Cotswolds for Women Travelers: A Real Stay Experience

Castle Combe main street in the Cotswolds

The main street of Castle Combe

The Cotswolds is home to a wonderful variety of charming villages. If you are wondering which villages to visit, what route to take, where to eat, or where to stay, I hope this post will help you plan your trip. In this two-part series, I share my personal recommendations from a woman traveler’s perspective on the best villages and areas to visit. This is Part 2.

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👉 New here? Start with Part 1: Bourton-on-the-Water, Barnsley & Bibury.

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Broadway
Snowshill
Castle Combe

📑 Contents

Broadway
Snowshill
Castle Combe
Bring the Cotswolds Home: Afternoon Tea Essentials

Broadway

Broadway is one of the most frequently featured Cotswolds villages in guidebooks. Its wide main street easily accommodates large tour buses, and there are plenty of shops, making it an ideal stop for group tours. It may also suit those who want to enjoy some shopping in the Cotswolds. Personally, though, I did not feel it was a must-visit destination, and I would not recommend it as a top priority. If I return to the Cotswolds, I doubt I would revisit Broadway.

For planning my itinerary, I found this Cotswolds travel guide very helpful. It includes suggested model courses for one-day trips as well as two-night, three-day itineraries, which made it easy to plan the trip.

Snowshill

About a ten-minute drive from Broadway up into the hills, Snowshill is a wonderfully quiet and tucked-away little hamlet. From this peaceful spot nestled among rolling hills, you can see sheep grazing on the surrounding slopes — the quintessential Cotswolds landscape I had always seen in photos. It was genuinely moving to see it in person.

Large buses cannot reach it, I imagine, as there were almost no tourists when we visited — only a few local residents going about their day (we spotted a couple of elderly neighbors). The area is small enough to explore in about 20 minutes. For independent travelers, Snowshill is highly recommended.

Castle Combe

Castle Combe is, in my personal opinion, the top highlight of the Cotswolds. Even better, if you can visit The Manor House — the village’s historic country-house hotel — for a meal or afternoon tea, it will make your entire Cotswolds stay feel at least three times more special.

If you visit the village of Castle Combe together with the grounds of The Manor House — even without dining there — you should allow at least one hour. There are cafes in the village where you can stop for tea, which will also take time. Walking the main street alone takes about 30 minutes, but coming all this way and leaving without stepping onto The Manor House grounds would truly be a shame.