OxfordwalkingtoursofoxfordReviews of oxfordwalkingtoursofoxford.com

Very average tour. The tour guide is quite persistent in getting his mandatory “donation” halfway through the tour. After questioning this we were threatened with being asked to leave. Would absolutely avoid because of this strange aggressive practise

The “tour” is not free as stated. There are recommended prices that are suggested in the pamphlet to be payed at the end according to your enjoyment of the tour. These fees are collected after about 10 min into the tour and quite aggressively . You are asked to leave if you don’t pay. The only places we went into were the areas open to the public. We could have done the tour by ourselves. Very poor quality tour but the pamphlet was top notch.

Agree with those who called this tour a scam. I have been on many free walking tours all over Europe and have NEVER been given a “sliding scale” for payment nor have we been pushed to pay up midway through the tour. This one smelled fishy right from the start. The narrative was slim with no real history of the university or area. We were told not to walk in a big group when entering some of the colleges and Mathew asked for a volunteer from the group to go to check if one of the buildings was open. We should have walked away from the start. It was only after the tour was over did I realize he wasn’t wearing a guide ID badge.

Our guide was lovely BUT the tour is not free as written on the website. You have to pay a minimum of 6£ during or after the tour. Contrary to what’s written you do not enter any site except one, where the guide tells you to pretend not to know one another and enter in small groups while she waits outside. Is this tour very legal? Obviously not. Prepare yourself to walk to a few colleges with the guide repeating the same things all over again and waste your time.

Amazing oxford walking tour of the city and historic university of Oxford.we will strongly recommend it and highly informative.

This has been the worst "free" walking tour I have ever been on. If you read this - please do yourself a favour and avoid this walking tour at all costs. This is going to be a long review, but I hope that it might help anyone reconsider booking this walking tour. 1) The guide did not check us into the tour. He just handed us a leaflet without checking if we had a booking or not. We did not think twice about this since we were 1 whole minute late, but this should be a red flag. 2) The guide who called himself "Matthew" told us he was an alumnus of Oxford University, and that this was his part-time job. He also told us he was filling in for someone who "got sick". Reading multiple reviews afterwards, this is an obvious trick to make you feel like he's your lord and saviour for filling in the position for today and thus the only reason why this walking tour is still happening for your booking. 3) 10 minutes into humourless jokes, mumbling over some of them, he brought us into the Weston Library, for a toilet break. As soon as you step a foot outside he puts the card machine under your nose demanding your payment of a minimum of £6 per head. If you do not comply or simply want to wait until the end of the tour to see if this is worth your precious time, he will get angry. Saying no will get you kicked out of the tour right away, which in hindsight would have been a blessing. He pressures you into paying right away since "a lot of people walk out midway without paying", and well - I wish I had the same common sense as those people. 4) A lot of people dropped out without us noticing as you are flustered by the immediate pressure of paying the guide. The leaflets will say "£6 for average, 7£ for good, 8£ for amazing, 10£ for mindblowing" guilt tripping you into giving him way more than he deserves. 5) After giving payment, his enthusiasm and facts just.... stop. He gives out the same information throughout the whole tour. Just in different words. On different locations. You keep thinking to yourself "It might get better when we get to those promised stops", well. It will not get better, and you will not see any of these promised spots either. 6) Do you think you're getting into any of the sights? Well, here's the short answer - no. He shows you the outside of the building and says "You can visit in your own time". Sorry sir, besides the fact that this is my own time, shouldn't a walking tour that advertises going to these sites be going in? If I wanted to look at the outside of a building with no further information, I would have just done this on Google Earth from the comfort of my bedroom. 7) If you're a Harry Potter fan just like us, don't bother. You will not go into the Divination Hall (again - we had to do this after the tour on our own time), and you will not visit the tree. You will see the tree though, just obscured behind walls and roofs. Then he jokes that it is just a tree and not worth spending 8£ entrance on. For someone who advertises themselves as a Harry Potter walking tour, why are you making deprecating jokes? 8) Forget about Narnia, forget about Alice in Wonderland, forget about Lord of the Rings. Despite all of the opportunities to talk about these incredible authors and stories, it is wrapped up in a 2-minute session. 9) We were only allowed to go into one sight but only in small groups, saying we would be sent away otherwise. Only to find out that it's not the groups that are a problem - HE is the problem since he is running an illegitimate walking tour. 10) My friend had to call a college on his behalf. From her phone. With her phone credit. To ask a question he should know as a tour guide. Probably because they have his number blocked. All in all, we did not learn anything about the city, nor the sights we were supposed to see. We did not stop for any pictures or got to ask questions. When the tour ended, we were disappointed we gave this man 18£. If it were up to me, I would charge HIM for wasting my time. An absolute scam. Do yourself a favour and spend 25£ on a legitimate walking tour done by a current student who has enthusiasm and love for the city.

Harry Potter sites were not fully open but we loved the private tour.

We had an excellent tour guide,who was a graduate of Oxford University.