Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare’s Birthplace
Stratford-upon-Avon is where Shakespeare was born in 1564, married at 18 and was buried in 1616. The town is compact: almost every site is within fifteen minutes on foot. This guide covers the Shakespeare houses that are actually open, where locals eat and drink (including the pub where decades of RSC actors have signed the walls with their photographs), how to get cheap RSC tickets, and how to reach Stratford from London or Birmingham.
At a Glance
What to See
Shakespeare’s Birthplace
Henley Street — start here
William Shakespeare was born in this half-timbered house in April 1564 and spent his childhood here. His father John ran a glove-making business from the building, and the rooms have been restored to how a prosperous tradesman’s home would have looked in the 1560s. Costumed guides answer questions and actors perform scenes in the courtyard through the day. Entry is timed, and the same ticket covers Shakespeare’s New Place, five minutes away on foot.
💡 Insider tip: Book online: £25 for adults against £27 on the door, and the ticket is valid for a full 12 months. Quietest at 10 am opening or after 3 pm; the worst crush is 11 am to 2 pm. Trains from London Marylebone take from 2 hr 6 min direct (advance singles from £6.40), but check for engineering works on the Leamington Spa leg before you travel.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- The Garrick Inn, directly opposite: timber-framed, full of snugs, and one of two pubs claiming to be Stratford’s oldest
- The One Elm on Guild Street: gastropub lunches and a quiet back courtyard, five minutes’ walk away
Shakespeare’s New Place & Nash’s House
Chapel Street
🚶 5-min walk south from the BirthplaceFor £60 in 1597, Shakespeare bought one of the biggest houses in Stratford: ten fireplaces, a barn and two gardens. He retired here around 1613 and died here in April 1616. Francis Gastrell, the clergyman who owned the house in the 1750s, grew so sick of Shakespeare pilgrims that he cut down the poet’s mulberry tree and then, in 1759, demolished the building entirely. What’s left is the footprint: gardens laid out over the original foundations, sculptures inspired by the plays, and Nash’s House next door, where an exhibition tells the story of the lost building.
💡 Insider tip: Entry is included in your Birthplace ticket, and it is far quieter than Henley Street. Find the window in Nash’s House that looks straight down onto the foundations; it is the best view of the site.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- The Opposition on Sheep Street, 3 minutes away: a Stratford fixture for over 20 years with a pre-theatre set menu; book ahead on show nights
- The Vintner on Sheep Street: wine bar and restaurant that locals rate alongside Lambs and The Oppo
Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall
Church Street
🚶 2-min walk, past the Guild ChapelThis is the room where Shakespeare learned to read and write. The King’s New School taught boys on the upper floor of the medieval Guildhall, and Shakespeare attended from around the age of seven: Latin, rhetoric and classical stories, roughly eight hours a day, six days a week. That curriculum supplied the raw material for the plays. The Guildhall still has its 600-year-old wall paintings, yet it only opened to visitors in 2016. Costumed sessions sit you at a Tudor desk for a lesson in quill and ink with ‘Master Thomas Jenkins’, the schoolmaster thought to have taught Shakespeare himself.
💡 Insider tip: Add it to your Birthplace booking for £10 (adult); it is sold as an add-on rather than a standalone ticket. Allow about 45 minutes and check the day’s session times when you book.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- Lambs of Sheep Street: proper cooking in one of the street’s oldest buildings, a long-standing favourite for dinner; book ahead
- Sorrento on Ely Street: family-run Italian, a relaxed evening option
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
Shottery village
🚶 1 mile west; the signposted field path from town takes about 20 minutesAnne Hathaway grew up in this thatched farmhouse in Shottery, and Shakespeare courted her here before their marriage in 1582. He was 18; she was 26 and pregnant. The rooms still hold original Hathaway family furniture, including the carved wooden settle where, by tradition, the couple sat during courtship. Outside are the orchards and cottage gardens that make this the prettiest of the Shakespeare houses. Apple blossom peaks in May.
💡 Insider tip: Add it to a Birthplace ticket online for £5; booked on its own it costs £15. Walk out on the field path rather than the road, and leave time for the gardens, because the cottage itself is small.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- The Bell, Shottery, five minutes from the cottage: a coaching inn from 1728 with a beer garden, and CAMRA’s local Pub of the Season in autumn 2024
- The Old Thatch Tavern on Greenhill Street, back in town: an ale-house since 1470 in the town centre’s only thatched building, and the Garrick’s rival for the oldest-pub title
Holy Trinity Church
Old Town, riverside
🚶 10-min walk south along Old Town, or follow the riverbankBoth ends of Shakespeare’s life are recorded here: baptised on 26 April 1564, buried in the chancel on 25 April 1616. His ledger stone carries the curse he is said to have written himself: ‘Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare / To dig the dust enclosed heare.’ A 2016 ground-penetrating radar survey led by archaeologist Kevin Colls suggested the skull may be missing, possibly taken by trophy hunters in the late 18th century. While you are in the chancel, look for the 15th-century misericords, the small carved ledges on the underside of the choir seats.
💡 Insider tip: The church is free to enter; the chancel with the grave costs £5 (children £1). Approach along the riverbank from the theatre, with swans on the water and the spire ahead of you. It is the best free ten minutes in Stratford.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- The Bear at the Swan’s Nest, across Clopton Bridge on the south bank: a 17th-century building, and calmer than the town-centre pubs
Royal Shakespeare Company
Waterside — shows year-round
🚶 5-min walk back along the riversideFour stages in one small town: the 1,018-seat Royal Shakespeare Theatre with its thrust stage (it juts into the audience, so the front rows sit an arm’s length from the actors), the 450-seat galleried Swan, the 200-seat studio at The Other Place, and the outdoor Holloway Garden Theatre in the Swan Gardens. Plays run in rotating repertory, so an overnight stay can mean two different productions on consecutive nights. Without a ticket you can still go in: the foyer, bars and Rooftop Restaurant are open to everyone, and theatre tours run regularly.
