Oxford has been showered with praise after being named among the 'top 100 best European cities'.

In a poll determining Europe's elite, Oxford edged out tourist hot spots such as Naples and Luxembourg.

Among the top 100 - in which London was ranked number 1 - Oxford placed 25th.

See their full list here.

Oxford

Less than an hour from London by rail, Europe’s top university town is the best of many worlds.

"With a legacy spanning nine centuries as a place of learning, Oxford’s eponymous university—imprinted on the city itself to the point of being indiscernible from it—offers 350 graduate courses, affiliated societies and hundreds of education-focused organisations and businesses.

"Students of all kinds continue to pour into the compact city (the second smallest in our Top 25 this year, next to Dublin), and first-timers become instantly smitten by the jagged cobblestones, the 500-year-old pubs and the Gothic and neoclassical buildings and spires above, all standing sentry to the enlightenment here.

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"The city’s 40,000 students help Oxford rank #9 for Educational Attainment, and the city’s ancient commitment to accessibility, along with a newer one to equity, ranks it #7 for Poverty Rate. Those residents who stay in town after graduation enjoy the ninth-highest disposable income in Europe.

"In addition to the usual magnetism of this curated, stewarded urban treasure on the banks of the Thames (called “Isis” locally), new post-pandemic investments are buzzing, from the Randolph Hotel’s reno by new owners Graduate Hotels to East Oxford’s new restaurant wave.

"Ancient urbanism aside, the city tops our Green Space subcategory, validated further by its centuries of inspiring luminaries the likes of JRR Tolkien, Dorothy Sayers and Philip Pullman."