Getting to Glastonbury without a car: trains, buses and taxis
The thing that catches most first-time visitors out: Glastonbury has no railway station. The line through the town closed in the 1960s, and nothing replaced it. Every car-free arrival therefore ends with a bus or a taxi, and the whole trick is choosing which one before you book the train.
The good news is that once you are here, a car is close to unnecessary. The town centre is small, flat and entirely walkable, and the two things everyone comes for — the Abbey and the Tor — are on foot from almost anywhere in it.
The short version
| Arrive at | Final leg | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Castle Cary station | Taxi, pre-booked | 25 minutes |
| Bristol Temple Meads | Direct bus via Wells | 1¼ to 1½ hours |
| Bath Spa | Bus to Wells, change | 1½ to 2 hours |
| Bristol Airport | Taxi, or bus into Bristol and change | 45 minutes by road |
By train to Castle Cary — fastest, but book the taxi
Castle Cary is the nearest station, roughly twelve miles east of Glastonbury and about twenty-five minutes by road. It sits on the Great Western line out of London Paddington towards Taunton, Exeter and the far south-west, which makes it comfortably the quickest way down from London.
The catch is the last leg. Public transport between Castle Cary and Glastonbury is thin — a handful of buses a day, with changes — so in practice you are taking a taxi. Castle Cary is a small country station and cabs do not sit waiting outside it. Book one in advance for your train, and have the number with you in case the train is late.
Best for: anyone coming from London or the south-west who would rather pay for a short taxi than spend an extra hour on buses.
By train to Bristol Temple Meads — slower, but no taxi needed
The alternative is Bristol Temple Meads, around twenty-six miles north, and the reason to choose it is that the bus from there runs straight into the middle of Glastonbury. The Mendip Xplorer services operated by First cross the Mendips via Wells and set down in the town centre, with buses through the day rather than a handful.
It is the longer journey — allow an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half on the bus, on top of the train — but it is a single change, it costs a fraction of a taxi fare, and the run down off the Mendips into Wells is a genuinely good piece of countryside to sit through.
Best for: anyone travelling from the Midlands, Wales or the north, and anyone who would rather not depend on a booked cab.
From Bath, Taunton and elsewhere in Somerset
- Bath. No direct bus. Take a bus from Bath to Wells, then change onto a Glastonbury service — Wells is the hinge that most Somerset bus journeys turn on. Allow the best part of two hours.
- Taunton. A cross-county bus links Taunton with Street, Glastonbury and Wells, useful if you are arriving on a south-west train and would rather not go via Bristol.
- Yeovil, Street, Bridgwater and Wells. All connected by the same family of routes. Wells to Glastonbury is the shortest of them at around a quarter of an hour.
- Coach. National Express serves the town; from most places the journey involves changing in Bristol.
Flying in
Bristol Airport is the closest, about forty-five minutes away by road. There is no direct bus to Glastonbury, so it is either a pre-booked taxi or transfer, or the airport bus into Bristol followed by the Wells bus back out again — which works, but turns a forty-five minute drive into a good part of the afternoon. If you are landing late, book a car.
A door you can walk to: No. 48 Magdalene Street is a one-bedroom cottage in the centre of Glastonbury, a minute from the Abbey gates and a short walk from the town centre bus stops, with self check-in so a late arrival is not a problem. Sleeps two, pets welcome.
Getting around once you are here
This is the part that makes a car-free stay work. From a central address, almost everything in town is on foot: the Abbey is minutes away, the High Street with its shops and cafés is a stroll, Chalice Well is about ten minutes across town and the foot of the Tor around fifteen. Our first-visit guide sets out the order that makes the best day of it.
Beyond the town:
- The Tor. Walkable from the centre, and the walk out through the streets is part of it. A seasonal Tor bus runs from the town centre in the summer months for anyone who would rather save their legs for the climb itself.
- Wells. The easiest day out without a car — a frequent bus, about fifteen minutes, and the cathedral is a short walk from where it drops you. If you only do one Somerset day trip by bus, do this one.
- Street. Ten minutes on the same corridor of buses, for Clarks Village and the shoe museum.
- Taxis. Local firms operate in the town and are the sensible answer for the Levels at dusk or an early train. Book ahead rather than expecting to hail one.
What a car does still buy you
Honesty about the limits: Cheddar Gorge, Wookey Hole, the nature reserves out on the Levels and the coast at Burnham and Brean are all much harder by bus, and some of them are effectively out of reach for an evening visit. A starling murmuration at Ham Wall in midwinter is not a bus trip.
If your plan is Glastonbury, Wells and the town itself, you will not miss a car for a moment. If it is a touring week around Somerset, hire one — there is free on-street parking in this part of town, and the roads out are quiet.
Festival week is a different question
Everything above describes normal travel. During Glastonbury Festival the roads around the town behave completely differently, extra services run, and the Festival publishes its own travel and coach information ahead of each event. If you are coming for the music rather than the town, start with our Festival 2027 page and the guide to where to stay for the festival, and check the Festival's own travel pages nearer the time.
Before you book
Route numbers and timetables on these services do change — the Mendip routes were renumbered and rescheduled fairly recently — so treat the journey times here as a planning guide rather than a promise, and check current timetables with the operators for the day you are travelling. Sunday services in rural Somerset are noticeably thinner than the rest of the week, which is worth knowing before you build a Sunday arrival around a bus.