Harry Potter PRIVATE Tour + Self Guided Christ church Daily 12.45

based on 31 reviews

Duration:3 hours to 3 hours 20 minutes (approx.)
Location: Oxford, South East England

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This tour is suitable for all ages and it focuses on Oxford's literary heritage such as the lives of Lewis Carroll and 'Alice' Liddell who lived at Christ church college. You will also learn lots about the making of Harry Potter in Oxford plus about other Oxford writers such as CS Lewis of Narnia fame & Tolkien of the Lord of The Rings.

Duration: 2 hours. Your ticket includes up to £23 per person entry fees to Christ church plus the Divinity school Harry Potter film sites.

Notice: The final third hour of your tour is self guided audio guide entry to Christ church as private guiding is no longer permitted inside.

We guarantee entry tickets to visit Christ church- buying entry tickets on your own is complicated & they usually sell out.

See 'Additional Info' or 'Voucher Info' for known dates when Divinity school may be closed. On such occasions, we will replace with entry to an extra college such as Exeter college, where Tolkien studied or Wadham college which JK Rowling applied to.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

✓ Entry includes Christ church PLUS as & when open, the Divinity school
✓ Your ticket includes up to £23 in entry fees per person as part of your ticket from 2020 onwards

✗ Skip the queue entry Christchurch tickets, please note that if you book us at short notice, then Christchurch pre-purchase tickets may have already sold out. In this case, the guide and you need to queue for entry to Christchurch to buy tickets on the door. This can take even 30 minutes on busiest days, so please try to book us ahead! Tours are only cancelled, if Christchurch itself is closed to entry.
✗ Divinity school usually closes for Xmas on Dec 24 and January 1st- actual dates not yet known
✗ Divinity school is presumed closed on these dates in 2024 below....
✗ July 13+23+26+27, Aug 3, Sep 27+28, Nov 8+9+16 of 2024
✗ Christ church HALL is viewing from hall door only on June 21, September 28, October 4 of 2024
✗ Christ church is closed on June 25 to June 27, September 20 and on December 25 of 2024
✗ Christ church is closed from 12.30 onwards on September 19 of 2024
✗ Christ church HALL ONLY closed on October 6 + 11 2024
✗ Christ church HALL ONLY closed on January 17 of 2025

WHAT TO EXPECT

1. Christ Church
Christchurch entry fee worth £17 or 18 per person is included in your ticket. Please note that entry to Christ church is self guided with audio guide as guiding is no longer permitted inside. The first two hours+ are a guided tour with the guide, followed by one hour self guided audio guide guaranteed pre booked entry ticket. Notice: even if Christ church website shows entry tickets are sold out, we still have VIP access to continue buying entry tickets up to 3 hours before the tour starts.
2. Bodleian Library
Your guide will take you inside the Divinity School film site at the Bodleian library, as & when it is open. This £3 entry fee is included in ticket price. NOTICE: We do NOT visit inside the Bodleian medieval library though as it is NOT accessible to any tour operator or guide, nor to any children aged under 11 years old. On any dates that Divinity school may be closed- see such dates published on this page for closures notice- the tour will instead visit New college film site. If New college is also listed as closed on such dates, then this tour will only include entry to Christ church.
3. Radcliffe Camera
We pass by & mention such famous sights
4. Bridge of Sighs
We pass by & mention such famous sights
5. New College
We will introduce New college Oxford university college from the outside only. This is where they filmed several scenes from the Goblet of Fire movie. If you wish to visit New college on your own after the tour ends, then you can just pay on the door without pre booking tickets to enter New college. Last entry to New college is about 4.30pm. Note also that New college is not open on Mondays during winter season mid October to mid March. During summer season, New college is open daily from 10.30am to last entry at 4.30pm & currently its entry tickets cost £8 per adult in 2023.
6. The Turf
The Turf Tavern is often described as Oxford's 'Three Broomsticks pub', due to its quaint look and odd location hidden away an alleyway that looks surprisingly like Knockturn alleyway. We don't visit inside the Turf but so long as the tour group size is not too large, we walk past this pub to introduce it as this is where Robbie Coltrane who plays Hagrid, used to drink with the other adult actors, while filming next door at New college.
7. Hertford College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route.
8. All Souls College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. All Souls is the most exclusive college in Oxford as it's only a college for research but we like to point out to children how its towers signpost a 'W'- thus possibly making it a secret call sign for where witches or wizards study in Oxford!
9. Brasenose College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. This is where the likes of a famous Slytherin master of dark arts called David Cameron studied! It's also where Michael Palin and William Golding studied too.
10. Exeter College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. This college gave the title of, 'honorary lecturer' to JK Rowling and it's where one of Rowling's favourite authors studied- namely JRR Tolkien.
11. Jesus College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. This is where Lawrence of Arabia studied....and maybe Jesus too!
12. Lincoln College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. If the entrance is open, we usually stop here for 5 minutes to take photos from the entrance. This is where the current Slytherin Prime Minister studied but also where the write of Dr Seuss children's stories was a Rhodes scholar.
13. Oxford Covered Market
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. We briefly visit here to see the Harry Potter chocolate cakes in the cake shop window and to see and hear about the connection between Alice in Wonderland and Oxford, with several Alice related characters on display. This is the oldest Covered market in England.
14. Balliol College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. This college dating back to 1263 has produced 4 Slytherin Prime Ministers including...the Boris. Adam Smith was a member of this college.
15. St. Michael at the North Gate
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. This church we discuss from outside. Shakespeare in Oxford stories are discussed here and the tower dates back to 1040 AD!
16. University Church of St. Mary the Virgin
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. We introduce Mr Tumnis figure and the street lamp outside the church here as it's said to have inspired CS Lewis.
17. Merton College
We introduce various colleges and sights briefly, like this one, as we walk past it on our route. This is where Tolkien taught.

