Definitely worth the walk.

This is “the other” boathouse in Oxford. Fewer tourists and about a 25 minute walk from town (1 hour from Cowley), Cherwell Boathouse is a perfect place to pick up a punt on a summers day. 2 hours punting will set you back £24 (which is fine if there are 5 of you) and lots of snack bars and ice cream vans surround the boathouse for a post punting snack!

Remember to ALWAYS punt from the Oxford end. We can’t be having any Qypers thinking it’s acceptable to punt from the Cambridge end ;)

A little further of a walk to get to from the city centre than the punt at magdalena bridge. But this is a good thing as you rarely have the 100s of tourist.

The launch point has a great little restaurant, and there a couple pubs along the river where you can stop of a quick pint. However, this isnt the punt you think of when you think oxford. the landscape is flat and meadow like, which is nice. but you can’t magdalena for meandering through collages and under a tree lined tunnel and bridges.

A good place to learn to punt. The Cherwell is too small to have any motorised craft on it (though I have seen a bungee driven surf board) and so the hazards are fewer - and when you are learning you don't need any hazards.

If you punt north you can go under the Marston Ferry Road and pull up at the Victoria Arms in Marston for a well deserved pint. Though it is worth remembering that you are paying by the hour for the punt which makes stopping to enjoy yourself somewhat expensive.

If you punt south you go along the back of a few schools and colleges and the University Parks before you get to a weir that can be got round by pulling your punt up and over the rollers. And then you can get all the way down to Magdalen Bridge and even out into the Thames. By the time you get to the Thames you should be a good enough punter to be able to avoid the motor boats but you'll also probably be too exhausted to get the punt all the way back to the Cherwell boathouse.

You can also hire rowing boats and canoes which can be a good idea if you have primary school aged children who want to have a go - you do really need to be taller than 3 feet to have any success at punting. Size isn't so important in a canoe or rowing boat.

Punting is a fantastic Oxford tradition and it's great fun to get some friends together or the family round to try it out in summer. Cherwell boathouse provides Northern Oxford with the opportunity to splash around and has a nice restaurant and little cafe selling ice creams and drinks attached. For those unfamiliar with the term, a punt is a long, narrow, flat boat which is moved along with a long pole and a paddle. The Oxford style has the punter (the person using the pole) at the back, unlike the Cambridge style where they stand at the front. Of course, this is all great in theory; when it comes to it, your first time may well be spent getting stuck in bushes and spinning horizontally across the river. Of course, with such a silly method of propulsion, this isn't designed as an efficient method of transport, but a fun way to spend an hour to two on the river in the sun. Take a bottle of Pimms or wine, settle back on the nice squishy cushions they give you, and enjoy the Oxford countryside as you drift along in the sun.