Just visiting: Oxford

Winter in Oxford has an undeniably romantic edge. As the nights draw in, its flaxen limestone buildings glow from the inside out, and the windows of centuries-old pubs steam up as students and professors sit fireside to debate and decompress. This is a place to lean into your curiosity, with world-class museums such as the Ashmolean and the English-speaking world’s oldest university, threaded through the city centre in more than 30 famous old colleges.

Friday 12pm: You’ve got it covered Just off the High Street, the 18th-century Covered Market buzzes. Mooch for second-hand books at Gulp Fiction, ethical pants at You Underwear, and fine tea at Cardews.

1pm: Stay for lunch With its murals and music posters on the ceiling, Georgina’s café in the Covered Market is an Oxford institution. Or get an early pint in at the lively brewpub Tap Social.

2pm: Become a bookworm Over 13m books await you at the more-than 400-year-old Bodleian Library. Take an hour-long tour, then satisfy any more bookish tendencies at Blackwell’s bookshop.

3pm: Walk through history Oxford is a flâneur’s paradise. From the Bodleian on Broad Street, head south along Cattle Street and pass the Radcliffe Camera, then down narrow Magpie Lane to the handsome façade of Merton College. Keep south to leafy Grove Walk and on to Christ Church Meadow, founded by Henry VIII.

5pm: Toast the city Check in at The Store, a design-forward hotel in the former Boswell’s department store, then start the night with a negroni on the rooftop overlooking Balliol College.

7pm: Go through the looking glass Dine at nearby Alice for modern British dishes such as chalk-stream trout. Then cross the street to the wood-panelled Lamb & Flag where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien drank and catch a poetry slam. Or, for late-night music, head to the Jericho Tavern.

Saturday 9am: Blow away the cobwebs Walk off the night before in the exotic Botanic Garden, a favourite haunt of Northern Lights writer Philip Pullman.

11am: Go on tour and get high Take the Original Uncomfortable Oxford Tour, then climb to the top of the Carfax Tower on Queen Street to see the ‘city of dreaming spires’ with your own eyes.

1pm: Feeling lucky? Take a punt Stroll to the Cherwell Boathouse for a lunch of pheasant sausage rolls or duck terrine before punting on the River Cherwell.

4pm: Find your inner nerd Walk back into town via the Natural History Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum with its glass cabinets of curiosities. Think ceremonial masks and Egyptian sarcophagi.

6pm: Drink and dine Enjoy trendy Jericho, starting at sultry Popina for world wines by the glass, or cocktails at chic Raoul’s. Dine at popular brasserie Branca for deli platters or, for classic French dining, head out to Summertown’s Pompette.

Sunday morning: Take a walk It’s around an hour’s riverside ramble from Port Meadow to the 17th-century, timber-framed Trout Inn (thetroutoxford.co.uk) in Wolvercote for a hearty Sunday lunch.

Stay at The Store (thestoreoxford.com), a stylish, modern hotel with a rooftop bar and basement spa.

Eat at the Alice (thealiceoxford.com), an Art Deco haven worthy of a Mad Hatter’s tea party.

See the fascinating ethnographic Pitt Rivers Collection within the Natural History Museum (oumnh.ox.ac.uk).

Photograph Getty Images