ADDITIONAL INFO

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• NOTICE: this tour starts at 12.45 and not as the description suggests at 12.30!
• NB Please plan much more time that you expect to arrive in Oxford, especially if you are driving and need to park.
• Your ticket includes up to £20 in entry fees per person
• These tours MUST START ON TIME as we may pre purchase entry tickets for fixed entry times. If you arrive after the tour has started, you will unfortunately therefore lose your booking. Please arrive 5 minutes early for your tour at our meeting point. If you arrive more than 5 minutes later than the scheduled tour, then you will likely forfeit and lose your booking as it interrupts the guide and other customers, if we are trying to find you after a guide has started and left the meeting point.
• INFO FOR DRIVERS AND PARKING:
• If you are driving, then please allow extra 30-60 minutes over whatever time you think it will take you to get here. Oxford is NOT car friendly and it is congested roads and hard to find parking spaces....unless you park at the sign posted 'park and rides' on edge of town on any major road into the city and hop on their buses into city centre. The park and ride buses leave every 15 or every 30 minutes and take anything from 10 min to 30 min (depending on traffic) to reach city centre. So if you are going to drive, then please assume you should be aiming to park your car about one hour before your tour starts.
• PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
• We actually recommend instead using the much faster and reliable train services but again please aim to arrive about an hour or earlier before your tour starts as trains can be delayed and the train and coach station are about 15 minutes walk from our meeting point. There is also the coach service from London called the Oxford Tube which leaves every half hour or more but it can take much longer than its advertised 105 minute journey time. It drops you off either at High street Oxford or Gloucester Green coach station. It's quicker to ask to get off on High street near Carfax tower, then it's a 10 minutes walk to Broad street.
• Our higher ticket price reflects the special quality of typically having smaller groups than our competitors & our excellence at having almost daily 5 star reviews for this tour! While this tour closes for online bookings with up to 1 hours notice but if you ask Viator to call us up for last minute requests by phone, that may still be possible.
• INCLUDED IN TICKET PRICE:
• This guided tour with guide includes entry fee to Christchurch film site (worth £18 per person) plus we enter Divinity school film site (at Bodleian library) as & when it is open only worth £3 per person.
• Skip the queue entry Christchurch tickets, during summer, please note that if you book us at short notice, then Christchurch online tickets may have already sold out. In this case, the guide and you need to queue for entry to Christchurch to buy tickets on the door. This can take half hour+ on busiest days, so please book us ahead!
• IMPORTANT NOTICE IN CASE OF UNFORESEEN PARTIAL OF FULL CLOSURES:
• All these film site venues are private institutions, so we can't always guarantee entry to all parts of the college. Thus, please see details below of any dates with possible closures, before you book us.
• Please note that occasionally, Christchurch dining hall may be closed or can viewing from the hall entry only. This doesn't prevent us from running the tour, as contrary to public belief, Christchurch dining hall is NOT a Harry Potter film site. What they filmed was the staircase & cloisters. We endeavour to publish below, details of any dates when Christchurch has published that the dining hall is closed or can only be viewed from hall entrance lobby. However, these can be last-minute.
• REFUNDS POLICY:
• Please note that we do not offer refunds, unless there are exceptional circumstances to prevent the tour from running. Please therefore check the published dates of known Christchurch full or partial closures, as published on this website page!
• If you opt to book a foreign language tour, this may be possible if you give us adequate advance notice of at least 24 hours. If we cannot offer a tour in a foreign language, then you will be refunded or invited to join the tour in English with any cost difference refunded.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Posted By : Companion52759968376
Micheel was an excellent informative guide. He showed me a side to Oxford that I hadn't seen before. And kept us all engaged with questions about the films.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-01-27 04:07:45

