We’ve been to the Cotswolds enough times now that I’ve stopped trying to “see it all” in a trip — which is the secret nobody tells you. The villages aren’t a checklist. They’re a collection of slow mornings, and the whole point is to pick a few and actually sink into them.
So this list comes in two parts. First, the famous eight — the postcard villages worth the crowds, with honest notes on how to beat them. Then seven quieter ones we’ve come to love: the locals’ picks, the hidden valleys, the places where you’ll have the lane to yourself. Save it for your planning.
The Famous Eight
Chipping Campden
–> Chipping Campden is a fantastic base for the Cotswolds and is full of thatched cottages to stay in. find them HERE! <–
My pick for the most underrated of the big names, and the one I’d choose to actually stay in. The gently curving High Street is one of the most beautiful in England — a long sweep of honey-stone buildings anchored by a 17th-century covered Market Hall, all of it built on old wool-trade money.
It’s walkable, livable, and never quite as mobbed as Bibury or Bourton. It also makes a perfect base for reaching several of the quieter villages further down this list.
Bibury
The one on every postcard, and for once the hype holds up. Bibury sits along the gentle River Coln, and its showpiece is Arlington Row — a line of 17th-century former weavers’ cottages so photographed they’re practically a national logo. The ivy-draped Swan Hotel and a working trout farm round out the scene.
The catch is everyone knows. Come at dawn or near dusk and it’s magic; arrive at noon and you’ll share it with three tour buses. (I wrote a whole quickie on how to photograph Arlington Row without the crowds — worth the early alarm.)
Bourton-on-the-Water
Nicknamed the “Venice of the Cotswolds,” which is a stretch, but a forgivable one. The shallow River Windrush runs straight through the village green, crossed by a series of low, elegant stone footbridges that make the whole place feel like a model of itself.
(There’s also an actual model village, built to scale, which kids (and I do) lose their minds over.)
It’s the most family-friendly village on this list by a mile — see my full guide to things to do in Bourton-on-the-Water, and the broader things to do with kids in the Cotswolds if you’re traveling with little ones.
Bourton-on-the-Water while busy with crowds (for good reason) is our favortite Cotswolds village to stay in. It seems equiped to handle everyones wants and needs. If you wake up around 7am, you can walk the village as if you are the only one there. The crowds start to roll in around 9am.
You can find our favorite stays in Bourton-on-the-Water and many more, HERE
3. Castle Combe
Routinely called the prettiest village in England, and it leans into the title — no streetlights, no obvious modern buildings, just a tight cluster of honey-stone cottages tumbling down to a bridge and the old Market Cross. It’s tiny, which means it photographs like a film set and fills up fast.
It’s earned a full guide of its own: things to do in Castle Combe, including the best time to go before the crowds arrive.
Stow-on-the-Wold
The highest of the Cotswold towns, built around a wide market square ringed by antique shops, cosy pubs, and old coaching inns. It has a different energy from the riverside villages — more bustle, more browsing, a proper “base yourself here” town.
Don’t leave without finding the north door of St Edward’s Church: an ancient wooden door flanked by two enormous yew trees, said to have inspired the Doors of Durin in The Lord of the Rings. It’s the most-photographed door in the Cotswolds, and it deserves to be.
Broadway
Known as the “Jewel of the Cotswolds,” Broadway has a wide, graceful high street lined with galleries, boutiques, and the grand old Lygon Arms. It feels slightly more polished than its neighbors — you’ll spot the occasional sports car — but it wears it well.
Climb (or drive) up to Broadway Tower on the hill above for one of the best views in the region: on a clear day you can reportedly see across more than a dozen counties.
7. The Slaughters (Upper & Lower Slaughter)
Don’t let the name scare you — it comes from an old word for a muddy place, not anything grim. Upper and Lower Slaughter are two of the quietest, most untouched villages in the Cotswolds, connected by a flat, lovely riverside walk along the little River Eye. Lower Slaughter’s 19th-century mill, with its red-brick chimney, is the photo everyone takes.
This is where to go when you want the storybook scenery without the storybook crowds. Almost nobody’s here, and that’s the whole appeal.
Snowshill
Tucked up in the hills and blissfully quiet, Snowshill is a single street of honey-stone cottages that you may recognize — it played Bridget Jones’s parents’ village in the films. Snowshill Manor, the National Trust house of an eccentric collector, is worth the visit, and in summer the nearby Cotswold Lavender fields turn the hills purple.
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