The National Trail along the Cotswold escarpment, from Chipping Campden to Bath Abbey, in its fifteen sections: Broadway, Winchcombe and Cleeve Hill, the hills above Cheltenham, Painswick, the Stroud valleys and the southern Cotswolds down to Bath.
Best season: All year. The trail can be walked all year, National Trails says: winter gives the clearest views from the escarpment, late spring and early summer the woods and grassland at their best. Bluebells and wild garlic flower in April and May, and the beech woods colour from mid to late October. Places to stay fill quickly in the busy season. Before you go
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Fifteen sections, the National Trail's own, each of 7.5 to 16.5 km, so most days walk two. The guidebook suggests 7 to 10 days. Three section ends have few or no beds: Cleeve Hill has hotels just below, Dowdeswell and Leckhampton Hill have one listed stay each nearby and the rest in Cheltenham. Birdlip, Hawkesbury Upton and Cold Ashton have one listed stay each. The plan here takes 11 days of 12 to 21 km. Choose a plan, or pick your own start, finish and nights below.
Changing where you stay suggests a new number of days: the fewest that keep each day under 8 h of walking and in daylight, where a place to stay allows.
Days end where the route has a stay, a camp or a village.
Stage 1: From Chipping Campden to Broadway: 6 miles (9.6 km), 173 m up and 241 m down, National Trails says; 9.5 km on our line.
Stage 2: Through Stanton, which has beds on the trail, to the hamlet of Wood Stanway: 6.5 miles (10.5 km), 248 m up; 10.6 km on our line.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
A hamlet with one farmhouse B&B; Stanton, about 3.4 km back along the trail, has more beds.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 3: Past Hayles Fruit Farm's campsite to Winchcombe: 5.4 miles (8.8 km), 172 m up.
Stage 4: Up from Winchcombe onto Cleeve Hill: 5.6 miles (9.0 km) and 330 m up to the golf club house, where National Trails ends the section; 9.9 km to our cut on the hill. The hotels are in Cleeve Hill village, just below.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
National Trails ends section 4 at the golf club house on Cleeve Hill. The listed hotels and B&B are in Cleeve Hill village, about 200 to 450 m off the trail; Southam is about 1.4 km off.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 5: Down to Dowdeswell Reservoir by the A40: 5.5 miles (8.9 km), 99 m up; 8.3 km on our line. There are no beds at Dowdeswell: the nearest listed stay, in Charlton Kings, is about 3/4 mile (1.2 km) off.
Stage 6: Up to Leckhampton Hill above Cheltenham: 4.7 miles (7.6 km), 275 m up, the shortest section. One listed lodge is near the top; the other beds are in Cheltenham below.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
The hilltop above Cheltenham: one listed lodge near the top, about 200 m off the trail; the other beds are in Cheltenham, about 4 km below.
km 6.8–7.0: Not mapped: follow the waymarks.
Stage 7: To Birdlip: 5.6 miles (9.0 km), about 130 m up and down; 9.7 km on our line. From 3 July 2026, for at least six months, the A417 rebuild near the Air Balloon diverts the trail between about 2.7 and 7 km; the signed diversion adds about an hour. Where the trail crosses the A417, 161 m is not mapped on OpenStreetMap and is drawn dashed: follow the waymarks.
Stage 8: To Painswick, the trail's mid-point, National Trails says: 8.6 miles (13.9 km), 180 m up and 325 m down. Our line measures 11.2 km here and 14.8 km for the next section, against National Trails' 13.9 and 12.6: together they agree within 0.5 km.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Camping spot
Pick a date to check the season.
A small town at the trail's mid-point, National Trails says, with an inn and B&Bs; a campsite with pods is about 1.2 km off.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 9: Down to the Stroud valley at King's Stanley: 7.8 miles (12.6 km), 315 m up; 14.8 km on our line, 26.0 km for sections 8 and 9 together against National Trails' 26.5. At the Stroudwater Navigation the trail splits: by the canal and Selsley Common, or through King's Stanley.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
A village by the Stroud valley. From the Stroudwater Navigation section 9 offers two routes, by the canal and Selsley Common or through King's Stanley; the Bell Inn is in Selsley, about 2 km off.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 10: To Dursley: 7.2 miles (11.6 km), 235 m up; 11.7 km on our line. The two routes from the Stroudwater Navigation meet again in Pen Wood.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
A market town with a B&B about 0.5 km off the trail; Stinchcombe Hill House is on the trail about 2.6 km on.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 11: To Wotton-under-Edge: 7.3 miles (11.8 km), 260 m up, or 4.8 miles (7.8 km) by a short cut; 12.0 km on our line, the full route. Stinchcombe Hill House is on the trail 2.6 km in. Near North Nibley the trail takes a diversion round the landslips of 2013, now signed as the official route; our line follows it.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
A market town with a hotel on the trail and a B&B about 250 m off.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 12: To Hawkesbury Upton: 7.4 miles (11.9 km), 300 m up; 12.6 km on our line. An emergency diversion near Wortley, about 5 km in, was due to end with September 2026 but was still listed on 13 October: follow the signs on the ground.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
The website on its National Trails listing did not answer on 13 October 2026, so we could not confirm that it is trading: check before you rely on it. nationaltrail.co.uk, read 13 October 2026
A village about 400 m off the trail, with one listed stay, the Fox Inn.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 13: To Tormarton: 7.7 miles (12.4 km), 145 m up; 11.6 km on our line.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
A village with a hotel and B&Bs, about 150 to 300 m off the trail.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 14: To Cold Ashton: 6.6 miles (10.6 km), 170 m up. Near Tormarton, National Trails offers a diversion avoiding the Beacon Lane Plantation area, as long as the original route, which our line follows; the diversion has a difficult crossing of the A46 at Field Lane.
