

Why we travelled to Oxford 

Despite being massive Harry Potter fans and wanting to go to Oxford for years, the reason we finally decided to book the trip was actually His Dark Materials.

When the release date for the last Book of Dust, The Rose Field, got announced, we decided it was a sign.

To finally do the trip we’ve been talking (and dreaming) about for years.

So we planned 3 days in Oxford around the book release date.

Excited to be in Oxford when the last part of the story Mirka had been waiting for for 21 years comes out.

We thought there’d be special events on, including ones with Philip Pullman himself.

If you know about our unbelievable bad luck, you might know where this is going.

There was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Not even a bookstore event – Waterstones around the country were doing special things, but the one in Oxford? Nothing, other than an earlier opening, or something equally anticlimactic.

Philip did show up, in the end. There was an interview with him which sold out instantly, and it was on in the evening of the day we left for London, so we wouldn’t have been able to go anyway.

Our bad luck is truly legendary. Make sure to follow us on Instagram where we frequently share our “not again” stories. 😅

Oh, and the book?

Turned out to be completely rubbish. (What did you think about The Rose Field? Let us know!)

Did all of this make us regret going to Oxford?

Not at all. It was an amazing holiday and Oxford is a beautiful place. 

In fact, we hope to go back soon. (We might have started planning another visit while we were still there.)

His Dark Materials locations in Oxford

These are the places you want to add to your itinerary if you love His Dark Materials:

• Technically, the whole of Oxford! Philip Pullman studied at Exeter College and frequented Bodleian Library during his research for the His Dark Materials and Book of Dust trilogies. As you know, Lyra’s Oxford is a version of ours, and Will actually comes from this world!
• Exeter College – this was an actual filming location for The Golden Compass movie – Lyra and Asriel are seen walking through the Fellows Garden at the start of the movie.
• Radcliffe Square – in The Golden Compass movie, Lyra and Roger run around the square to escape from the Gyptians – do you remember that scene?
• Christ Church College – the Main Quad called Tom Quad was where Lyra boarded the Zeppelin with Mrs Coulter and flew off to London in The Golden Compass (these days the travel between Oxford and London is far less exciting).
• New College – the more recent His Dark Materials HBO show was filmed around the college. For example, Lyra meets Mrs Coulter in the New College dining hall. She runs through the gardens and the Mound when Lord Asriel leaves her behind on his way up north. And you can visit the chapel or even attend an evensong there, if you want to join the Magisterium for a bit. Btw, did you like the HBO adaptation of the story? We have to admit, we really didn’t!

• Pitt Rivers Museum – the museum where Lyra sees the trepanned skulls in His Dark Materials. The museum previously also exhibited props from the franchise – naturally, not when we visited, because our luck!
• The Covered Market – in The Secret Commonwealth, Lyra brings her classmate Miriam to George’s Cafe. In our world, you can find Georgina’s Cafe at the market.
• White Horse – Lyra has drinks in the White Horse pub on Broad Street, which exists in our world too.
• Lady Margaret Hall – it is said that this college in our world mirrors St Sophia’s College where Lyra studies in hers.
• The Bodleian Library – also referred to as Bodley’s Library is where one alethiometer was kept and studied in La Belle Sauvage 

• Sunderland Avenue – Will found a window to another world here. Will you? (pun intended!)
• Godstow Abbey & The Trout pub – we didn’t manage to cover this during our trip, because it’s a bit further from the city centre, but this is Godstow Priory and the Trout Inn in Lyra’s world, which we got to know in the Book of Dust trilogy.
• Oxford Botanic Garden – this location probably doesn’t need any introduction. We headed to Lyra’s bench first, as soon as we entered, and just as well – when we circled the gardens and went to the bench later, two women were sitting on it having a chat. Which is understandable – it is a bench, after all, but we were quite disheartened that the bench was occupied and we couldn’t have another “where two worlds meet” moment!

Since Oxford has such strong ties to Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, it’s worth doing a quick search before your trip to see if any special events or exhibitions are on. Hopefully you’ll be luckier than we were! If so, please let us know, so we can envy you!

