ETISS 2008

Travel Advice

The Summer School is held at Oriel College, Oxford.

By air

You will probably arrive at one of London's four airports:

• Heathrow Airport (LHR): this is the simplest. The Oxford Airline runs regular bus services, every 20 or 30 minutes throughout the day. The journey time is about 80 minutes.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW): is also straightforward, with the same company offering services every hour. The journey time is about 120 minutes.
• Luton Airport (LTN): bus services operated by National Express take around three hours to reach Oxford, usually, though there are some quicker direct services. It is probably simplest to take a train in to London (25 minutes, plus a transfer from the airport to the train station), and then travel across London (40 minutes) and take the train from London Paddington station to Oxford. (60 minutes)
• Stansted Airport (STN): is the furthest from Oxford, and is similarly served by mostly indirect buses or trains (three or four hours by bus; similar journey times to Luton for train).

If you are willing to pay around £100, it is possible to arrange a taxi collection service from the airport. We have had good service from Oxicars.

An alternative is to travel to Birmingham International Airport (BHX), which is well-served by trains to Oxford (1-hour journey).

Buses and Trains

Good bus services cover the journey from central London to Oxford, operated by The Oxford Bus Company and The Oxford Tube.

Oxford is well-served by national rail services. The London terminus is Paddington. An alternative to catching a bus to or from the airport is to use the Heathrow Express train to reach Paddington.

Arrival

If you are arriving by bus/coach from Heathrow or Gatwick or Central London, you can either:

• ask to get off the bus/coach at the Queen's Lane/High Street stop, and walk to the college from there (5 minutes; see below for map).
• get off the bus/coach at its final stop (Gloucester Green Bus Station), and walk (20 minutes) or take a taxi from there.

When loading your luggage at the airport, the bus/coach driver will ask you which stop you want.

Other buses will (probably) only stop at the bus station.

The train station is about 25 minutes walk from the College, but is also served by taxis.

By Car

Oxford is not well-suited to arrival by car. There is no long-term parking available in the centre, nor at the College.

If you are visiting for the day, there are Park and Ride car parks at each of the major arteries into Oxford. Those at Seacourt and Thornhill serve the Queen's Lane bus stop mentioned above; for the others, the St. Aldate's stop is the most convenient.

Maps

A good map of the entire city centre is here. The train station is in the west, square A6; the bus station quite central, square C6, and Oriel College is at blue(24), in square E7. The Queen's Lane bus stop is close to the spot indicated as yellow(22), also in square E7.

Oriel College can be found on Google Maps here. It is approached via King Edward Street or Oriel Street. The Queen's Lane bus stop mentioned above is here and Magdalen Street is here.

Other information

Internet Access is available in all of the bedrooms at the college. You will need to bring your own ethernet (UTP/RJ45) cable. Wireless access will also be available, but the signal will often not reach the bedrooms.

The computers provided for the practical sessions should also have internet access, when they are not being used for practicals, or set up.

Tourist Information for Oxford is also available.

Contact

Local Organisation

General enquiries:

Oriel College

Oriel College's details are as follows:

By post:

By Phone:

Email: