“Where’s the university?” people ask when they first visit Oxford. Truth is, it’s all around you, with 39 colleges scattered about the city – just follow those dreaming spires made famous by Victorian poet Matthew Arnold.

In the same way, the best hotels in this round-up may not be the most obvious ones – this is a city bursting with small, period properties. Some are slap-bang in the heart of the things, while others are a short bus ride from the centre. But all have their own unique charms – from slick interiors hidden behind grand 18th-century facades to mullion-windowed coaching inns and romantic cottage-style boltholes.

Don’t dismiss the surrounding villages, either, which are not only gorgeous but home to superb hotels, too, including high-class country pads complete with Michelin-starred food. Staying the weekend? Do one night in town and one night outside it, for an added Cotswoldy vibe. Wherever you choose to stay, make sure you leave plenty of time to explore one of England’s most beautiful cities.

Neighbourhood: City Centre

Sure, a night in the cells isn’t to everyone’s taste, but for those who don’t scare easily, this is hands down Oxford’s most atmospheric hotel.

Homed in a former prison, this hotel is somewhere you’d happily serve your time – from the Governor’s House and the House of Correction to A wing (the most Instagrammable one), where each room sprawls across three former cells. From here, the access corridor is the real jail wing – an open hangar of a place, with the original cell doors still in place and metal steps and walkways threading through the air.

Neighbourhood: City Centre

Plum on the high street opposite Radcliffe Square, this hotel on top of popular restaurant Quod offers quintessential views of those spires (and is itself in an 18th-century building).

The owner is an art collector, so, inside, you’ll find plenty of pictures and sketches livening up the walls. It’s smart, chic and good for business – rooms are modern without being over the top, though standard rooms can feel a little tight. The hotel offers free bike rental and a daily walking tour for guests. Night owl? Enjoy a tipple or three at the residents’ bar in the library, which is open until 2am.

Neighbourhood: Summertown

Burlington House is nestled in the peaceful​ Summertown neighbourhood, just a 10-minute bus ride north of the city centre. More boutique hotel than B&B, it manages to be homey without being twee, and smart but not smart-by-numbers.

The 12 comfy, triple-glazed rooms have jaunty feature wallpaper and clashing chairs and cushions. A huge bonus is the ebullient manager, who treats you like a long-lost cousin and will knock you up a feast of a breakfast, including homemade bread, yoghurt and granola, and melting gruyere omelettes.

Neighbourhood: City Centre

You wouldn’t know that this 17th-century coaching inn – a building that’s played host to the likes of Lewis Carroll and JRR Tolkein – is today a chain hotel. That’s because Mercure has used the lightest of touches, splicing four heritage buildings together opposite Magdalen College and its famous belltower.

The cosy rooms have feature walls sporting blown-up photos of famous Oxford sights. If you can, pick a room overlooking the ancient Exam Schools.

Neighbourhood: City Centre

Styled like an old British boozer that wouldn’t be out of place in London, the Porterhouse opened just a stroll from the station in 2017, and blasted onto the scene with an excellent steakhouse downstairs and seven slick, large rooms above it.

The rooms overlook a quiet residential street but there’s an urban, retro feel to the decor – think brass Art Deco-style lamps and velvet petrol-coloured headboards, paired with Somnus beds and Scandi wood furniture. Sleep well – because there’s steak for breakfast.

Neighbourhood: City Centre

Each of the rooms at this grand, three-storey Georgian house opposite the Oxford Union debating society (yes, the one all those politicians were president of) is named after a person or thing connected to Oxford. In case you’re not up on your history of, say, Lewis Carroll or the said Oxford Union, each room reveals more about the history of the relevant person or place.

The style is a deliciously modern update of “traditional”, with wood-panelled walls painted in shades of cream and dove, standalone bath tubs and plush velvet sofas, while bathrooms are stocked with White Company toiletries. Location-wise, you couldn’t get more central.

Neighbourhood: Sandford

This is a good bet for those after a taste of country life but who also want an easy bus ride towards the dreaming spires. Set in a manor dating back to the 1400s (though what remains is mainly 18th-century), it rests in 30 acres of grounds on the bank of the river Thames in Sandford, just beyond the bottom of Abingdon Road (one of Oxford’s main roads in and out of the city).

Despite the history, rooms are modern (and, yes, a wee bit boutique-by-numbers). Voco is the sustainability focused brand of IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group), so you can expect initiatives, such as duvets and pillows filled with 100 per cent recycled materials and bulk-sized amenities.

Neighbourhood: City Centre

On the riverbank just below Christ Church, perhaps the university’s grandest college, the Head of the River pub has long been one of the best places to while away an afternoon.

Now, you can continue into the night, with 20 gorgeous rooms that walk the line between fun and overly styled, with features including walls dressed in faux bookshelf wallpaper, retro iron bedsteads and exposed brick detailing. Breakfast is served in the pub downstairs.

Neighbourhood: Great Milton, Oxfordshire

Yes, it’s 12 miles out of town, but if ever there was a reason to taxi into the city, this is it: a 15th-century Chiltern manor house that’s spent the past 35 years as a two-Michelin-starred temple to food, thanks to owner Raymond Blanc (who runs a cookery school, plus a gardening school, on-site).

Expect individually designed rooms – some flouncy, some rustic, and some modern or masculine. You’ll also be treated to beautiful, wanderable gardens. But it’s the service that really stands out – from the fires that are discreetly lit while you’re at dinner, to the wake-up pots of tea in the morning, there’s an uncanny level of mind-reading.

Neighbourhood: South Leigh, Oxfordshire

Want a taste of country life but can’t stretch to Le Manoir? Try this beauty, 10 miles west of the city, in the village of South Leigh. Part of the boho Artist Residence mini chain, this 16th-century thatched and mullion-windowed inn has eight bedrooms (three of which are in the converted outbuildings), plus a shepherd’s hut.

Artist Residence is a mix of traditional and daring, pairing William Morris wallpaper with House of Hackney’s finest, plus Kit Kemp-style brightly patterned beds, chairs and even tiles.

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