The Best Hotels in Oxford

Oscar Wilde once signed the guest book here, which tells you something about how long this stone boutique hotel on Banbury Road has been receiving guests. The interiors lean colorful and contemporary against the weathered 17th-century shell, making for a quietly luxurious contrast. Afternoon tea is an institution, the Parsonage Grill pulls serious sourcing, and the hotel arranges punts, bikes, and walking tours for those who want Oxford served properly. The Michelin Guide awarded it 1 Key.

A 16th-century Oxfordshire farmhouse, beamed and crooked in all the right ways, reimagined as a boutique country inn by the Artist Residence group. Rooms mix roll-top tubs and rain showers with contemporary art and antique oddities, and the Mason Arms downstairs runs upscale English pub food beneath a neon sculpture. It sits neatly between Oxford and the Cotswolds, which makes it useful as well as charming. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

A converted Georgian bank on Oxford High Street, with the Radcliffe Camera visible from its front steps and the Bodleian essentially across the road. The Old Bank is a boutique hotel where the interiors are handsome without being theatrical, rooms come with Wildsmith bath products and hand-crafted mattresses, and the in-house Quod restaurant handles European classics at all hours. The Michelin Guide has it among Selected Hotels.

The rooftop bar looks out over one of the more famously dreamy skylines in England, which is a difficult opening act for any hotel to follow. Fortunately, The Store Oxford, occupying the building that was once a beloved department store, is a contemporary luxury hotel that leans into its own past, with rooms that quietly nod to the building's retail history. A subterranean spa and a ground-floor bar spilling onto Broad Street round things out nicely.