Stage 15 begins here; its notes are with Day 11, which walks most of it.
Overnight
Hotel · Hill Farm Accommodation
Pick a date to check the season.
Not a section end: a B&B on the trail, a day's walk from Bath.
Stage 15, of which this day walks part: Down into Bath, ending at the carved stone disc outside the west doors of Bath Abbey: 10.2 miles (16.5 km), 225 m up and 400 m down, the longest section. Hill Farm, 1.8 km in, is the only listed bed before Bath.
Longest day: day 4, 5 h 34.
Days end at a stage end with a refuge or a village, or in a village the route passes through. Walking times are measured on each stage's mapped line by our route analysis (terrain heights and our hiking-time model, moving time only): no time is published for these stages.Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Running times use 7.5 km/h plus one hour per 700 m of climb: a steady reference, not a prediction. Daylight is sunrise to sunset where the day starts; the time left is for breaks, meals and delays.Refuge dates come from the operator's own pages; when they are not published, we say so. For villages we count the places to stay OpenStreetMap lists; we have not checked which are open. A plan is not a booking: reserve every night before you commit to these day lengths.
Where each stage ends, the 2026 and 2027 seasons the operator publishes, and how to book. Read from the operators' pages on 13 October 2026; each stage page shows the sources and the grade profile.
| Stage | Night at | 2026 | 2027 | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Chipping Campden to Broadway | The Lodge at Broadway | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 2. Broadway to Wood Stanway | Wood Stanway Farmhouse | 2026 dates not published | not published | Book by email |
| 3. Wood Stanway to Winchcombe | The White Hart Inn | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 4. Winchcombe to Cleeve Hill | Cleeve Hill Hotel | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 5. Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell | Charlton Kings Hotel | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 6. Dowdeswell to Leckhampton Hill | Cheltenham View Lodge | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 7. Leckhampton Hill to Birdlip | Royal George Hotel (Birdlip) notice | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 8. Birdlip to Painswick | Falcon Inn Painswick | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 9. Painswick to King's Stanley | Orchardene | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 10. King's Stanley to Dursley | Woodland House B&B | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 11. Dursley to Wotton-under-Edge | The Swan Hotel | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 12. Wotton-under-Edge to Hawkesbury Upton | The Fox Inn notice | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 13. Hawkesbury Upton to Tormarton | Best Western Compass Inn | 2026 dates not published | not published | Book online |
| 14. Tormarton to Cold Ashton | Hill Farm | 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 | 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027 | Booking method not published |
| 15. Cold Ashton to Bath | YMCA Bath | 2026 dates not published | not published | Book online |
Loading the forecast for low point (25 m) and high point (315 m)…
Typical weather on this trail: at the lowest point (25 m) and the highest point (315 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed |
| Stages rated good on typical weather | 0/15 | 0/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 0/15 |
| High point, day / night | 6°/1° | 7°/1° | 9°/2° | 12°/4° | 16°/7° | 19°/10° | 21°/12° | 20°/11° | 17°/9° | 13°/7° | 9°/4° | 7°/1° |
| Low point, day / night | 8°/3° | 9°/3° | 11°/4° | 14°/5° | 17°/8° | 20°/11° | 22°/13° | 22°/13° | 19°/11° | 15°/8° | 11°/5° | 9°/3° |
| Rain, mm | 89 | 75 | 73 | 68 | 68 | 78 | 78 | 86 | 81 | 101 | 111 | 110 |
| Snow at high point | Possible | Possible | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Frost |
| Daylight | 8 h 16 | 9 h 55 | 11 h 46 | 13 h 49 | 15 h 36 | 16 h 40 | 16 h 16 | 14 h 43 | 12 h 45 | 10 h 46 | 8 h 53 | 7 h 49 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Places to stay can fill quickly in the busy season, National Trails says, so book well ahead. There is no right to wild camp: ask the landowner, or use the campsites on National Trails' list. Several section ends are thin on beds: Birdlip and Hawkesbury Upton have one listed stay each, and we could not confirm that either is trading; Cold Ashton has none of its own, and Hill Farm is 1.8 km on. National Trails lists companies that carry your bags and book walking holidays.
