Where to stay in Oxford: the best areas and hotels

Central Oxford is small enough to cross in fifteen minutes and dense enough to fill a week. Broad Street has the Sheldonian Theatre and the Bodleian Library; the High curves gracefully down to Magdalen Bridge past one college after another; and the Ashmolean Museum, the Covered Market and Christ Church are all a few minutes apart. Staying here means early-morning quads before the tour groups arrive.

The Randolph is the grand old name, a Victorian Gothic landmark steps from the university with rooms in Oxford blue. Old Bank Hotel, home of the popular Quod restaurant, is on the High. Mercure Oxford Eastgate is a 17th-century coaching inn looking out at the Examination Schools and Magdalen Tower, and Vanbrugh House has 22 individually decorated rooms and a terrace.

The western side of the centre, between the station and the shops, is built around what is left of Oxford Castle: a Norman mound, a Saxon tower and the old county jail. George Street, running alongside, is the city's theatre and restaurant strip, and the Westgate shopping centre is next door.

Malmaison Oxford is the headline act, a hotel inside the former prison with a brasserie, a terrace and a garden. George Street Hotel has 41 air-conditioned rooms and a 24-hour front desk. Henry's is a guesthouse a five-minute walk from the Covered Market, and Courtyard by Marriott Oxford City Centre is a modern, eco-certified hotel with 151 rooms.

North of St Giles, the city turns residential and rather lovely. Jericho, once the home of printers and canal workers, is now a grid of pretty terraces with independent restaurants, an arthouse cinema and good pubs. Beyond it, the Banbury and Woodstock roads run out through streets of tall Victorian Gothic houses built for the first married dons. The University Parks and the museums are close by.

The Old Parsonage is the romantic choice: a building dating from 1660, with two terraces and a garden library, a five-minute walk from the centre. Cotswold Lodge is a Victorian villa with a restaurant and 24-hour room service. The Galaxie has 25 rooms in North Oxford, and St Margaret's Hotel is a simple, friendly stay with a garden.

The Thames slides round the south of the city past Christ Church Meadow, college boathouses and a string of riverside pubs. Follow the towpath downstream and you reach Iffley, a village with a superb Norman church, and then Sandford lock. It is a gentler, greener Oxford, and a fine choice in summer.

The Head of the River is a pub with 19 rooms right by the water at Folly Bridge, a short walk from Christ Church. voco Oxford Spires is a modern hotel a stroll from the centre. Mercure Oxford Hawkwell House spreads across two 19th-century manor houses in pretty gardens, and voco Oxford Thames sits on the riverbank about three miles from the city.

Oxford does not love cars, and parking in the centre is scarce. The hotels around the ring road solve that neatly. Holiday Inn Oxford is three miles from the centre and five minutes from Oxford Parkway station, with trains to London and Bicester Village; Blenheim Palace is a ten-minute drive. Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford is on the northern edge of the city.

To the south-east, Holiday Inn Express Oxford Kassam Stadium has free parking and a bus stop outside. Out towards the M40, the Oxford Belfry is a country hotel with a spa and pool, about ten miles from the city. Bargain hunters can also stay in Bicester, close to the designer outlets.

Half an hour west of Oxford the Cotswolds begin, and Burford is the perfect introduction: a wide high street of golden stone houses and old coaching inns running down to the River Windrush. Nearby Minster Lovell, with its ruined riverside hall, is one of the prettiest villages in the county.

The Bay Tree Hotel is a 16th-century house in Burford with character in every beam. Burford House has just six rooms and its own restaurant. In Minster Lovell, the Old Swan is a classic inn with bicycles to rent, and Minster Mill next door adds a spa and indoor pool.

South of Oxford the Thames loops through a series of handsome market towns. Henley-on-Thames is the best known, home of the Royal Regatta and the Leander Club; Wallingford and Abingdon are quieter and older. Any of them makes a relaxed base with Oxford as a day trip.

In Henley, Hotel du Vin has a bistro and terrace, and The Relais Henley has 40 rooms in the historic centre, three minutes on foot from the Leander Club. The George in Wallingford is a 16th-century coaching inn about a 20-minute drive from Oxford, and Hilton Garden Inn Abingdon is six miles south of the city.