Walking, cycling and the outdoors in the Cotswolds

The Cotswolds are best seen slowly, on foot or by bike.

The Cotswold Way

The Cotswold Way National Trail runs 102 miles (164km) from Chipping Campden to Bath, and takes seven to ten days to walk end to end (opens in a new tab) by the official guidebook’s reckoning. It has been a promoted long-distance walk for more than fifty years and is well waymarked with the National Trail acorn. It crosses Cleeve Hill, whose common near Winchcombe rises to 330m, the highest ground in the Cotswolds.

You do not have to walk it all. The Cotswolds National Landscape publishes a series of circular walks that use short stretches of the Way, from Chipping Campden, Broadway, Stanton, Wotton-under-Edge and Old Sodbury among others, each linked from our place guides.

Other long walks

The Wardens' Way and the Windrush Way link Bourton-on-the-Water with Winchcombe by two different routes, and the Cotswolds National Landscape publishes them as a series of four circular day walks. The Winchcombe Way is a 42-mile figure of eight around Winchcombe, and the Tyndale Trail, about 28 miles from Bristol and ready to walk since January 2026, ends at the Tyndale Monument above North Nibley.

Our walk lists sort the routes by length and by what you want from the day: short walks under 5km, half-day walks of 5 to 10km, long walks of more than 10km, pub walks and dog-friendly walks. For the views, see the best viewpoints in the Cotswolds, most of them on the escarpment the Cotswold Way follows.

Cycling

National Cycle Network route 442 runs 53 miles from Worcester to Hanborough station near Oxford, mostly on quiet lanes, linking stations on the Cotswold Line railway, so you can ride one way and come back by train. National Cycle Network route 48 crosses the wolds from Tetbury to Moreton-in-Marsh. For a traffic-free ride, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, formerly Sustrans, recommends the Stroud Valleys Trail (opens in a new tab), about 5 miles (8km) on the old railway line from Stonehouse to Nailsworth. Our page on cycling in the Cotswolds has the routes, the old railway paths, hire and bikes on the trains.

The Cotswolds Info newsletter

Events, new places and the best of the season, about once a month. Unsubscribe at any time.

Leave this field blank

Your name

Your email address

Yes, send me the Cotswolds Info newsletter

Sign me up

The Cotswold Water Park

South of Cirencester, the Cotswold Water Park, now also called the Cotswold Lakes, is a landscape of lakes. The Cotswold Country Park and Beach at Shorncote may have closed: its website was a parked page and then not loading when we checked in October 2026, so check before you go. The Trust's Cleveland Lakes at Ashton Keynes runs open-water swims on Waterhay Lake, booked online in half-hour arrival slots, and paddleboarding booked by email. Wild swimming in the Cotswolds has the lakes, the lidos and the rivers, and where swimming is allowed.

Before you set out on any walk, check the route on the Cotswolds National Landscape's site, wear boots after rain, and keep dogs on leads near livestock.