Chipping Campden to Birdlip
The High Edge
The open northern scarp, where the views run furthest and the trail's two highest points come early.
Self-guided · Cotswolds
Your walk from Chipping Campden to Bath
You'll walk 164 kilometres along the western edge of the Cotswolds, kept up on the limestone escarpment rather than down among the lanes, with Broadway Tower and Cleeve Hill on the high ground early and a Georgian city at the end. A route that climbs and drops all day and never quite lets you settle into a rhythm.
- Distance
- 164 km
- Ascent
- 4,300 m
- Stages
- 3 – 9 days
- Grade
- Moderate
Trail Essentials
Start
Chipping Campden
Gloucestershire
End
Bath
Somerset
Distance
164 km
102 miles
Total Ascent
4,300 m
14,108 ft
Difficulty
Moderate
Hilliness
Hilly
Time to Complete
Explorer
9 days
~18 km/day
Hiker
7 days
~23 km/day
Fastpacker
6 days
~27 km/day
Trail Runner
4 days
~41 km/day
When to Walk
Best Good Avoid
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
There's a particular kind of Englishness that lives on this stretch of limestone — honey-coloured villages that haven't much changed in three hundred years, sheep pasture and dry-stone walls, and a string of market towns still trading on wool money long since spent. The Cotswold Way is where you go to find it properly, on foot, without the coach parties getting there first.
The trail runs 102 miles from Chipping Campden to the abbey at the centre of Bath, keeping to the western edge of the hills almost the whole way, so the views run west across the Severn to Wales while the climbs come in short, repeated bursts rather than long pulls. Most people take about a week. It rewards walkers who like a lot of small ups and downs and a good pub at the end of them. Use the planner below to build the itinerary that fits your pace.
How the trail unfolds.
Your trail divides naturally into three parts — not by day, but by character. You start on the open northern edge with the longest views; you turn inland through the wooded, history-dense middle; and you finish on the last ridge with Bath laid out below you.
Birdlip to Tormarton
The Beech Country
The edge turns inward — beech hangers, hidden villages, and more history packed into the hills than anywhere else on the trail.
Tormarton to Bath Abbey
Down to Bath
The last ridge, the first sight of the city, and a Georgian finish you walk straight into.
Build your trip
Customise your Cotswold Way.
Pick your pace, party size and dates. The itinerary, distances, nightly stops and the price all update live — no commitment until you're happy.
- Days sized to your walking speed
- Each night ends at a stop with accommodation
- Pricing reflects party size and seasonality
- Save and share the itinerary with your group
Hiker · 4.0 km/h
2 walkers
Days
7
Distance
164 km
Walking
55 hrs
Your day-by-day itinerary updates live in the Your itinerary section below.
Trip total
£1,778
£889 per person · 6 nights · party of 2
Build your itinerary above.
This is the itinerary you're building. Change the pace, party size or start date in the planner above and every stage, distance and date updates here.
Where you'll stay
Where you'll sleep.
Expect old coaching inns with low beams and honest food, and small B&Bs run out of honey-stone cottages in villages like Stanton and Broadway. Nothing on this trail is more than a short walk from a decent pub.
- Coaching inns with centuries of passing trade behind them
- Honey-stone B&Bs in villages barely touched since the wool boom
- A pub dinner most nights — the Cotswolds do this well
- A rest-day option in Bath's Georgian streets at the finish
Every trip is planned around your dates and party, so we can't promise you a specific inn — but we can promise the kind of welcome that makes a walking holiday feel like a proper holiday.
What's included?
Self-guided, but properly supported. You turn up, you walk, you eat well, you sleep well. We handle the logistics.
Pastoral limestone escarpment through quintessential England.
164km / 4,000m
Get your personalised itinerary
Not included
- Travel to Chipping Campden and from Bath
- Lunches and evening meals (we'll recommend the best places)
- Travel insurance
Travelling solo? You're still connected.
Walking the Cotswold Way alone doesn't mean being out of touch. We lend you a small GPS tracker for the trail, and a private map link lets the people who care about you follow along from home.
A lightweight GPS tracker
Carry it in your pack and it updates your position as you walk — no phone signal required.
A private live map
See your own progress on a secure map, with your overnight stops visible at a glance.
Share with people you trust
Send the private link to family or friends so they know you've arrived safely each day.
Book your Cotswold Way adventure.
Your Cotswold Way adventure
Configure your trip in the builder above and it will appear here.
Per Person
—
Trip Total
—
Deposit Today
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- Free cancellation to 60 days
- Confirmation within 24 hrs
- ABTOT financially protected
Not quite ready?
We'll start planning your trip right away. Not happy with anything? We'll adjust it or refund you — no questions asked.
The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for Big Trail Adventures (member 5690). Protection is provided for non-flight packages. Full details in our booking conditions.
Things walkers ask us.
How fit do I need to be?
You'll want to be comfortable walking around 22 to 24 km a day with a daypack. The Cotswold Way looks gentle on a map, but the climbing adds up — roughly 4,300 m of ascent over the route, almost all of it in short, steep escarpment pulls rather than long mountain climbs. There's no single hard day, but there are a lot of moderately hard ones. If that sounds much, the Explorer pace spreads the same distance over nine days.
When should I walk it?
May to September is the best window. Late spring and early summer — May and June — give you long days, dry paths, and the beech woods and grasslands at their best. September is quieter, with settled weather and autumn colour. August is the busiest month, and accommodation in the smaller villages books up early. Winter brings the clearest views from the edge but heavy, sticky going underfoot and short days.
Do you include luggage transfer?
Yes — your bag is moved between accommodations every walking day, up to 20 kg per bag. You walk with a daypack carrying the day's essentials. The Cotswold Way stays close to roads and villages for almost its whole length, so there are no remote stages where transfer is a problem.
What kind of accommodation do you book?
Family-run inns, B&Bs and small guesthouses in the Cotswold towns and villages along the route — never chains. Every stay is en-suite, with breakfast included and somewhere to dry wet boots. On this trail that means places in towns like Broadway, Winchcombe, Painswick and Wotton-under-Edge, with the occasional village where options are limited and we book early.
Can I walk it solo?
Yes — the Cotswold Way is one of the more solo-friendly National Trails. It's well waymarked in both directions, the villages are close together, and you're rarely far from a road or other walkers, especially in summer. We book single-occupancy rooms, with a single supplement on the smaller places where a single room isn't available.
What's the realistic total cost?
Our Classic package starts at £889 per person for the seven-day Hiker pace, based on two people sharing. That covers accommodation, breakfast every morning, baggage transfer, a route pack with maps and notes, and 24-hour support. On the trail, budget around £25 to 35 a day per person for lunches, drinks and the odd entry fee if you stop at places like Sudeley Castle or Prior Park.
Not sure what shape your trip should be?
The Cotswold Way is the one I point people to when they've done a coastal path and want something with more history per mile and a proper city at the end. Don't be fooled by 'the Cotswolds' — it's a lot of up and down. Give it seven days, not five.
Notes from Big Trails
From the trail journal.
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