There are regular services from London Paddington. There are also regular links to other parts of the country via, Didcot, Reading and Birmingham. (Interactive timetable from National Rail - enter London Paddington for trains to/from London.) Oxford station is about a mile from the Department. The 14/14A bus service runs by the labs, from the train station Monday to Friday. The stop is on Banbury Road at the intersection with Keble Road - see Physics Department map below.
Directions
The most convenient airport for Oxford is London Heathrow - the Airline coach leaves from the Central Bus Station-bay 14A- (Terminals 1, 2, 3) every 30 min (10 min later from Bay 11, Terminal 5) and takes about 1.5 hrs (if arriving at Terminal 4, take the free "Shuttle Bus" to Terminal 5). From London Gatwick the Airline coach leaves every hour (stopping at both North and South terminals) and takes just over 2 hrs. If arriving at London Luton, it takes 3-4 hrs to get to Oxford by National Express coach (typically via London or Heathrow) while from London Stansted there is a direct 757 coach every 2 hrs which takes ~3 hrs to Oxford.
How To Find Us
Frequent 24-hour direct services connect Oxford with London (peak times every 10-20 minutes). The X90 service includes Victoria Coach Station, Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch, Baker Street/Gloucester Place and Hillingdon (tel: +44 (0)1865 785410). The Oxford Tube service includes Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch, Notting Hill Gate, Shepherd's Bush, and Hillingdon (tel: +44 (0)1865 772250). For information on coaches to other major cities and airports contact National Express (tel: +44 (0)8717 818178). Coaches arrive at Gloucester Green Coach Station in the city centre - that is about half a mile from the Department - see city centre map below. There is also a coach service from Cambridge (X5 via Milton Keynes).
There are frequent coach services to Heathrow and Gatwick (The Air Line). The journey from Heathrow takes just over an hour on a good day (a little longer from Terminal 4) and two hours from Gatwick. Tickets can also be bought on-line. There is a free shuttle service between Terminal 4 and the other terminals. A taxi from Heathrow to Oxford will cost you at least £50. Most taxis take four passengers. This is a rather expensive way of arriving at Oxford. There is a less frequent service to Stansted Airport (757 via Stansted). From Luton airport, a coach runs every 2 hours. The journey time is around 2 hours. More frequent connections are available by train. Trains run from Luton Airport Parkway station to Oxford via London. Two changes are necessary, the train arrives at St Pancras then you must take an underground link to Paddington, from which trains run to Oxford, see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/. The journey time is about 3 hrs. . Birmingham International Airport (BHX) is a good alternative airport for travelling to Oxford. The train station is linked to the passenger terminals by a free, frequent Air-Rail link, which runs every 2 minutes from 0515 to 0200. The journey time is less than 2 minutes. There is a frequent train service from Birmingham International train station to Oxford, and the journey time is approximately one hour. Timetables can be found at www.nationalrail.co.uk.
The M40 motorway swings by Oxford on the north-east side and links with the M1, M4, M5 and M25. If you approach Oxford from the east on the M40 you should leave at junction 8 or, from the north at junction 9 - see maps above right. Those travelling on the M4 should get off at junction 13, Newbury, and take the A34 north to Oxford. When you get to Oxford you have the problem of parking and we recommned using one of the 5 Park and Ride sites on the outskirts of the city with parking and quick and frequent bus service to city centre, more info here.
