A local's guide to getting around Windsor without a car

Windsor is one of the most walkable towns we cover and also one of the hardest to park in, which is exactly why so many visitors and even locals end up doing the whole day without a car at all.

The castle and town centre

Windsor Castle, the town's shops along Peascod Street, and the riverside by the Thames are all within a ten-minute walk of each other. If your day is castle, lunch, a walk by the river, this is entirely a one-parking-spot-or-zero problem — most people who drive in end up walking the same loop on foot regardless, so a taxi drop-off right at the start saves the parking search entirely.

Eton, across the bridge

Eton and its High Street sit a genuine but short walk across the pedestrian bridge from Windsor — fifteen minutes at a comfortable pace, less if you cut through. It's an easy add-on to a Windsor day without needing a second vehicle move, though a taxi back if you're laden with shopping or it's raining is a common ask and an easy one for us to cover, being barely a five-minute run.

Legoland

This is the one where a car genuinely helps if you're driving yourself, since it's a couple of miles out and not a stroll with kids in tow. A taxi from Windsor town centre to Legoland is a short, fixed-price hop, useful if you've come into Windsor by train and don't want to also manage a rental car or a bus timetable for a single return trip.

Getting into Windsor in the first place

Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor & Eton Riverside are both easy taxi pickups if you've come in by train — Central sits right by the castle, Riverside a short walk from the river and the shops. Either way, a taxi from Slough (£12 saloon) or Maidenhead is a reliable fallback if your train is delayed or cancelled and you'd rather not wait for the next one.

Heathrow, at the end of the day

Windsor to Heathrow runs a fixed £16 saloon, £25 executive, and given the town centre's one-way system and limited parking, most visitors flying out the same day are better off booking a taxi than trying to retrieve a car from wherever they managed to leave it that morning.

The practical version

Walk the castle-to-river loop, taxi across for Legoland or the station run, and don't fight for a parking space you'll only need for twenty minutes at either end of the day. Call 01753 000 000 for any of these hops — most of them are short enough that the fare is confirmed in a sentence.