💡 Insider tip: Rush tickets (£25, or £10 restricted view) go on sale at rsc.org.uk every Friday from midday for the following week, capped at two per person. On the day, £25 standby seats cover students, CV37 residents, key workers, armed forces and unemployed visitors, and anyone aged 14–25 can register free for £10 RSC tickets. Standard prices start at £10 in the main house.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- The Dirty Duck on Waterside, the RSC cast’s local: officially also The Black Swan, the only pub in England licensed under two names, its walls lined with signed photos of company actors including Judi Dench and Helen Mirren
- The Rooftop Restaurant inside the RST: pre-theatre menus and river views; book on show nights
- Loxley’s on Sheep Street: the restaurant Stratford regulars most often name as the best in town
- The Woodsman at Hotel Indigo on Chapel Street: the smart hotel-restaurant option, a short walk from both theatres
The River & the South Bank
Bancroft Gardens and beyond
🚶 Bancroft Gardens is beside the theatreBancroft Gardens, between the theatre and the canal basin, is where the town gathers: street performers, narrowboats, and the Gower Memorial with its bronze figures of Hamlet, Falstaff, Lady Macbeth and Prince Hal around Shakespeare. Avon Boating hires rowing boats, punts and canoes for £11 a person, motor boats at £40 a half hour, and electric launches at £65 for 45 minutes. A hand-wound chain ferry called Malvolio, built in 1937 and the last of its kind made in Britain, crosses to the south bank for £1. Over there: the Butterfly Farm’s rainforest greenhouses of free-flying tropical butterflies (adult £11.95). Back on Henley Street, the MAD Museum’s kinetic contraptions fill a happy hour (adult £8.80). Four miles east is Charlecote Park, where a young Shakespeare supposedly poached Sir Thomas Lucy’s deer. Treat that one as legend: the Lucys only received their deer-park licence in 1618, two years after Shakespeare died, though Justice Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor, with a coat of arms full of ‘luces’, has long been read as his revenge on the family.
💡 Insider tip: Take the chain ferry over (£1, mid-March to the end of October) rather than walking round by the bridge. Tesco Clubcard vouchers are accepted at the Butterfly Farm, and the MAD Museum entrance is easy to miss: look for the doorway above the shops on Henley Street.
🍺 Nearby pubs & restaurants
- The Stratford Alehouse on Greenhill Street: a one-room micropub and the serious real-ale stop, with rotating casks and no music
- Ya Bard on Ely Street: small, quirky craft-beer shop and taproom with a strong independent selection
- The Boathouse on Swan’s Nest Lane: riverside dining room with an open-air bar, right by the boat hire
A Day in Stratford-upon-Avon
- 10:00Shakespeare’s Birthplace on Henley Street. Book the first timed slot online and beat the coach parties.
- 11:30Shakespeare’s New Place and Nash’s House, five minutes down Chapel Street.
- 12:15Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall on Church Street for a Tudor lesson.
- 13:15Lunch on Sheep Street: Lambs, The Oppo or The Vintner.
- 14:30Field path out to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Shottery, about 20 minutes on foot.
- 16:30Holy Trinity Church for Shakespeare’s grave, approaching along the riverbank.
- 17:45Bancroft Gardens and the Gower Memorial, or a £1 crossing on the chain ferry.
- 18:15Pre-theatre dinner at the Rooftop Restaurant inside the RST, or The Oppo’s set menu.
- 19:00Curtain up at the RSC. Start times vary, so check your ticket.
- 22:00A last pint at The Dirty Duck, where the cast often turn up after the show.
Common Questions
Is Stratford-upon-Avon worth visiting?
Yes, especially if you book an RSC show for the evening. Three Shakespeare houses are open (the Birthplace, New Place and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage), his grave is in Holy Trinity Church, and the whole town can be walked in a day.
How do I get to Stratford-upon-Avon from London?
Chiltern Railways runs direct trains from London Marylebone roughly hourly, taking from 2 hours 6 minutes, with advance singles from £6.40. Coming from the north, West Midlands Railway runs direct from Birmingham Moor Street in under 40 minutes at the fastest. Check for engineering works before you travel.
How much does Shakespeare’s Birthplace cost?
£25 for adults booked online (£27 on the door), and that includes Shakespeare’s New Place. Tickets stay valid for 12 months. Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is £5 extra on the same booking, and the Schoolroom is a £10 add-on.
How do I get cheap RSC tickets?
Rush tickets (£25, or £10 restricted view) are released at rsc.org.uk every Friday from midday for the following week’s shows, two per person. Anyone aged 14 to 25 can register free for £10 tickets, and £25 day-of standby seats cover students and several other groups.
Is one day enough for Stratford-upon-Avon?
One full day covers the three Shakespeare houses, the Schoolroom and the grave at a comfortable pace. Stay overnight if you want an RSC performance; plays run in repertory, so two nights can mean two different productions.
Can you visit Shakespeare’s grave?
Yes. He is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, where he was also baptised. Entry to the church is free; the chancel costs £5 for adults and £1 for children.
"What’s past is prologue."
— The Tempest — Act II, Scene I
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