The 10 best day trips from Reading, ranked
Radcliffe Camera and Bodleian buildings in central Oxford
Ten day trips within 90 minutes of Reading station, ordered by how good the day is versus how much planning it takes.
1. Oxford
Oxford wins because the return on effort is enormous. Twenty-five minutes on GWR (£15.40 off-peak return), no changes, and you step out into a city that would be a major destination if it sat anywhere else. Do the Ashmolean first (free, three hours if you’re thorough), lunch at the covered market or the Turf Tavern, then the Bodleian tour (£10) or a walk through Christ Church Meadow.
Skip the tourist bus. Skip the punting queues in July. Do go up the tower at St Mary's for the view over the Radcliffe Camera (£6, worth it). Best months are April-May and September-October — the summer holidays fill it with tour groups and the light is worse. First train out of Reading at 07:15, last back at 23:40 — you can genuinely stay for dinner.
2. Windsor
Windsor is the day trip you do for the castle. Thirty-five minutes from Reading (change at Slough, £12.30 return). Book the earliest castle slot (10am, £30) and you’ll be through the state apartments and St George's Chapel before the London coaches arrive. Add Windsor Great Park in the afternoon — the Long Walk to the Copper Horse is three miles and free.
Eton is across the bridge if you want the college and the high street. Legoland is on a different bus (£70 tickets, aim for shoulder season). Lunch at the Two Brewers on Park Street, dinner back in Reading. This is a full day with tired feet at the end; don’t try to combine Windsor with anywhere else.
3. Henley-on-Thames
Twenty-five minutes on the branch line via Twyford (£7.30 return). Henley is a proper Georgian market town on a beautiful stretch of the Thames, and the day divides neatly: River and Rowing Museum in the morning (£14, two hours), lunch on the Angel on the Bridge terrace, then walk the Thames Path north to Hambleden Lock and back (6.4 miles round trip, flat, easy).
Regatta week (first week of July) is chaos — book restaurants weeks ahead or avoid entirely. Off-season Henley is quieter than you’d expect. The Chocolate Café on Thameside does the best cake in the town. Trains back to Reading every 30 minutes until 22:30 on weekdays, earlier on Sundays.
4. Marlow
Marlow needs a car or a train-plus-taxi combination (train to Maidenhead, then the branch to Marlow, £11.20 total, 45 minutes). Worth it. The high street is one of the prettiest in the Thames Valley, Tom Kerridge's Hand and Flowers is here if you want the Michelin two-star (book three months out), and the Thames Path south along the river to Bourne End is a lovely five-mile walk.
Lower-key alternative to Henley — smaller, quieter, feels more like a village. The Chequers on Market Square does a good pub lunch under £20. The suspension bridge is Grade I listed and photogenic. Combine with a walk on Winter Hill above Cookham for the view down the Thames — the picture that inspired Stanley Spencer's paintings.
5. Bath
Ninety minutes on GWR direct (£28 off-peak return, book ahead for £14 advance singles). Bath is a full day and you’ll want the first train out. The Roman Baths first (£28 timed entry, book online), then walk the Georgian streets — the Royal Crescent, the Circus, Milsom Street — and lunch at Sally Lunn's or the Marlborough Tavern.
Afternoon options: the Fashion Museum, the Holburne, or the Thermae Bath Spa (£45 for two hours in the rooftop pool, book ahead). Bath is a lot of walking on hills; wear proper shoes. Trains back to Reading run until 22:15. Don’t try to combine Bath with Bristol on the same day even though the train continues — you’ll do neither justice.
6. Winchester
An hour by train (change at Basingstoke, £18.40 return). Winchester is the quiet counter-programme to Oxford — smaller, less touristed, arguably prettier, and the cathedral is genuinely great (£10 adult, tower tours extra). Do the cathedral, walk down to the Water Meadows and out to St Cross Hospital (medieval almshouses, still functioning, £5), lunch at the Chesil Rectory.
The high street is Georgian and independently owned in a way Reading's isn’t. The Great Hall houses King Arthur's round table (probably medieval, definitely not Arthurian, still worth seeing, £4). Full day, calmer than Oxford, better for anyone who's been to the obvious places. Trains back until 22:30.
7. Bourton-on-the-Water and the Cotswolds
Needs a car — train to Moreton-in-Marsh (75 minutes, £22 return) then bus 801, which is unreliable. Or drive the M40 and A40 (90 minutes on a good day, 2 hours on a bad one). Bourton is the honeypot village and it's mobbed in summer; go April-May or October or a weekday in February.
Better to base the day on Chipping Campden and the walk to Broadway Tower (5 miles, chalk uplands, the best Cotswolds view). Lunch at the Eight Bells in Chipping Campden. This is the day trip where the driving eats a chunk of the day — allow travel-plus-visit at seven hours minimum. Worth it once; not something you’d do monthly.
8. Stonehenge and Salisbury
Train to Salisbury (75 minutes via Basingstoke, £22 return), then the Stonehenge Tour Bus from the station (£17 including monument entry). Salisbury cathedral is separately excellent (£10 donation) and the close is one of the great English cathedral closes.
Do Stonehenge in the morning (crowded from 11am, book early slot), lunch in Salisbury (Haunch of Venison on Minster Street), cathedral in the afternoon. The catch: two-and-a-half hours travel each way, and Stonehenge itself is a 30-minute stop rather than a full visit. Do it once, cross it off. Don’t do this trip in July or August — coach traffic on the A303 turns the return into a slog.
9. Blenheim Palace
Train to Oxford, then bus S3 to Woodstock (35 minutes, £5), then a five-minute walk to the palace gates. Blenheim is £39 adult (annual pass same price, works out well if you go twice) and it needs a full day — palace, formal gardens, park walks, the pleasure gardens with the miniature train and hedge maze.
The park (Capability Brown's masterpiece, 2,000 acres) is where the day really justifies itself. Walk to the Column of Victory and back for a proper hour outside. Combine with a pint at the Bear in Woodstock. Return to Oxford by 17:30 to make the Reading train. This is a long day but a memorable one.
10. London (the honest inclusion)
Elizabeth line direct from Reading to Tottenham Court Road (55 minutes, £13.20 with a Contactless card off-peak). Tenth on the list because it's the obvious answer but also the least distinctive — you don’t come to Reading to visit London. That said, if you have one specific London thing to do (a matinee, a special exhibition, a specific restaurant), the Elizabeth line makes it a genuinely easy day.
Best strategy: pick one museum, one lunch, one walk. The Tate Modern, lunch on the South Bank, walk over the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's — that's a good day. Trying to do the Tower plus the Museum plus a matinee plus dinner will exhaust you. Last Elizabeth line to Reading is around 23:45 which gives you a proper evening.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Henley-on-Thames.
Oxford. Fast, direct, and it gives you a proper English university city, a world-class museum, and a good lunch for under £40 all-in. Second choice: Henley for a river-town day with a good walk. Third: Windsor for the castle if you haven’t seen a proper royal palace.
All except Bourton-on-the-Water and Marlow are straightforward by train from Reading. Marlow needs a train change and Bourton needs an unreliable bus or a car. Oxford, Windsor, Henley, Bath, Winchester, Salisbury, Blenheim (via Oxford bus) and London are all direct or one change.
Oxford — the Ashmolean, the Bodleian, the covered market and half a dozen good pubs can fill a wet day with almost no time outdoors. Bath is similar (Roman Baths, museums, the Thermae Spa). Avoid Cliveden, Blenheim and any Cotswolds walking day trip when it's forecast to rain all day.
