The Cotswolds covers a fairly large area. You can get a train to towns within the Cotswolds, but the joy of it is driving around small country lanes to visit numerous small towns and villages. Not terribly public transport-friendly.
The small towns are lovely. If you’re only going to see a few, I recommend:
- Chipping-Camden
- Burton-on-Water
- Bibury
We visited several others, each as charming as the next. But the above are perhaps the most iconic in representing the Cotswolds. Without a car, you’d miss out on the countryside. To drive on the narrow country roads and single track lanes is also part of the experience.
Yeah from a map it looks like there aren’t a lot of train stops in the Cotswolds. For instance, you can’t get a train to Chipping Campden. I know because I’ve tried: the closest is Honeybourne and Evesham. I ended up walking there from Honeybourne because I couldn’t figure out the bus system from Evesham and there aren’t buses from Honeybourne. (There was a taxi list at the station but I may have been using my burner phone wrong because none of the numbers seemed to be connected.)
Mind sharing the name of the hotel, I stayed at the Hub Hotel by Premier Inn (110 St Martin’s Lane) back in May for 2 weekends during my UK trip. Perfect location, next to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.
Heathrow Airport has the advantage of being easy to get to on the Piccadilly Line. I found it slightly better than most big USA airports.
London Walks has excellent tours. In particular, I liked their two hour tour of the Tower Of London. So much history in that area and the blue badge guide packed hundreds of years of history into the tour.
Free museums are wonderful, and the donation box is a perfect place for tourists to donate all those coins.
We stayed in a great little boutique hotel called, The Nadler (Soho). It’s on the Central (red) Line, just a few blocks from the Tottenham Court Road tube station.
For the Monty Python fans among us… spotted in Neal’s Yard, London.
Did you use the Heathrow Express to/from Paddington? If not, I highly recommend.
I considered it. But opted for the comfort and service of London Heathrow Cars. Just didn’t feel like lugging checked and carry on luggage up and down the as yet unfamiliar tube system.
Traffic was pretty bad but we sat in jet-lagged comfort, watching the city go slowly by the car windows.
The worst part was the hour + it took us to get through customs and immigration. The line wound endlessly through that fucking rat’s maze of ropes.
Oh and going to Heathrow to drop of the rental car was a cluster as well. Traffic was bad but the signage for where to drop of rental cars was virtually non-existent. Our flight was from Terminal 3 but we ended up having to find our way to terminals 4&5 and take the shuttle bus back to 3. Would have been nice if the car rental company (pick up location was downtown London) had given us a heads up with some directions.
Anyway, not the kind of last minute run around I enjoy when trying to catch a flight.
The fun thing about Heathrow, is that in the international terminals, even after you clear security, you have about a mile walk to the gates.
…And the closest bathrooms to gate 22 are a half mile back to the main terminal. Guess how I know this.
:rolleyes:
Just in case someone is trying to look it up, it’s Bourton-on-the-Water (not Burton-on-Water) and it is gorgeous! 
I live just a few streets from there. Love the gardens (go there about once a week) but never really liked that gallery much. Unlike the OP I do rather like Tate Modern. Takes all sorts to make a world, I guess.