Evensong in Oxford: What to Expect as a Visitor

We’ll be honest with you. Attending an evensong in Oxford is one of the best money-saving hacks we’ve discovered there.

The big perk?

You’ll get into Oxford’s colleges for free – and after dark, when they’re closed to regular visitors!

But what is an evensong in Oxford really like?

It’s a church service after all – what if you are non-religious?

And where do you go for it? Will it be weird just showing up at the gate of a college after dark, looking like Buddy in a school full of elves?

We attended 3 evensong services during our trip to Oxford: one at the Christ Church Cathedral and two at Exeter College Chapel (including a magical, candle-lit service that wasn’t even on the schedule!).

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know to enjoy an evensong in Oxford without feeling like a cave person in an Apple store.

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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 is an evensong?

An evensong is an evening prayer service, and, as the name suggests, most of it is delivered in the form of music.

Colleges in Oxford still hold evensongs to keep centuries-old academic traditions alive, and to provide a peaceful way to reflect on the day – more on this interesting fact later.

You can attend a service in the college chapel, or, if you visit Christ Church College, in a cathedral.

So far all of this sounds pretty religious, right? 

If you’re a non-religious person, you might be wondering whether you should attend an evensong in Oxford.

Can I attend an evensong in Oxford as a non-religious person?

This was a big question for us, because we are non-religious, and always feel out of place at church services (for example wedding ones).

Will it be extremely awkward attending an evensong in Oxford as a non-religious person?

Turns out, not at all.

First, there is no need to be Christian to attend an evensong. 

In fact, you don’t have to be religious at all.

Anyone can attend an evensong in Oxford.

Is an evensong service very religious?

You might be wondering though, how religious the service feels, if religion is something you object to.

Mirka speaking: “I will answer this personally, being the atheist with a lot stronger opinions on religion out of the two of us.

I did worry about this.

To be honest, if you’re able to step inside a chapel or a cathedral and focus on what matters to you, you should be fine.

I spent most of the evensong soaking up the atmosphere, looking around at the architecture and, honestly, just thinking thoughts. 

Which, similarly to reflecting on your day, is a rare opportunity. To just sit with your thoughts.

Basically I focused on the non-religious aspects of the experience.

The one thing I did have an issue with was being “group blessed”. I don’t know the proper terminology, but at one point, the priest leading the evensong blessed all of us attending the service, as a group.

I did feel like this was crossing the line on the “you don’t have to be religious to attend” statement, but I did also recognise that I was, very literally, in their house, which comes with their rules and rituals.

I also reminded myself that a blessing is meant as a well-intentioned gesture towards the person. So while I object to the whole religious aspect of it, I can still recognise that the idea behind it is meant to be positive and supportive.”

What to do at an evensong as a non-religious person

We want to talk more about what you can actually do during an evensong, because this was one of the things nobody mentioned before we went.

You can absolutely spend time just looking around at the architecture of the chapel (or the cathedral, if you go to Christ Church College), enjoying the fact you are there after hours, seeing the whole place atmospherically lit up.

But here is an interesting idea.

It was the Exeter College chaplain who explained to us that evensongs aren’t just about following the words of choral music.

They are held in the evening on purpose – so that you can spend time reflecting on your day.

To be honest with you, that really resonated with us.

Even as people who talk together a lot, there is so little time to really pause and think about your day, in this mad world we live in.

Having that kind of opportunity is rare: your phone is put away (more on this soon), nobody can disturb you and, because you can’t talk to the person next to you, you’re simply left alone with your thoughts.

This might sound scary to you, or it might make you go: omg, I would love that! A bit of peace and quiet to just be.

In that case, you’re going to really enjoy an evensong in Oxford.

We definitely left our first one wishing it was a thing at home too, so we could have scheduled reflection time more often! (And yes, we could do it ourselves, but it’s not the same when you’re not in a centuries-old chapel in Oxford!)

Is it worth attending an evensong in Oxford?

We keep repeating ourselves, but honestly, attending an evensong in Oxford is one of the best things you can do on your trip there.

