I have lived in Oxford all my life, and so it is easy for me to not see a lot of problems others might see (such as parking or directions as it's something i'm completely used to)

Oxford is a beautiful city surrounded by history and it's countless number of colleges ( i can only name 5 and there are at least 30). Obviously if you are heading into town to go shopping you dont stop and look at the architecture of the buildings your wondering how busy it is in topshop! But if you take a second to stop and look at the carvings etc... its fascinating.

Theres so many hidden places to walk around, i'm still discovering them! The City is full of cafe's and pubs and there are some lovely places by the river such as Head of the River or the Victoria Arms in Old Marston.

Shopping wise Oxford is very poor, I'd choose reading over oxford any day. There is nothing in Oxford, it's very boring! Reading has the great Oracle shopping centre, John Lewis, H&M, House of Fraser etc... Although hopefully Oxford will get these in the future! Oxford High street looks the same as all other high streets. The only unique thing oxford has to offer is the Covered Market.
There are other shopping areas in Oxford such as Cowley, which has all the discount stores, Matalan, Tk Maxx, Asda Homestore etc...

One of the best improvements to Oxford has been the development of the Castle Complex, it's very modern and a very popular place to visit. The Malmaison Oxford is at the heart of the Castle Complex, but surrounding it are a variety of restaurants such as Prezzo, Pizza Express La Tasca, Carluccios and The Living room and another popular shop is Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Not far away from the castle complex is George Street which has the New Theatre and more restaurants on such as Jamie's Italian, Ask and Bella Italia.

There are 2 odeon Cinemas in Oxford (1 in gloucester Green and the other in Magdalen Street) However, even after being updated they lose out everytime to Vue which is found near the Oxford United football stadium, and there you will also find Bowlplex and Frankie and Benny's. Around the corner from town is the Oxford Ice rink, very popular during the summer with students and tourists.

Getting into the Centre of Oxford is very easy, there are buses coming from all directions every few mins, ok they are not cheap, but if you plan to spend the day in town its cheaper than paying to park! The westgate carpark is the main one, and rouhgly £2.90 an hour. The price goes up on a saturday!

I've loved living in oxford, but can't see myself staying here. There are better places out there!