Founded by the Saxons, Oxford began its development in the early 8th century around a priory established by St Frideswide on the site where Christ Church now stands. Its slow but steady growth in importance and influence received the royal seal of approval when Henry I built his Palace of Beaumont there in the early 12th century, at much the same time as the first students were beginning to gather. Their numbers were boosted in 1167 when Paris University was closed to the English, and by the end of the century Oxford was firmly established as England's first university town. Today, the university comprises a federation of 41 independent colleges and halls, many in architecturally spectacular buildings.

Of the Oxford colleges a short-list of the finest buildings includes Christ Church, with its famous Tom Tower and a chapel so grand that it serves as Oxford's cathedral. Nearby Merton, founded in 1264, boasts a marvellous medieval library and garden, but University College was Oxford's first college, endowed in 1249. Magdalen is often said to be the loveliest college. Its grounds include a deer park and a meadow where the rare snakeshead fritillary still blooms every April.

But Oxford's attractions do not begin and end with the colleges. The Ashmolean Museum is the country's oldest public museum and houses extensive collections of antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Near East as well as a wide variety of art, sculpture, ceramics, glass and silverware from around the world. Carfax Tower is the only surviving part of the 14th-century church of St Martin. The Pitt Rivers Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology on Parks Road is an atmospheric galleried Victorian building housing a world-famous collection of ancient ethnic artefacts. Little Clarendon Street and the recent development at Gloucester Green offer some interesting specialist shops; the classy Covered Market, linking High Street and Market Street, opened in 1774, is a foodie's delight; or, if you're shopping for antiques, investigate Park End Street between the bus and railway stations.

The countryside pushes green fingers into the heart of the town, with the Oxford Canal, the River Thames and the Cherwell providing opportunities for strolling and punting.

(Preceding taken from Timeout.com)