Here is why:

1. You get into Oxford colleges for free

We suspect this is why most tourists really attend evensongs, and we have to admit, it was partially how we decided which one to go to (more on this below).

We don’t know how about you, but we love special experiences, such as early morning or after hours tours, like the time we explored a Disney-like castle at night.

So the idea of getting into colleges after opening hours and without having to pay the super high fees (btw, make sure you save money where you can), was definitely one of the reasons we wanted to attend an evensong in Oxford.

Add an evensong or two to your itinerary – it’s one of the best free things you can do that’ll help you keep your trip on a budget.

2. It’s super atmospheric

We share our story from Christ Church College below, but basically, if you want totally magical vibes, feeling like you are at Hogwarts after dark, this is it.

The dark colleges, lit up with warm lights, students heading to dinner in the dining halls or just hanging out, it was such a chilled out vibe – very different from the touristy experience you’ll get during the day.

3. It gives you space to think

We talked about this here, but having the time to sit with your thoughts, to reminisce on what you’ve experienced in Oxford so far, or to just be in the moment – that’s rare.

There’s a different side to this though: while adults might enjoy this opportunity, kids might find it beyond boring. 

We saw kids during the evensong at Christ Church College near jumping out of their skin with boredom. If you’re doing a family trip to Oxford, think about how well your kids can handle sitting quietly for 45 minutes, and whether you’ll be able to have your peaceful time at all with them.

4. You’ll be taking part in a living tradition

As the official Choral Evensong website explains, you’ll be taking part in a nearly 500-year old tradition, by attending an evensong.

It’s definitely worth keeping in mind – it makes the experience even more profound.

Fun fact: the Choral Evensong website encourages you to “be enchanted”. We couldn’t agree more!

Where can I attend an evensong in Oxford?

You can see the schedule of evensongs in Oxford on this website.

Have a look to see what evensongs are available during your trip to Oxford, and add them to your itinerary.

A little warning: some days there are so many evensong options available, you might struggle to decide which one to go to!

We had this issue – we only had two evenings available in Oxford (we lost one night by going to London to see a terrible theatre show), and there were so many options!

We thought about which colleges we wanted to see and even looked up the chapels/cathedral to see what they looked like.

It might sound like too much, but we thought we would only fit one, max two evensongs in, so we wanted to pick the best option for us.

In the end, we decided to first attend an evensong at Exeter College (night 1) and then a service at Christ Church College Cathedral (night 3).

Unexpectedly, we managed to fit a third evensong in, again at Exeter College, and it was such a special one – we’ll tell you all about it.

What are evensongs in Oxford like?

We know what you really want to know, so we’ll tell you that at the start:

No participation is required during an evensong.

Here is all you have to do:

• Come to the college a bit earlier than the service starts (we arrived around 10 minutes before, but it depends on whether you are heading to a smaller college, or the popular service at Christ Church).
• Tell the staff member at the entrance that you are there for an evensong. Remember that while for you this is the first time, for them it’s a regular occurrence – you are not the first tourist to come to an evensong, even if you do feel like an elephant in a hot air balloon.
• You will be told to either wait or to go inside the chapel.
• As you enter, you will be given a booklet with the order of service for the evening. You can follow along, but you don’t have to.
• Take a seat in the chapel or the cathedral.
• Make sure you put your phone on silent.
• Enjoy your first evensong in Oxford.
• Return the booklet as you leave.

That’s really all, nothing scary, we promise.

Having said that, the evensongs do differ a bit from college to college, and we’ve got some tips we want to share with you that will make your experience better.

Christ Church College evensong

If you’re attending more than one evensong in Oxford, we would advise you choose Christ Church College as your first one.

Why?

Because it’s the most popular college, that is also the most expensive to visit (yikes the prices!), and it’s also a very organised experience.