From 3 July 2026, for at least six months, the A417 rebuild near the Air Balloon diverts the trail on section 7, between Leckhampton Hill and Birdlip. The diversion is signed and adds about an hour; it crosses a large construction site, so take care with works traffic and at the busy roads. Crickley Hill's car park, paths and café can still be reached from the trail. Our line and GPX keep the usual route there.
National Trails: diversion at A417 BirdlipNational Trails listed four diversions on 13 October 2026: at Birdlip (the A417 works); near Wortley on section 12 (an emergency closure, due to end in September 2026 but still listed); at North Nibley on section 11 (round old landslips, now signed as the official route); and near Tormarton (an optional route of the same length avoiding the Beacon Lane Plantation, with a difficult crossing of the A46). Check the list before you set off.
National Trails: Cotswold Way trail informationCleeve Hill, Dowdeswell and Leckhampton Hill end on the hills above Cheltenham, with few beds close by: Cheltenham, below the escarpment, is the usual base. Book Birdlip, Hawkesbury Upton and Cold Ashton early, as each has one listed stay.
National Trails: accommodation on the Cotswold WayClosures and notices last checked 13 October 2026: National Trails: A417 Birdlip diversion · National Trails: Cotswold Way diversions · National Trails: Cotswold Way notices (map, part 1) · National Trails: Cotswold Way notices (map, part 2) · National Trails: Cotswold Way notices (map, part 3). Check them again before you set out.
Getting there
Choose a stage or journey above to narrow the travel searches.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
National Trails names Moreton-in-Marsh as the nearest main-line station; Honeybourne is another (both Great Western Railway). We could not confirm a bus from either to Chipping Campden: check Traveline, National Trails' recommended journey planner. Pulhams' 606 bus links Chipping Campden with Willersey, Winchcombe, Bishop's Cleeve and Cheltenham, and its 608 with Mickleton and Cheltenham; their timetables are PDFs on its site.
Pulhams: bus timetablesCheltenham Spa is the base for the hilltop sections, about 4 km below Leckhampton Hill. Stonehouse is about 0.8 km off the trail near the end of section 9, before King's Stanley, and Cam & Dursley about 3 km off section 10. Great Western Railway runs all three.
National Rail: Stonehouse stationThe trail ends at Bath Abbey; Bath Spa station (Great Western Railway) is about 0.5 km away, with trains all year.
National Rail: Bath Spa stationTake your trip with you
Prepare each section while you still have a connection: in the woods below the escarpment the signal can be weak.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
National Trails gives 102 miles (164 km); the official guidebook suggests 7 to 10 days, in 15 sections on our map. The guide's day planner offers an 11-day plan on the overnight stops, and you can choose your own nights.
All year. The trail can be walked all year, National Trails says: winter gives the clearest views from the escarpment, late spring and early summer the woods and grassland at their best.
National Trails names Moreton-in-Marsh as the nearest main-line station; Honeybourne is another (both Great Western Railway). The "Connect your journey" section has the travel details, with 2 more travel notes.
Places to stay can fill quickly in the busy season, National Trails says, so book well ahead.
Yes: the whole route and every section, free, for a GPS watch or a phone. The guide also saves your plan for offline use in the app.
Closures we know of are shown on the days and sections they affect, in the day planner and on the stage pages. We watch 5 official notice pages (National Trails: A417 Birdlip diversion; National Trails: Cotswold Way diversions; National Trails: Cotswold Way notices (map, part 1); National Trails: Cotswold Way notices (map, part 2); National Trails: Cotswold Way notices (map, part 3)); the date we last read them is shown with the notices on this page. Check them again before you set off.
Route & sources
National Trails gives 102 miles (164 km) from Chipping Campden to Bath in fifteen sections, north to south, the direction its route description follows; the sections add up to 164.7 km. The trail is waymarked both ways. National Trails publishes no stage times, only each section's distance in miles and km and its climb, so the times here are measured on our line. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 65239, from the planet of 11 October 2026): 165.1 km, cut at the fifteen section ends. Most sections are within 1 km of National Trails' figures. Birdlip to Painswick and Painswick to King's Stanley are not: 11.2 and 14.8 km on our line against National Trails' 13.9 and 12.6 km, though together they agree (26.0 against 26.5 km). Where the trail crosses the A417 near the Air Balloon, 161 m is not mapped on OpenStreetMap and is drawn dashed; while the A417 is rebuilt, National Trails diverts the trail there. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep banks are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
National Trails: the Cotswold WayMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation