Day trips from London to the Cotswolds

The easiest day trip from London to the Cotswolds is the train from Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh, about an hour and a half, then the 801 bus to Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water, or a walk from the station. For Cirencester and Bibury, take the train to Kemble, about an hour and a quarter; for the Evenlode villages, to Charlbury or Kingham; and for the south, Castle Combe and Lacock, to Chippenham or Bath.

Every time on this page comes from the operators' own timetables, read in October 2026, and is given as a pattern rather than a minute, because the minutes change twice a year. Check the day's timetable before you go, and on a Sunday check twice: several Cotswold buses do not run at all. Our guide to the Cotswolds without a car covers the stations, buses and fares in full.

Which station for which Cotswolds

Moreton-in-Marsh is the station for a first day trip, Kemble for Cirencester and Bibury, Kingham for a walk between villages, and Chippenham or Bath for the south. Two lines serve the hills from Paddington, and the one you choose decides the day.

The Cotswold Line runs through Oxford to Hanborough (for Woodstock and Blenheim), Charlbury, Kingham and Moreton-in-Marsh, with trains roughly hourly through the day; Kingham takes about an hour and twenty minutes and Moreton about an hour and a half. The South Cotswolds Line runs through Swindon to Kemble, then Stroud, Gloucester and Cheltenham, also about hourly; Kemble takes about an hour and a quarter and Stroud about an hour and a half. The main line to the west reaches Chippenham and Bath Spa in about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, with two or more trains an hour.

Fares are lowest booked in advance for a fixed train; an off-peak return bought on the day costs more but lets you come back on any train after the morning peak. Single bus fares in England are capped by the government, so the 801 and its neighbours cost no more than the national cap each way.

Day one: Moreton, Stow and Bourton by train and bus

The first weekday train from Paddington reaches Moreton-in-Marsh before 7.30am. The 8am 801 from outside the station reaches Stow at about 8.15am but does not go on to Bourton; for Bourton take the 8.45am, there at about 9.15am. On Saturdays the pattern is the same; on Sundays the first train arrives about 9.20am and the next bus to Stow and Bourton goes at 9.45am.

Through the day the 801 leaves Moreton station at about 45 minutes past the hour, every hour until mid-afternoon on weekdays and Saturdays and every hour until early evening on Sundays, taking about 20 minutes to Stow and 30 to Bourton. Get off in Bourton, cross the Windrush while the bridges are empty and walk the 6-mile circuit to Upper and Lower Slaughter, past the Old Mill and the ford, back in time for lunch. The Slaughters have little or no parking and no timed bus, so walkers see them best.

In the afternoon take the 801 on to Stow, about 15 minutes up the hill, for the Square, the market cross and St Edward's church, with the Porch House on Digbeth Street for an early supper. Buses back to Moreton station leave Bourton at about 15 minutes past the hour, through the evening on weekdays and Saturdays and until late afternoon on Sundays; trains to Paddington run roughly hourly, and the last that reaches London before midnight leaves Moreton at about a quarter to ten on weekdays and Sundays (about 10pm on Saturdays). Our car-free itinerary stretches this day into three. The same day, with its Sunday version, is laid out as our day trip to the Cotswolds from London by train and bus.

Day two: Kingham and the Evenlode villages on foot

Kingham has its own station on the London line, about an hour and twenty minutes from Paddington, and the day needs no bus at all. From the platform the flat circuit to Bledington, about 3.5 miles (6km), crosses the Evenlode meadows to the green at Bledington, where the King's Head, a sixteenth-century inn, does lunch, and comes back by field paths, with several stiles and a boggy patch by a pond.

Back in Kingham, the Kingham Plough on the green is open every day from 8.30am, and the longer loop to Daylesford, 4.4 miles, reaches the farm shop and comes back along the river. Trains home run roughly hourly through the evening, so the afternoon can stretch. Charlbury, nearer London on the same line, has the X9 bus to Chipping Norton about hourly from the town, though it does not call at the station; check its times before relying on it.

Day three: Kemble for Cirencester and Bibury

Kemble is about an hour and a quarter from Paddington, with the first weekday train arriving before 8am, and from there Cirencester is about 4 miles. The 882 bus calls at the station about seven times a day, Monday to Saturday only, taking about 20 minutes, and a taxi takes about 10, so check the bus before you go or book the taxi. In Cirencester, start at the Corinium Museum for the Roman mosaics, then St John the Baptist, the wool church on the Market Place, and the walk through Cirencester Park from the church gate.

For Bibury, the 855 runs from Cirencester roughly hourly, Monday to Saturday only, taking in Bibury, Northleach and Bourton; there is no Sunday bus. Give Bibury an hour for Arlington Row and St Mary's, then walk the river loop from the bridge by the Swan, about two hours, and catch the bus back. Trains from Kemble to Paddington run about hourly into the late evening on weekdays, with the last at about 11pm; Saturdays and Sundays finish earlier, so check.

Day four: Lacock, Castle Combe and Bath

Chippenham is about an hour and a quarter from Paddington, with two or more trains an hour, and it is the station for both Wiltshire villages. The X34 bus runs from Chippenham to Lacock about every half hour through the middle of the day on weekdays, hourly on Saturdays and nine times on Sundays, taking about 15 minutes; show the ticket at the Stables Café for a free hot drink. Lacock Abbey (its rooms close from November to February), the Fox Talbot Museum and the four streets of the village, with the tithe barn and the lock-up, fill a morning, and the Red Lion serves food every day from 9am.

