Walking Tour Combined with River Punting Rowing (3 hours duration)

Oxford punting on river with chauffeur guide

Walking Tour Combined with River Punting Rowing (3 hours duration)

Peter guiding near the original site of the North Gate

Peter guiding at the Divinity school again

Duration2h - 2h 30m

Free cancellationFull refund up to 24 hours before

TicketMobile or paper ticket accepted

LanguagesEnglish

Private tourOnly your group will participate

Overview

Punting on the river is how students enjoy themselves after finishing their exams. What more unique way to experience Oxford than this. Your chauffeur guide will take you punting or rowing for one hour then join our walking tour.

See the city of dreaming spires both from the beautiful views of the river at a leisurely pace with a relaxing river trip in the comfort of your private group. See Oxford skyline plus Christchurch & Christchurch meadows.

You can select either to meet the guide for the chauffeured river trip as a private group before or after the shared walking tour- please select either 10.30am or 12.45 start time.

Your guide will walk you to Magdalen boathouse & tell you about Oxbridge's rowing traditions & the origins of the story of Alice in Wonderland, which resulted from just such an outing on the river on July 4th 1862. Option also exists to request boat trip to take place before the walking tour- upon request, when you book. Max 3-4 persons + guide per boat.

Options

10.30 Boat + 12.45 Walk Tour

10.30am Boat + 12.45 Walk Tour: 10/30am Boat trip private group chauffeured punting last one hour + 12.45 shared walking tour lasting up to 2 hours

12.45 Walk + 3pm Guided Boat

12.45 Walk tour + 3pm Boat: 12.45 shared walking tour + our guided boat tour with chauffeur at 3pm

What's included

Please note dates below under section of graduation, university open days, Xmas holidays!
Life jackets are available free of charge for the boats, by request. Water level averages 2-6 feet
Max 4-5 persons + guide per boat. Any larger groups, ask viator to call us up for a quote!

If you opt to request the 1 hour boat hire to handle the boat yourself, please note that if you don't return the boat within the one hour period, the boathouse may use its discretion to charge you a late return penalty fee. This is your responsibility therefore to ensure that you proactively keep an eye on how much time you have left and ensure that you can return the boat along the river in time before your hire period ends.
No food or drink is included on this tour but the boathouse do offer you opportunity to pay for a picnic hamper & likewise, you may opt to bring your own food & drink onto the boat. If you opt to choose 1 hour boat hire, you are responsible for safe & sensible drinking of any alcohol and responsible handling of the boat, to ensure that you do not damage the boat or other boats & do not lose the oars etc. We cannot be responsible for any penalties which the boathouse (a third party) might see fit to charge you, if you should cause them damages.
In case of bad weather: unfortunately, we don't permit cancellations but if you give us at least 24 hours notice, then we will accept requests to reschedule the date. If weather forecast suggests heavy rain & if you cannot reschedule to another date, we will alternatively let you book onto any alternative tour activity which is also running, such as to join a tour inside Christchurch.
We can only fit max 4-5 clients + guide per boat, so larger groups, please ask viator to call us up!
On graduation dates, we may not always be able to enter a college so see graduation dates below:
2026 Graduation dates includes...
May 16 + 17 + 31, July 19 + 29, Aug 1 + 2 + 9, Sep 26 + 27, Nov 7+ 8+9+14 +15 of 2025
We cover your cost to enter either one college or to enter Divinity school. Divinity school closures
...includes Sep 10 + 14+ 15+ 16 + 17+ 20+ 21+ 22+ 23+ 24+ 25 + 26, Nov 6 + 7 +13 + 14 of 2026

What to expect

River Cherwell
1h · Admission ticket included

We hire boats to take you out on the river from the boathouse. Depending on whether you select option to have chauffeured punting or to hire boat to handle yourselves, you will spend from 30-60 minutes in the boat on the river.
Bridge of Sighs
Pass by

We pass by and introduce such famous sights as this
Sheldonian Theatre
Pass by

We pass by and introduce such famous sights as this
Bodleian Library
Pass by

We pass by and introduce such famous sights as this
Radcliffe Camera
Pass by

We pass by and introduce such famous sights as this
University Church of St. Mary the Virgin
5m

We pass by and introduce such famous sights as this and we might also visit inside the church too
Magdalen College
Pass by

We pass by and introduce such famous sights as this but we don't visit inside this college on this tour

Meeting and pickup

Meeting point

Meet your guide wearing red lanyard. Meeting next to our black sign, OUTSIDE Oxford Tourist info centre, 15 Broad street, OX1 3AS. This is also next to the Oxfam shop which has a green sign above its shop.

End point

The guide will give you a free Oxford map plus offer you help directions to wherever you need to go to next.

Additional information

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Service animals allowed
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
In case of bad weather: unfortunately, we don't permit cancellations but if you give us at least 24 hours notice, then we will accept requests to reschedule the date. If weather forecast suggests heavy rain & if you cannot reschedule to another date, we will alternatively let you book onto any alternative tour activity which is also running, such as to join a tour inside Christchurch.
Please note the river is on average about 6 feet (2m) deep, so any children will automatically be offered a lifebelt but you must notify us if any adults or children in your group cannot swim. Please advise us of this fact, when you book & when you meet the guide & when the boathouse prepare your boat!
The default schedule for this tour is to first join either the 12.30 walking tour or the 2.30pm walking tour and then the guide will walk you to the boathouse. If your schedule requires you to instead take the boat trip in the morning before you join the walking tour, then you must make this request known and advise what time you can meet us (any time from 10am onwards)
PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME:
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.
Max 3-4 persons + guide per boat. Any larger groups, ask viator to call us up for a quote!

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Reviews

3.3 (3)