England · United Kingdom
Where to stay in Bedford
Bedford is a city in England, United Kingdom, home to about 92,000 people. This guide covers 3 hotels in Bedford, with about 200 rooms between them. Every one carries a published guest score, and the list below is ordered by it.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 3
- Best months
- June to September
- Nearest airport
- LTN30 km · London Luton Airport
- Currency
- GBPpound sterling
- Time zone
- Europe/London
- Language
- Cornish, English, Irish
About
About Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 167,446.
Once on the frontier between the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, it has a charter dating back more than 900 years. It is an important shopping centre, and there are also many pubs and bars. There good ethnic restaurants, reflecting the town's substantial Italian, Indian, Pakistani, and Polish communities. Bedford has also been heralded for having a wide range of ethnic diversity. The Embankment along the River Ouse running through the centre of town is an attractive place for a walk, and once a year is given over to a traditional Regatta.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Bedford
See
- Embankment of the River Great Ouse
- Bunyan Museum
- The Higgins Bedford
- Bedford Park
- Castle Mound
- St Paul's Church
- St Peter's Church
- Priory Park
- Willington Dovecote and Stables
Do
- Bedford Blues RFU
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
The best-rated places to stay in Bedford
Ordered by guest score as each operator publishes it, weighted by the number of reviews so a handful of perfect scores does not outrank thousands of very good ones. Scores are shown on their own scale.
| # | Place to stay | Rooms | Guest score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travelodge Bedford hotel | 65 | 4.0/5 494 reviews |
| 2 | Travelodge Bedford Goldington Road hotel | 78 | 4.0/5 458 reviews |
| 3 | Travelodge Bedford Marston Moretaine hotel | 57 | 3.7/5 534 reviews |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
Where to stay
More hotels in Bedford
28 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Swan Hotel | 0.2 km | |
| Cross Keys Hotel | 16.7 km | |
| King's Arms Hotel | 0.2 km | |
| Old Falcon Inn | 16.7 km | |
| The Crown Inn | 14.2 km | |
| The Mill Hotel | 0.3 km | |
| The Old Anchor | 11.8 km | |
| The Pilgrim's Progress | 0.6 km | |
| The Ship Inn | 0.3 km | |
| White Horse Inn | 14.6 km | |
| Ye Three Fyshes Inn | 11.7 km | |
| Bridge Hotel | 16.6 km | |
| Central Stores, Gable End And The Old Tinkers Inn | 11.4 km | |
| Chequers Inn | 16.7 km | |
| Flower Pot Inn | 0.7 km | |
| George Hotel | 0.2 km | |
| Kings Head Hotel | 16.8 km | |
| Mercure Bedford Centre Hotel | 0.2 km | |
| Remains of the George Inn | 0.4 km | |
| Royal Oak Hotel | 16.9 km | |
| Slug & Lettuce | 0.3 km | |
| The Cross Inn | 11.8 km | |
| The Falcon Inn | 9.0 km | |
| The George And Dragon Inn | 15.4 km | |
| The Old Plough Inn | 14.6 km | |
| The Old Sun Inn | 15.0 km | |
| The Rose Inn | 0.3 km | |
| The Waterfront Hotel Spa & Golf | 13.8 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Bedford
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Bedford are June to September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 22 °C; August is the wettest, with about 58 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Bedford: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is London Luton Airport (LTN), about 30 km from the city centre in a straight line; London Stansted Airport (STN, 55 km) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR, 74 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
Bedford station is served by East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, and Thameslink. Travel from London St. Pancras International takes about 40 minutes by East Midlands Railway and just over an hour if you take the Thameslink. Thameslink trains are slower as they are primarily commuter services. East Midlands Railway services only stop at a couple of stations between Bedford and London. There is also a minor railway line going west to Bletchley (near Milton Keynes).
Getting around
The local bus services around Bedford are terrible, being both infrequent and expensive. Just about everything you'd want to see is within easy walking distance of the high street, however (at most 30 minutes if you're slow), so there's little need for anything more than your feet in good weather. There's a reasonable but underused shuttle bus leaving the central train station, and the bus service to surrounding villages is excellent. There are very few provisions for cyclists, though the town centre is pedestrianised.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
LTN · London Luton Airport
STN · London Stansted Airport
LHR · London Heathrow Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Bedford
Drink
Like all towns in England, Bedford has its fair share of chain pubs and bars packed to the gills on weekends. Walk down the High Street and you'll cover most of them, with a few bars found down Lime Street and various pubs along Tavistock Street. For a quieter drink with good ales and ciders look out for the Wellington Arms on the corner of Wellington Street and Princes Street, which has won several CAMRA awards. Other good places to drink are the Castle and the Three Cups on Newnham Street; the Cricketers on Goldington Road; and the Bedford Arms on Bromham Road.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Good to know
Accessibility, parking and families in Bedford
How many places to stay in this guide offer each, in their operators' own words.
of 3 places
of 3 places
Questions
Bedford: questions travellers ask
What are the best-rated hotels in Bedford?
By published guest score: Travelodge Bedford (4.0 / 5 · 494 reviews · www.travelodge.co.uk (operator's own guest score)); Travelodge Bedford Goldington Road (4.0 / 5 · 458 reviews · www.travelodge.co.uk (operator's own guest score)); Travelodge Bedford Marston Moretaine (3.7 / 5 · 534 reviews · www.travelodge.co.uk (operator's own guest score)).
When is the best time to visit Bedford?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Bedford are June to September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 22 °C; August is the wettest, with about 58 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Bedford?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is London Luton Airport (LTN), about 30 km from the city centre in a straight line; London Stansted Airport (STN, 55 km) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR, 74 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Bedford?
pound sterling (GBP).
Nearby
Destinations near Bedford
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.