Currently my plan is to arrive at Heathrow and either recover as needed or see a sight or two in London before taking a train/bus out to Oxford for the overnight and the next full day.

There's a direct coach service from Heathrow to Oxford, so there's no need to stay in London to recover.

As for cycling - be warned the roads in the Cotswolds are narrow and busy

And for flights - see whichbudget.com - you buy as soon as you know when you want to travel as like all airlines the prices go up. From Oxford consider flights from Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton as apart from Heathrow all the London airports are a fair hike from Oxford - don't forget to check the mainstream airlines as they may work out cheaper door to door. At a push consider flying from Gatwick as it's the easiest London airport apart from Heathrow to use. Of course you could always spend a night in London before your flight and see some sights then you aren't restricted in London airports

You can walk from Chipping Campden to Stow almost as quickly as cycling. It's 28 miles each way to Burford on a road I'd have thought would be absolutely horrible for most cyclists.

I'd very strongly recommend you spend a day walking the footpaths AND sampling walking on the conventional roads round here before committing to hiring a bike (though no-one ever does walk on the roads, because the footpaths take different and much nicer routes, a few hundred yards on them is an instant introduction to the nastiness of being on our roads without a car to cocoon you).

Our roads in the Cotswolds aren't just narrow and busy: they're undulating and winding. Car drivers (who mostly don't think they're narrow, because we live here, and see no reason not to drive 50 mph at all times) often have less than a second from the moment they see a cyclist to the point they must be stationary to avoid hitting him.

Most Cotswold roads really aren't suitable for cyclists - especially by people unused to our roads - and very few footpaths are geared to them. They're absolutely perfect for walking (because you don't need to be on roads), and OK-ish for getting round on public transport. The New Forest, OTOH, is perfect for cyclists.

We do get some cycling visitors, who rarely seem to grasp what a menace they can be. The area's actually quite good for organised cycling events, where the bikes can be herded into pelotons on suitable roads and both we and they can be managed not to hurt each other. The area's also good for local cyclists, who've learned the roads to choose and how to co-exist with their walking and driving neighbours.

Birmingham and Southampton airports are an hour by hourly train from Oxford, whose station gets hourly trains from Moreton in Marsh and Charlbury. Gatwick is also a single -connection hourly train journey from the Cotswold stations: both it and Heathrow have frequent buses from Oxford bus station - a 10 min walk from Oxford railway station - and Luton and Stansted also have (less frequent) buses. Bristol airport is to all intents and purposes inaccessible by public transport from the northern Cotswolds

You could also try www.skyscanner.net for the flights to Sweden. Bear in mind that Ryanair may land some way away from the centre of the city they're nominally taking you to.

check out the cyclist touring club
www.ctc.org.uk/

i'd check out http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ note the map section takes a bit of getting used to but will show you levels of road safety

To find bike rentals go to google maps. Get up the map of the area you want and then type "bike rental" into the map search engine. dots should spring up but do not expect many as rental is relatively rare except in University towns. Oxford is the obvious solution.

You can take bike on trains in the uk but you need a bit of help on which ones and what the rules are. Look at the bottom section of this page http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Essex_Bike.php and follow the links.

By the way flanner lives in the Cotswolds so knows what he is talking about, I've never ridden there.

Wow, thanks for the advice everyone! I'll definitely check out some of those cycling resources; I'd like to take at least one day to bike, but I would also like to survive my vacation. : ) Luckily I also love walking and generally being on foot, so that's a great alternative. And being a cyclist in Los Angeles comes with its own dangers, so at least I've learned to ride defensively.

Am I right to assume since there were no assertions to the contrary that I'll be able to survive without a car considering my destinations?

I may follow up with a few more questions as I do some additional research. Quick process question as a new Fodor's user: Should I post follow ups here, or in a new thread?

Thanks again for all your advice and recommendations!

If the subject is similar to your heading here then keep asking here, if the subject is very different then raise a new one.

In between, keep making it up as you go along like we do

Hi, petersoki.

I've had wonderful trips to the Cotswold without a rental car, so I think you'll be fine. In fact, I loved using their bus and train lines.

Have you looked at the travelines.com site to plan the public transporation? If you clink on my "name," and look for my trip report to the Cotswold, I have a few links to sites that may help you.

Even as a Chicago/city biker, I'd pass on biking in the Cotswold. Those roads are narrow, winding and often have no shoulder. The beauty of England, and especially the Cotswold, is their miles and miles of walking paths in that gorgeous landscape. I hope you do the Chipping Campden to Broadway Tower to Broadway walk. (And then I took a bus back to Cheltenham, where I was based. If you haven't settled on a base town, Cheltenham was an easy place to sleep and catch the rail or buses.)

That was a great intro. walk. Hopefully you can borrow a compass. Often the walks can be googled, but if you search "The Cotswold Way," you'll likely find lots of resources for walks.

You'll have a great time!

ChgoGal- Where did you stay in Cheltenham- we are going in August and would like to look it up. We've booked a B & B near the Moreton train station.

Loads of people cycle in the Cotswolds, so don't let others put you off. You can take the cycle by train (but often need to book in advance). Here's a webpage of various suggested cycle routes that are based on the North Cotswold Line out of Oxford: http://www.charlbury.info/cycling. The main Charlbury.info page gives some suggested accommodation in Charlbury; it also gives times for the train etc. Roads in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds are often very quiet indeed, & some of the trips are off-road in parts.

And here is a page of suggested walks for further afield in the Cotswold area. I find the best website for planning train & bus links is http://www.raileasy.co.uk/go/travel-info/journey-planning. If you want a more organised trip (which provides you with a bike at a station) then look at http://www.cotswoldcountrycycles.com/

PS: Sorry, missed out the address of the walking trips; http://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/?page=walks-to-download