Is Painswick in the Cotswolds Worth Visiting?

Last updated on 4 September 2026

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase with one of these links, I recieve a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read the full Affiliate Policy.

When I first arrived in England, fresh off the plane from New Zealand, where I would spend the next two years (not that I knew it then), I think it was the first or second weekend that I was in the country that I got to visit Painswick in the Cotswolds.

What an introduction to small English village life!

We lived in Gloucestershire, so it was on the edge of the beautiful Cotswolds, and Painswick was literally about a 12-minute drive from where we were. So it was the perfect spot to a) introduce the idea of a Cotswold village to a newbie (aka me), b) take visitors up to when they came and stayed and c) just for a morning or afternoon out.

Over the course of the few years I was in England, we went multiple times. So is Painswick in the Cotswolds worth visiting?

I reckon, yeah. And here’s why.

3 Reasons why Painswick in the Cotswolds is worth visiting

1. Less touristy than other Cotswold towns

Of course, this might have changed since I lived in England, but when I was there, it really did feel less touristy than some of the (many) other Cotswold villages. This will depend on what time of the year you’re going, but even so …

When you think of ‘Cotswolds’ you probably are picturing places like Bibury or Bourton-on-the-Water, or one of the Slaughters (Upper or Lower). The classic row of beautiful honey-coloured houses you might be picturing right now is in Bibury, for example.

Whenever I visited the other Cotswold towns, I always felt like there were lots of tourists, and while, yes, technically I was also a tourist (at least, for a while until I felt like I actually lived there properly), Painswick didn’t feel that way.

Again, it might have changed, and I’d love to know if it’s busier these days! Drop me a comment!

2. Perfect for wandering without a plan

Something I love about Painswick is that you can basically wander without much of a plan. Yes, you can probably do that in other Cotswold towns too, but with Painswick there aren’t really one or two things that you ‘must see’ like in some of the others.

Aforementioned Bibury has the classic row of houses, Bourton-on-the-Water has a very picturesque stream running through it with cute bridges, Stow-on-the-Wold has the famous Tolkien door in the tree.

In Painswick, you can wander from coffee shop to coffee shop, take in the beautiful St Mary’s Church and graveyard, look over the hills, visit the shops, take a stroll through the Painswick Rococo Garden, eat out somewhere like The Falcon Inn (circa 1550s, which is absolutely WILD to me).

You could easily spend a few hours simply wandering around and seeing what sparks your interest. And when the streets aren’t lined with tourists, you can do it much more easily.

3. Walks to do

As well as wandering through the village itself, there are several walks you can do around Painswick, if you like getting out in the fresh air a bit. I haven’t actually done any of the walks myself, but I’d love to go back and do some of these!

As well as the famous Cotswold Way (which is a 164km walking trail through the Cotswolds all the way to Bath), there are two other walking trails that are a lot shorter (and everyone heaved a sigh of relief). One is a 3-mile (about 4.8 km) circular walk along the Painswick Stream, and then the other one is about a 4-mile circular walk (about 6.5km) to Frith Wood.

It’s a nice wee combination of town and country.

A little for everyone in Painswick

Of course there are probably more things I could come up with, but hopefully that’s a start! As you can see, there’s something for everyone in Painswick.

Want to spend time outside in nature? Check out the walking paths or visit the Rococo Gardens.

Want to sit in a cute cafe all afternoon reading a book? You’ve got options – enough to do a cafe crawl if you wanted to!

Want to go shopping? Whether you’re up for opshops/thriftstores or independent boutique stores, you can absolutely drop your money here. Definitely check out Handmade in Painswick, which curates and gathers items from artists and creators all over the Cotswolds.

Want to soak up some of the history? You’ve got the church, graveyard, and other historical buildings throughout the town.

And if you have a party where you people want to do a range of things, you can disperse for the day and meet up at the pub in the evening.

If you can’t tell already, I do think it’s worth visiting Painswick if you’re doing a tour of the Cotswolds. It was definitely one of my favourites out of the main ones that I visited when I lived there.

I’d love to hear if you’ve been to Painswick! When did you go, and what did you do?