Start from 29 curated places around Stratford-upon-Avon, GB, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Lambs Restaurant
A modern British bistro tucked into one of the oldest buildings on Sheep Street, all low beams and uneven floors. The duck and the rotating market-led mains are what regulars come back for, and the pre-theatre menu makes it an easy walk to the RSC after. Good for a relaxed dinner that isn't a tourist canteen.
The Woodsman
Live-fire British cooking in a rustic 1500s room on Chapel Street, where most of the menu touches the wood grill or open hearth. This is the town's serious-dinner option, leaning into game, beef and seasonal produce rather than fussy tasting menus. Good for a nicer night out that still feels like a proper meal.
Trails & outdoors
Stratford Greenway
A flat, surfaced walking and cycling path along the old Honeybourne railway line, running about five miles out to Long Marston past the racecourse and over the Avon and Stour. It's traffic-free the whole way with a cafe roughly midway, which makes it the easy-distance option that doesn't involve mud or hills. Good on a bike if you'd rather cover ground.
Welcombe Hills
An elevated country park just north of town with the best views back over Stratford and the Warwickshire countryside, crowned by the Victorian Obelisk. The climb is short but enough to feel like you've earned the panorama. The local choice for an evening walk that isn't the riverside again.
Things to do
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The RSC's main 1,000-plus-seat house on the riverside, with a thrust stage that puts you close to the action, and the reason a lot of people come to Stratford at all. Seeing Shakespeare performed in his own town is the evening that defines the trip. Even if theatre isn't your thing, the building, riverside terrace and rooftop restaurant are worth a look.
Swan Theatre
The RSC's smaller galleried theatre next to the main house, an intimate wooden space that stages Shakespeare's contemporaries and newer writing. The closeness to the stage is the whole appeal; it feels nothing like the big house. The one to pick if you want a more intimate, less spectacle-driven evening.
Landmarks & sights
Shakespeare's Birthplace
The half-timbered Henley Street house where Shakespeare was born and grew up, and the anchor of any visit. Costumed guides and the adjoining exhibition do the heavy lifting on context, which makes it the one house to do if you only do one. Central, so it bookends the rest of the town easily.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage
The thatched 15th-century farmhouse in Shottery where Anne Hathaway grew up, set in orchards and gardens that many rate above the house itself. The original Hathaway bed is the detail people remember. It's the prettiest of the Trust properties and the gardens make the short walk out from town worth it.