Posted By : Rebecca_T
Fantastic guide. Alisdair was very knowledgeable, entertaining and funny. Beautiful autumnal day added to the wonderful atmosphere of the whole tour.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-11-26 13:12:14

Posted By : Caroline_G
Wonderful tour with our very funny guide Peter. Lots of fun and chocolate, and Oxford is the best town. I highly recommend this tour.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-08-12 03:03:15

Posted By : 494Besucher
Unfortunately, the most important Harry Potter filming locations were not shown. The tree in Oxford's New College, for example, was not visited, which I don't think is a good thing, as it is almost the most important filming location. To be fair, the location of New College is not mentioned in the tour description, so it would make sense to book a tour with this option.
The tour is more Oxford-focused and less about Harry Potter. I think a standard tour that costs less is very similar but cheaper, but everyone has to decide for themselves.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-08-07 04:50:01

Posted By : Kimberly_L
Perfect for kids who are Harry Potter buffs! Lots of snacks, Harry Potter outfits to dress up in, and access to Christchurch. Extremely experienced tour guide.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-09-02 21:36:37

Posted By : JPASSP
Excellent tour the whole family loved! Naima did a fantastic job of showing us beautiful Oxford, showing us Harry Potter filming locations, pointing out details around town related to Alice in Wonderland, gave us tons of history about Oxford College and tips for dining and entertainment! We saw things we never would have seen on our own. Naima was a joy and even had props for photos she brought with her.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-08-22 20:11:06

Posted By : mandyblacker
We were a family of four with two older teenagers. When we booked this tour, I wasn't sure how interested they would be in this kind of thing . Peter made the tour fun and very informative. There were lots of "bonus facts" and quizes. We were fascinated how the authors linked in with each other. The Harry Potter gown, hat and wand were a big hit ( with one daughter!) who kept it on all the tour. This really made the photos special. Both the girls and adults thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon . When we booked, we thought it was quite expensive, but actually, the tour was well worth it. We were not rushed, and the whole tour ended up taking 3 hours. Peter was happy to answer questions and was very knowledgeable about both Oxford , Harry Potter and famous Oxford authors. We are now planning a return visit and intend to do another tour.

Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2020-02-10 16:44:55

Posted By : BMW-M8-2020
e had a fantastic experience! Our guide Peter was very knowledgeable and engaging with our children. He had extensive knowledge of Harry Potter and really made it fun for the kids. At the end of the tour, he took the extra time to share his own experience and knowledge of Oxford, which really added to our Oxford experience. For this reason, we highly recommend this tour and will definitely be using them in the future!

The knowledge of the tour guide and the engagement with our children.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2019-09-04 19:29:14

Posted By : Kara A
No directions and follow up communication was nothing but rude and unprofessional. We went to the wrong meeting place and even Christ church employees said they were unprofessional
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2019-08-01 12:27:55

Posted By : MikeJanddn
Our guide (sorry, I can’t remember his name) was excellent. Extremely informative, kept the whole group (8 all up) enthralled with the stories he was able to tell us, both about the buildings we were looking at as historical buildings within the University colleges, and how the particular rooms were used in the Harry Potter movies, and also other shows that sites had been used in. Very entertaining, and excellent value tour.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2019-07-29 13:40:15

Retrieving available

Tickets

Harry Potter PRIVATE Tour + Self Guided Christ church Daily 12.45

WHAT'S INCLUDED

WHAT TO EXPECT

1. Christ Church

2. Bodleian Library

3. Radcliffe Camera

4. Bridge of Sighs

5. New College

6. The Turf

7. Hertford College

8. All Souls College

9. Brasenose College

10. Exeter College

11. Jesus College

12. Lincoln College

13. Oxford Covered Market

14. Balliol College

15. St. Michael at the North Gate

16. University Church of St. Mary the Virgin

17. Merton College

ADDITIONAL INFO

CANCELLATION POLICY

Partner Resources

How it works

Travel

Insurance

Adventure

Contact

Retrieving available

Tickets

Harry Potter PRIVATE Tour + Self Guided Christ church Daily 12.45

WHAT'S INCLUDED ⟱

WHAT TO EXPECT ⟱

1. Christ Church

2. Bodleian Library

3. Radcliffe Camera

4. Bridge of Sighs

5. New College

6. The Turf

7. Hertford College

8. All Souls College

9. Brasenose College

10. Exeter College

11. Jesus College

12. Lincoln College

13. Oxford Covered Market

14. Balliol College

15. St. Michael at the North Gate

16. University Church of St. Mary the Virgin

17. Merton College

ADDITIONAL INFO ⟱

CANCELLATION POLICY ⟱

Partner Resources

How it works

Travel

Insurance

Adventure

Contact

WHAT'S INCLUDED

WHAT TO EXPECT

ADDITIONAL INFO

CANCELLATION POLICY