AN AMERICAN travel expert who has championed Cambridge for the past 20 years has changed his alleg-iance to Oxford after a recent trip.

In his travel blog, Rick Steves strongly promoted the city’s “urban energy”, “more stately buildings” and “more interesting neighbourhood”.

He admitted he has previously advised those visiting the UK on a short break to visit Cambridge instead of Oxford, but has now reversed that decision.

He wrote: “England is home to two world-renowned universities: Oxford and Cambridge. Seeing one is enough.

“Cambridge feels like a lazy, easygoing small town: Oxford has more urban energy and more stately buildings than its rival.

“Cambridge is not really on the way to anywhere and is weak in hotels, making it better as a side-trip from London than as a stopover. Oxford can keep you busy sightseeing for a longer time and has plenty of good hotels, so it’s worth a longer stop.”

The blog post comes after Mr Steves – who is also planning to include the recent assessment in his next England guidebook – returned for a three-day trip to visit both cities.

Experience Oxfordshire, the county’s tourist agency, estimates there were 72,831 United States visitors to the county last year. This was fewer than previous years, but spending by all US visitors went up from £51.3m to £56.8m.

Experience Oxfordshire put this largely down to TV series such as Inspector Morse and Downton Abbey.

Spokesman Martin Walker said: “There’s unrivalled shopping at Bicester Village, world-class concerts and theatre, wonderful attractions, and the oldest university in the English-speaking world, along with 1,500 listed buildings.

“To see all the types of treasures you can find in the Ashmolean Museum in one place, visitors would have to call at four different museums in London.”

Oxford Lord Mayor Rae Humberstone is “flattered” that Mr Steves thinks the city is a better place to visit than Cambridge.

He said: “ Oxford is probably the smallest big city in Europe. We have got all the diversity of a city but in a village setting. That is why Oxford is so special – it has a buzz about it.”

Unsurprisingly, the news has not gone down well in Cambridge, with the Cambridge News quoting the town’s mayor Rob Dryden saying his city “is smaller – but I do think it’s better.

“The streets are nicer, there’s a really good feeling about it, we have beautiful architecture and green open spaces.”