Castle Combe is harder without a car: Faresaver's 95 and 95A run from Chippenham only a few times a day, Monday to Saturday, taking about half an hour, and a taxi takes about 15 minutes. Walk down from the market cross to the bridge and on into the By Brook woods on the circuit from Ford if you have the time. Finish in Bath, 15 minutes on from Chippenham, and come home from Bath Spa, which has trains to Paddington until about 11pm on weekdays and a little earlier at weekends.

Day five: Woodstock and Blenheim Palace

Blenheim is one of the easiest great houses to reach from London in a day, and arriving by bus, train or bike takes 20 per cent off a palace, park and gardens ticket booked online with the code GREEN20. Hanborough station, on the Cotswold Line a little over an hour from Paddington, is about 3 miles from Woodstock; Blenheim suggests the 233 bus from the station, and the S7 also calls there on its way through Bladon to Woodstock. From Oxford, the S3 and S7 together run four times an hour to the stop outside Blenheim's main entrance, about 10 minutes' walk through the park from the palace.

Give the palace and the park the day. The town walk round Woodstock is about a mile, from the stocks in Park Street past the Woodstock Gate into the park, and the park circuit from Bladon crosses the Grand Bridge, a short way south of the Column of Victory. The Blenheim ticket converts to a twelve-month pass, so the day can be the first of several. Trains back from Hanborough run through the evening on the Cotswold Line.

By car: the M40, the A40 and where to park

By car, Burford is about 70 miles from central London by the M40 and the A40, an hour and three quarters at best and often two hours or more, and the drive is the worst part of the day: the A40 queues at Witney and Burford on a summer Saturday, and the lanes beyond are slow. Leave early, aim to be parked by 9.30am, and plan the day round one valley rather than the whole region. Our one-day Cotswolds itinerary by car is the route we would take: Bourton and the Slaughters first, Stow for lunch, Chipping Campden in the afternoon and Broadway Tower as the light goes.

Parking is the thing to know. Burford's Guildenford car park is free, with 4-hour and 10-hour bays. In Bourton, Rissington Road is free before 10am and then £4.40 for 2 hours (2026), card or phone only; the Slaughters have little or no parking. In Stow, the district council’s Fosseway car park is free. In Chipping Campden, Market Square gives 20 minutes free, then charges £1 for an hour or £2 for two (2026). Bibury has no council car park and little roadside space, and Gloucestershire County Council enforces the parking rules there, which is the strongest reason to see it by bus. Cotswold District Council's car parks no longer take cash: pay by card at the machine or by the PayByPhone app.

Organised tours from London, compared fairly

A coach or minibus tour suits anyone who wants four or five villages in a day without a timetable, and costs about £75 to £90 a head (2026) without lunch. You see more places than you could by bus, for less time in each, and the day is the operator's, not yours.

Two kinds exist. Small-group tours from London in a 16-seat minibus, such as Rabbie's Oxford, Bibury and Cotswold villages day (opens in a new tab), leave Victoria at 9.15am, stop in Oxford, Bibury and Burford, and are back in London at about 7pm, from £80 an adult (2026). Local operators meet the train instead: Go Cotswolds' Cotswolds in a Day (opens in a new tab) picks up outside Moreton-in-Marsh station at 9.30am and returns at 5pm, in a 16-seat minibus with a driver-guide, and stops at Dover's Hill, Chipping Campden, Snowshill, Stow, Bibury and Bourton, with an hour or so in the towns and 20 to 45 minutes in the villages, for £75 to £90 an adult (2026). Lunch, village walking tours and entry fees are not included.

Marketplaces such as GetYourGuide and Viator list many of the same tours alongside others; they are booking sites, not operators, so check who runs the tour, where it leaves from and how long you get at each stop before you compare prices. A tour stop of 30 minutes in Bibury is a photograph of Arlington Row; the train and the 855 give you the river walk as well.

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How many days you need

One day shows you one valley well; two or three days show you the famous villages; and a week lets you see two regions or walk much of the Cotswold Way, for which the official guidebook suggests seven to ten days. A day trip is worth doing, and the plans above are real days, but each covers a corner, not the Cotswolds.

If you can stay a night, the day changes: the famous villages are at their best before 9am and after 6pm, when the day trippers have gone, and a bed in Moreton, Stow or Kingham puts you there. Our itineraries hub has plans from one day to a week, and where to stay in the Cotswolds says which base suits which trip.

Rain, Sundays and other things that change the day

On a wet day choose Cirencester or Woodstock, where the museum and the palace are under cover, and on a Sunday choose Moreton or Kingham, because the 855 to Bibury and the 95 to Castle Combe do not run. Engineering work on the Cotswold Line sometimes puts buses in place of trains at weekends, so check GWR's live times the night before.

Carry a contactless card: the district council's car parks take no cash, and Pulhams' buses, the 801 among them, take contactless taps. Our guide to the Cotswolds on a rainy day has the museums, and when to visit the Cotswolds the dates to avoid.