Honey-colored villages, wool-merchant churches and rolling limestone hills
The Cotswolds are a region of small market towns and villages built from local yellow limestone, spread across a limestone upland that rises to an escarpment above the Severn and Evesham vales. Wool made the towns rich in the Middle Ages, and the churches, market halls and almshouses they paid for are still the main sights.
This guide covers six places with a real visitor draw: Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford, Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold, Broadway and Cirencester. The Cotswolds have limited rail and thin bus services, so plan your journey before you set out.
Areas
Each area has its own mini guide with 50 sights, places to eat and drink, and where to stay across the city.
A wool town of stone terraces, a 1627 market hall and the start of the Cotswold Way
Open the mini guide →
A wide High Street of stone houses below Broadway Tower
Open the mini guide →
A hilltop market town around a large square where the Royalists surrendered in 1646
Open the mini guide →
Low stone bridges over the River Windrush, with a bird park and a model village
Open the mini guide →
A steep medieval High Street running down to the River Windrush
Open the mini guide →
A Roman town turned wool town, with a museum, a landmark church and an amphitheater
Open the mini guide →Sights
A sight from each area. Every area guide lists the rest, with directions and official links.
Open market hall built in 1627 by Sir Baptist Hicks, Grade I listed and now owned by the National Trust.
A 65-foot tower on Broadway Hill, the highest point in the northern Cotswolds, in Broadway Tower Country Park.
Market place where charter fairs were held; most surrounding buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Five low stone bridges, built between 1654 and 1953, cross the River Windrush beside the village's wide greens.
Market house of around 1525, now a local-history museum on the second floor, reached only by stairs.
Grade I listed church with a Perpendicular porch and fan vaults, paid for by wool merchants.
Jacobean lodges and gateway that survive from Sir Baptist Hicks's mansion, burned in 1645.
Inn dating from the 1600s, bought by Sydney Russell, father of the furniture maker Sir Gordon Russell.
1 / 12Animal attractions, railways, science centres, beaches and caves from our the Cotswolds guide, grouped by type. We hold no age ratings or child prices: check each place’s own site for age limits, height rules and family tickets.
Birdland Park and GardensBird park, Bourton-on-the-Water
Broadway railway stationHeritage railway, Broadway
The Model VillageModel village, Bourton-on-the-WaterPractical help: travelling with children and where to stay in the Cotswolds.
Theater
2 theaters and performance venues across 2 areas: see where each one is, how to get there and where to find what is on.
Filter 2 venues by area, type of show and step-free access.
Open the directory →One link to each venue's own program page, plus seasonal highlights.
See what's on →A producing theater in Cirencester, run as an unsubsidised charity, with a movie theater and a community company.
Venue page →Itineraries
Short routes that stitch the areas together.
Getting there
The Cotswolds have no airport of their own and only a few railway stations, so most visitors combine a train with a bus, a taxi or a car. Always check the operator for current times, fares and disruption.
Great Western Railway (GWR) runs the Cotswold Line through Moreton-in-Marsh, Kingham and Charlbury, and serves Kemble, Stroud and Cheltenham Spa in the south and west. Oxford, Swindon and Worcester are common connection points.
Buses connect some places from the stations. The Cotswolds tourism partnership gives the Pulhams 801 from Moreton-in-Marsh to Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton, running hourly Monday to Saturday and every two hours on Sundays. Stagecoach 1 and 2 serve Chipping Campden, the S2 runs from Oxford to Burford and the 882 from Kemble to Cirencester.
In parts of Gloucestershire, The Robin is a bus you book in advance through Gloucestershire County Council, for journeys the timetabled buses do not cover. Check its page for the areas it serves.
A car is the easiest way to link several villages, but the best-known villages have limited parking. Cotswold District Council parking lots take only PayByPhone or contactless card payment, not cash.
The Cotswolds tourism partnership lists National Express coaches from London Victoria Coach Station as an option. Check the operator for destinations and times.
Journey times and bus details on these pages come from the operators and the Cotswolds tourism partnership. We do not publish schedules or fares. For Oxford and Bath, see our Day trips guides at /day-trips/.
Each place in this guide is small enough to explore on foot. National Trails says the 102-mile Cotswold Way runs from Chipping Campden to Bath, so sections of it make good short walks.
Buses link the larger places but not every village. Check Traveline before you go, and see The Robin for journeys the timetabled buses miss.
GWR says cycles can be carried on its trains free of charge, and Moreton-in-Marsh station has cycle storage. Check the operator's current policy.
Rural buses, rail and a combined rail-and-bus ticket
Best time to go
The Cotswolds can be visited all year. The best-known villages draw day visitors, so timing matters more than season.
A good time for walks on the Cotswold Way and for hill viewpoints such as Dover's Hill and Broadway Tower.
The longest days. Expect Bourton-on-the-Water and other well-known villages to be busy; Cotswold District Council charges a levy in Bourton's main parking lot to manage visitor numbers.
Cooler walking weather. Some attractions change their opening hours, so check each website before you set out.
Short days and some seasonal closures. Inns and museums are the best bets, but confirm opening times first.
Day trips
Ideas for a day away from the Cotswolds. Check the operators for times and tickets.
The university city is the usual rail connection for Burford. Britlens has an Oxford day-trip guide in its Day trips section.
experienceoxfordshire.org →
The Cotswold Way finishes in Bath, a Roman and Georgian city. Britlens has a Bath day-trip guide in its Day trips section.
romanbaths.co.uk →
A Regency spa town where the Grade I listed Pittville Pump Room opened in 1830.
pittvillepumproom.org.uk →
An 18th-century rococo pleasure garden designed in the 1740s, with follies and views over the countryside.
rococogarden.org.uk →FAQ
Not for every trip. Trains reach Moreton-in-Marsh and Kemble, and buses link some places from there. Services are limited, though, and The Robin bookable bus covers some journeys the timetabled buses miss. A car gives more freedom, but plan where to park.
The Cotswolds tourism partnership suggests Moreton-in-Marsh for Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Campden, Kemble for Cirencester, and Oxford for Burford. Broadway has no National Rail service; the nearest stations are Evesham, Honeybourne and Moreton-in-Marsh.
National Trails gives the Cotswold Way as 102 miles (164 km), running from Chipping Campden to Bath. It can be walked in either direction.
Cotswold District Council says cash is no longer accepted at its parking lots. Use the PayByPhone app or a contactless card at the machine. At Bourton-on-the-Water's Rissington Road parking lot the council adds a 50p tourism charge to each stay. West Oxfordshire District Council says parking is free in its parking lots, including Burford's.
Two to four days lets you see several places without rushing. Choose one or two bases, and check bus times before you plan day-to-day moves.
Yes. Oxford is the usual rail connection for Burford, and the Cotswold Way ends in Bath. Both have guides in our Day trips section, at /day-trips/.
Yes. The Cotswolds became an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1966 and is now branded a National Landscape. It covers about 2,038 square kilometers, mainly in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
Nearby places
Our closest other guides, by straight-line distance between centres. Road and rail distances are longer: check a journey planner.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences shown. All photo credits
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