3-day Harry Potter and His Dark Materials itinerary for Oxford

Here’s the thing. We want to give you genuine advice here, from our own experience.

That’s why we’re going to give you our actual itinerary – our 3 days in Oxford.

Too many travel blogs build amazing itineraries that have one issue: they don’t count with the messy reality.

Well, not ours.

If anything, we’re known for the mess that happens as we travel.

So this is what our 3 days in Oxford really looked like, reality-adjusted:

Day 1 – Tuesday

• Arrived from Luton airport at 15:20
• Headed first to University Church of St Mary before it closed at 5pm
• Popped into the Covered Market, but most businesses were already closed (5pm). Daniel did manage to pick up local craft beer at the social enterprise The Market Tap though
• Checked out the Carfax Tower and Radcliffe Square. Started plotting how to come back to Oxford soon
• Missed out on All Souls College which shuts at 4pm for visitors
• Had a nosey in the Scriptum shop (closes at 6pm)
• Grabbed a hot chocolate from the speciality chocolate cafe Knoops
• Headed to Exeter College for our first evensong. Realised we cannot go in with hot drinks (don’t make this mistake)
• When the evensong finished, walked through Radcliffe Square and Bodleian Library after dark (so beautiful!)
• Finally checked into our awesome, Alice in Wonderland themed accommodation, The Mad Hatter (full review with pros and cons)
• Popped out to Tesco to buy a meal deal for dinner and pots for breakfast (saving money!)

Day 2 – Wednesday

• Breakfast at accommodation to save money
• Walked to Christ Church College past Botanic Garden and Merton Field
• 9:50am self-guided tour of Christ Church College
• Spent 3 hours exploring the college, then grabbed a hot drink from a coffee cart outside
• Walked to Museum of Natural History & Pitt Rivers Museum
• Spent 2 hours at the museums, but definitely wished we had more time
• Grabbed wraps from Najar’s Place, ate them while walking to the Oxford train station
• Took a train to London
• Tube to Canary Wharf where we saw the (terrible) Hunger Games On Stage theatre show
• Tube to Bond Street and the confusingly named Oxford Tube back to Oxford
• Arrived at our accommodation, The Mad Hatter, 1am, soaked and done

Day 3 – Thursday

• Breakfast at accommodation to save money
• 10am tour of the Bodleian Library
• Spent nearly an hour at Bodleian Library since we could return to the Divinity School on our own time
• Passed Sheldonian Theatre and The Bridge of Sighs 
• Explored New College where we spent around 2 hours
• Had a cake of dreams at Love Coffee Co. High Street
• Visited Blackwell’s bookshop
• Picked up the last Book of Dust: The Rose Field! (This was the release day)
• Evensong at Christ Church College at 6pm
• Delicious dinner at Ramen Korner to heat up
• Special, candlelit evensong at Exeter College at 9pm
• Walked to our accommodation, The Mad Hatter

Day 4 – Friday

• Breakfast at accommodation (The Mad Hatter) and checking out
• Spent near 4 hours at the Oxford Botanic Garden, because we are mad (grabbed a coffee there from their cafe/cart)
• Tasty sandwiches to go from The Alternative Tuck Shop
• Checked out the Gloucester Green Outdoor Market, wishing we could eat more
• Left Oxford on the 15:49 train to London

This is why we’re saying we did 3 days in Oxford, because the first and last days were really only half days.

If you do have any questions about our Oxford itinerary, give us a shout on our Instagram.

And if you wish someone could help you plan your 3 days in Oxford (or more!), you’re in luck – you can book a call with us, we can plan together, and chat all things Harry Potter and His Dark Materials too!

We hope you have the most magical time in Oxford, whether you’re going there for Harry Potter or His Dark Materials vibes (or both).

We fell in love with Oxford the moment we stepped out of the bus (actually even before, while seeing the city from the bus!), and we’re sure you’ll love it too.

It honestly does feel like you’ve just teleported to Hogwarts, or Lyra’s Oxford!