Planning a trip the England and Scotland for Oct. 2017. At the start of our trip, we plan to stay 3 nights in Bath. Can we do a day trip to the Cotswolds area or is it better to plan to stay over night? We are planning to travel by train, but are open to renting a car for certain portions of the trip. I understand the public transportation between Bath and the Cotswolds are does not exist. Not sure if this is correct.
Thanks in advance for any tips and suggestions.
Mary
Bath is just within the southern point of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (one notch, I think, below national park status). A day trip from Bath, or an overnight stay, then, is very doable.
Not long ago someone here mentioned Cotswold tours run by the "Secret Cottage Cotswold Tourism". They pick up in Moreton-on-Marsh; I don't know how practical that would be when you're staying in Bath. I can't vouch for the tours, never having taken one. I just kept the information since I'll be in England myself this summer.
I would recommend staying at least one night if not two nights, there are so many beautiful villages to see. Bourbon-on-the-Water, Broadway, Stanton, Stow-on-on-Wold, Painswick, Bibury just to name a few.
Mad Max Tours offers full day, small group tours to the Cotswalds. Let them do the driving and you can enjoy the scenery.
We stayed 3 nights in Bath and frankly regretted not doing a night in the Cotswolds somewhere. We did a day trip from Bath by car, but I think we would've gotten more out of the wonderful hikes and villages in the Cotswolds if we'd spent even one night there. As it was, a day trip was well worth it and very easy to do by car, though I'm not sure about getting around in the Cotswolds by public transportation. Bottom line though is both Bath and Cotswolds are wonderful so enjoy!
We always have a rental car. On one trip we used Bath as a base and took day trips. On another we stayed wherever we ended up for the day. In the Cotswolds we spent a night in Chipping Campden. With a rental! Car you can pick and choose the towns you visit and the amount of time you spend in each place, while with a tour you'll see where it takes you. Each of the towns the one individual mentioned are worth seeing. Also, when using one place as a base, a lot of time is spent getting back to it after a day out whereas you could better spend that time seeing someplace different.
You can take the train from Bath to Moreton-in-Marsh, would have to change in Reading, its a 2 hr 15 minute train ride.
Thank you all. I think we will look into the Mad Max Tour of cotswold. We are only planning a 16 day tour of England and Scotland, so trying to be selective while sampling the best the UK has to offer.
I took the Secret Cottage tour last May. I think the 2-hour train ride each way from Bath is a bit too much to make it a day trip. It starts at 10 with the pick-up at the Moreton-in-Marsh train station, but you'd have to leave Bath early to get there on time.
I deliberately spent 2 nights in Moreton-in-Marsh with the day between dedicated to the tour. You could spend the night before or after there and leave your luggage at the hotel if you decided not to spend a 2nd night on either side of the tour. The train station is tiny with no place to leave your luggage. I stayed at the Bell Inn. It's about a 2 block walk from the train station.
The tour was perfect for me. We were in vans and went places where no public transportation goes and where big buses can't. You can get to them by car, if you know where they are. One of the best parts was seeing, and eating in, the host's house.
