Windsor in Autumn: Castle Views and Riverside Strolls from a Reading Base

Getting There: Two Trains and a Short Walk

Reading sits on two useful lines for Windsor. The quicker option is the direct service from Reading to Windsor & Eton Central, which runs via Slough and takes roughly half an hour; Windsor & Eton Riverside, the other station, is served by a different route via Staines and puts you a few minutes' walk from the castle's Henry VIII Gate. Both stations are small and step-free to the street, so you are outside within a couple of minutes. Driving from central Reading is about 20 miles along the M4 and A332; allow 35 to 50 minutes depending on the Windsor race days and Sunday traffic on the A308.

If you are booking a hotel, staying in Reading rather than Windsor changes the arithmetic. Windsor's room stock near the castle is limited and fills quickly for weekend breaks in October, while Reading has far more choice around the station and along the Forbury Road side of town. A room in Reading is generally the more flexible booking, and the train fare is modest. Book a hotel within a ten-minute walk of Reading station and you remove the parking question entirely — Windsor's town-centre car parks on River Street and Alma Road are convenient but busy by mid-morning.

The Castle, the Long Walk and What to Skip

Autumn is a good time for the castle because the queues shorten after the first week of September and the State Apartments are less crowded on weekday mornings. Arrive for opening, take the complimentary audio guide, and allow three hours including St George's Chapel, which closes to tourists on Sundays. The Long Walk, the straight tree-lined avenue running south from the George IV Gateway towards Snow Hill, is free and open daily; the two-and-a-half-mile round trip takes about an hour at an easy pace and is at its best in mid to late October when the horse chestnuts along the avenue turn.

Skip the commercial boat trips from the promenade if you only have an afternoon — they eat an hour for a stretch of river you can walk. Skip, too, the queue for the theatrical evening tours unless you are staying overnight in Windsor; the last train back to Reading makes them awkward. If you want one paid extra beyond the castle, choose the chapel over the tower climb: the views from the Round Tower are good but the chapel is the thing you cannot see anywhere else.

Riverside Strolls and the Eton Crossing

The riverside walk from Windsor Promenade towards Eton is the best free hour in town. Head west past the Windsor Festival statue and follow the Thames Path under the railway bridge, then cross Windsor Bridge into Eton. The high street there is a fifteen-minute stroll of independent shops and the college buildings, and the walk back along the opposite bank gives you the classic view of the castle above the river. The path is flat and mostly paved; after heavy rain the section near the Brocas meadow can be muddy, so wear something sensible rather than white trainers.

Time the walk for late afternoon in October, when the light comes from the west and the castle silhouette is sharpest. The riverside pubs on the Windsor side fill between five and seven, so either book ahead or eat back in Reading, where the choice around the Oracle and along the Kennet is broader and cheaper. For a longer walk, continue upstream from Windsor towards Datchet along the Thames Path — three miles of level towpath with few crowds, reachable by a short bus ride back if you run out of daylight.

When to Go and Where to Sleep

Late September and the first three weeks of October are the sweet spot: the castle is on its shorter-hours timetable after the end of October, daylight is gone by half past five, and the leaf colour on the Long Walk peaks around the third week of the month. Avoid the Monday of the October half-term and any weekend with a race fixture at Ascot, which is eight miles away and pushes trains and roads in the area. Midweek visits are noticeably quieter, and Tuesday to Thursday gives you the best chance of a clear view from the castle's North Terrace.

I would book a hotel in Reading for two nights rather than one in Windsor. You get an evening in a town with more restaurants, a straightforward half-hour train to Windsor in the morning, and a second day for the riverside and Eton without rushing. Search around Reading station and the Forbury Gardens end of town for the widest range, and check the walk to the platform before you commit — a hotel five minutes from the concourse makes a difference on an early start.