Here is what attending an evensong at Christ Church College was like for us:

• First, go to the right place. We assumed that as visitors we’ll be entering through the visitors’ entrance, like we did when we came to tour the college. Turns out, for an evensong, you are meant to go to Tom Gate on St Aldate’s street.
• Thankfully, we planned to arrive around 10 minutes earlier, so we had time to go round the college to the correct entrance.
• We worried we were going to be cutting it close, but there was actually quite a queue. Since Christ Church College is so popular, you are not allowed to walk to the cathedral yourself. You’ll queue at the entrance and then get escorted straight to the cathedral.
• Because there were quite a few of us, there was a lot more staff managing the service as well. We were informed that we cannot use phones during the service, and staff were walking around during the evensong and it looked like they were checking that no one was secretly recording.
• After the evensong service finishes, you will be asked to exit by walking around the large Tom Quad again. On the way back, the process was a bit more relaxed. We weren’t escorted like at the start, so while we couldn’t wander around the rest of the college freely, we did hang around a bit, to snap some pics and take in the atmosphere.

Why should you attend a Christ Church College evensong?

After reading this, you might be wondering why we are sending you to a Christ Church College evensong – it sounds pretty touristy, rather than solemn, right?

True, the atmosphere of the evensong definitely wasn’t as magical as it was at Exeter College.

But if you’re nervous about attending a small evensong, in a group of just a few people, Christ Church College is almost guaranteed to have a big attendance. And you won’t feel awkward showing up at the entrance, having no idea what to do, like we did the first time at Exeter College.

Once you see what an evensong is really like, you can then decide whether you want to give a smaller college a go too.

One more reason?

On the way back, when we hung around a bit, we truly felt like we were at Hogwarts.

It was dark, and some special event must have been on for the students, because we saw them rushing to The Great Hall through the Tom Quad all dressed up. It was like we just teleported into the 4th Harry Potter during Yule Ball! (minus the snow)

One of the most magical moments we had at Oxford – and you can have these kinds of experiences even without spending a fortune.

Exeter College evensong

We were brave (read: unaware), and attended our first evensong at Exeter College.

The experience was very different from Christ Church:

• When we arrived at the entrance (only one option, thankfully), we had no idea what to do. Do we knock on the porter’s office door and announce ourselves there? Do we just walk in? So stressful!
• In the end, a staff member approached us, and directed us to a bench to wait. We didn’t manage to visit Exeter College during our trip to Oxford, so it was nice to see a bit of the main quad.
• There weren’t any crowds heading in, so when we judged it was appropriate, we went inside the chapel and took our seats.
• There were just a few of us there for the evensong, so it felt very intimate – a very different vibe from Christ Church, as we later discovered.
• After the service, we were kinda left to our own devices. Unsure whether we can hang around or whether we are supposed to leave immediately, we walked around the main quad, peaking into places a bit. Similarly to Christ Church, it was such a magical moment, being in the college after dark!

A secret candlelit evensong 

It wasn’t just the fact that there weren’t a lot of us at the Exeter College evensong that made it feel different from Christ Church. 

We really liked the chaplain too. Reverend Andrew Allen turned out to be this young, modern, friendly guy with a chilled out vibe – very much the opposite of the priests we are used to.

At the end of the service, he told us about the upcoming events at the college that we could attend even as visitors, including a special candlelit evensong that wasn’t on the official schedule!

He said that these candlelit services felt even more magical, and we instantly knew we were going to attend.

So that’s how we ended up at Exeter College the second time – on night 3 of our Oxford trip, we attended the evensong service at Christ Church College, then went for dinner (great katsu!), and then headed to Exeter College for the candlelit evensong at 9pm.

It really was magical: just a few members of the choir, a few of us visitors and no lights.

Okay, that kinda sounds like the start of a horror movie.

There was light – from candles that were arranged in front of the altar and each of us also got a long candle to hold during the service.

Extra spiritual, extra magical, extra suited for reflecting.

Daniel loved the atmosphere and said it was one of the top experiences from our whole Oxford/London trip!

In our post on how to save money in Oxford we talk about the vibe you want to have during your trip there. 

As big Harry Potter fans, we wanted autumn, magical vibes, and evensongs fitted right into that atmosphere.

If you do attend one, dm us your experience – we’d love to hear what you thought!

And if you want help planning your Oxford adventures, because organising a trip can be super stressful, remember that you can always book a call with us.