Cambridge vs Oxford

I know it's difficult to compare two different cities, but I'm trying
to get an idea of how Cambridge and Oxford are different and similar.
I stayed in Cambrdige for a month back in 1991 and loved it. What I
really liked was that it was relaxed, peaceful, laid back, and casual,
but the city was beautiful and still had plenty to do and see (such as
the churches, punting the Cam, walking around looking at all the
interesting old architecture, and of course all the pubs). I also
liked the fact that I could walk everywhere because the city is so
small in area. How does Oxford compare using those criteria? And is
one city generally more expensive than the other in terms of
accommodations and eating?

"AcornMan" wrote in message
...
I know it's difficult to compare two different cities, but I'm trying
to get an idea of how Cambridge and Oxford are different and similar.
I stayed in Cambrdige for a month back in 1991 and loved it. What I
really liked was that it was relaxed, peaceful, laid back, and casual,
but the city was beautiful and still had plenty to do and see (such as
the churches, punting the Cam, walking around looking at all the
interesting old architecture, and of course all the pubs). I also
liked the fact that I could walk everywhere because the city is so
small in area. How does Oxford compare using those criteria? And is
one city generally more expensive than the other in terms of
accommodations and eating?

Cambrige is a small town. Oxford is a small city. It's denser and the
colleges are in the city. So it's not as relaxed as Cambridge. But it's
still walkable. And Oxford has assorted rivers/canals. And it has very good
museums; we spent half a day in the Ashmolean, more than we planned.

Marianne

In article ,
(AcornMan) wrote:

*From:* AcornMan
*Date:* Sun, 07 May 2006 13:28:22 GMT

I know it's difficult to compare two different cities, but I'm trying
to get an idea of how Cambridge and Oxford are different and similar.
I stayed in Cambrdige for a month back in 1991 and loved it. What I
really liked was that it was relaxed, peaceful, laid back, and casual,
but the city was beautiful and still had plenty to do and see (such as
the churches, punting the Cam, walking around looking at all the
interesting old architecture, and of course all the pubs). I also
liked the fact that I could walk everywhere because the city is so
small in area. How does Oxford compare using those criteria? And is
one city generally more expensive than the other in terms of
accommodations and eating?

Oxford is bigger and busier, but also Cambridge has gotten a lot bigger
and busier since you were there - it's been a centre of the UK's various
technology booms and mini-booms (dotcom, biotech etc).

One side effect of this has been skyrocketing accommodation costs in
Cambridge - at one point a few years ago it had the most expensive
residential property outside of London (which, I grant you, is a figure
that could be measured a lot of different ways to get different results).
Besides the city's economic improvement, real-estate prices also shot up
because of the sheer shortage of privately-owned property in the centre,
where the colleges own so much land.

However, I think you will still find Cambridge 2006 is more like Cambridge
1991 than Oxford 2006 is like Cambridge 1991, IYSWIM - even if Eaden
Lilley is now Borders Books, and so on!

Foodwise, both places offer plenty of cheap options because of the large
number of students.


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