In case you missed it, a little spot in the heart of the Cotswolds was just declared the most beautiful village not just in the UK, not in Europe, but the entire world. With help from experts at Unforgettable Travel Company, Forbes named Bibury, with its ‘honey-slicked cottages’ and river ‘weaving through golden buttercups’, the best looking village on the planet for 2025.
Time Out staffers agree that Bibury is stunning. News editor Ed Cunningham has been to see it for himself and said: ‘There’s no denying that Bibury is a delightful place – Arlington Row is fantastically pretty, the Coln is so calm, the whole hill is so marvellously green.’
But it’s not easy being pretty and, over the years, Bibury’s beauty has become its burden. As Ed says, ‘turn up at the wrong time, just as a huge tour group arrives, and you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with hordes of tourists’. Time Out content director James Manning agreed. He said: ‘It's fine, the Twig café is very nice. But there are too many tourists there.’
Up to 20,000 visitors can crowd the village on a single weekend during peak season, with as many as 50 packed coaches arriving each day. According to locals, some have reportedly even mistaken the village for a living museum, and its residents for actors. Even though you may be a tourist yourself, the crowds make Bibury decidedly less pleasant. It’s not the only beautiful village that the Cotswolds has to offer though. Here’s a roundup of our favourite, quieter alternatives nearby.
RECOMMENDED: How to get to Bibury from London.
Upper and Lower Slaughter
Time Out Worldwide’s Caterina Cestarelli named the sister villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter her favourite alternatives to Bibury. They sit on the along the River Eye, about a mile apart from one another. Caterina said that ‘the walk between the two was great’ – you’ll pass the charming Old Mill, cross vibrant green fields and the classic light stone Cotswolds cottages.
Oddington
Around a half hour drive from Bibury, you’ll find the just as quaint and cosy Oddington. James Manning paid Oddington a visit and recalls ‘stately, honey-coloured stone houses lining a quiet, winding lane – perfect for a stroll before a pint at The Fox pub’.
Swinbrook
James called Swinbrook, a small village 20 minutes from Bibury, ‘small but perfectly formed, with a gorgeous medieval church and a lovely pub (The Swan) perched by the River Windrush’. It’s got that quintessential Cotswolds appeal, complete with uniformly warm-hued houses, romantic brooks and the fascinating 17th-century Fettiplace Monuments inside St Mary’s Church.
Chipping Campden
A town, rather than a village, Chipping Campden still has everything you’d expect from a typical Cotswolds outpost. Our news editor Ed said: ‘Better equipped for tourists than Bibury, visitors to this market town only give it more of a market-type buzz. Chipping Campden is one of the Cotswolds’ most important historic towns, but it’s also preserved that history well, and boasts as much flooring beauty as the area’s much-visited, much smaller villages.’
Southrop
A mere 14-minute drive away, Southrop is dripping with the same British charm that draws folk to Bibury, but boasts a lot less footfall. According to James, it’s got ‘stone cottages, a cute boutique hotel, gorgeously kept gardens, and the church where Kate Moss got married’. If it’s good enough for Kate, it’s good enough for us.
Charlbury
If you want gorgeous food and well as the enchanting Cotswolds views, head to Charlbury (around 35 minutes from Bibury). James describes it as ‘a slightly larger town with spectacular hilltop views – though it’s probably more famous as the home of The Bull, one of the UK's best gastropubs’. In his review of The Bull, James said: ‘We ordered enough small plates to set the wooden table groaning, and it was all incredible – from raw local beef with mustard to garden-fresh veg and pork and apple, plus an absolute heap of homemade soft-serve ice cream to finish.’
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