Is it possible to stay in a central town and use public transportation to explore villages in the Cotswolds? We intend to take a bus or train from London Paddington or London Heathrow to the Cotswolds and use only public transportation for travel within that area.
If so, what would be the best village to stay in?
Posted by
Twin Cities, Minnesota
2333 posts
Have you explored this website? I see they have a map. https://explorethecotswolds.com/cotswolds-by-public-transport/
Posted by
California Central Coast 🐚
355 posts
It is definitely possible to explore the Cotswolds by public transport and for us, very enjoyable and easy. The only train station is in Moreton-in-Marsh. From there you can take a bus to a variety of places to use as a base. We stayed in Bourton-on-the-Water from which we easily accessed other villages by bus. From Bourton-on-the-Water you can get to Stow-on-the-Wold, Broadway, Chipping Camden, Burford, Bibury, Cirencester etc. Timing is everything when you're using buses so make sure you are familiar with the timetables. There are also private drivers you can use to take you to out of the way places. For example, we wanted to see Hidcote Gardens which is difficult by public transportation so we used a private driver (Cotswolds version of a taxi, really). We also used a private driver to take us to Upper Slaughter and we walked to Lower Slaughter and then back to our base. We would have walked both ways but it was an unexpectedly hot day. Hope this is helpful.