READING

Reading for the Visitor

Welcome to Reading!

Reading is very much a commercial and technological town. It does not set out to cater for visitors in the way that Windsor and Oxford do. Perhaps it does not have the major atractions that those other two Thames Valley places have; however there are a great many places to visit and experiences to enjoy.

It is often forgotten when people use statistics to measure the importance of a town. The population of the Borough of Reading is only around 150,000 but the whole urban area which makes up Greater Reading is more than twice this at around 370,000

In these few pages we cannot hope to cover every possibility but perhaps by covering the main items you may be helped to enjoy your stay in Reading.

Driving in Reading can be a nightmare for the visitor who does not know his way around. Thankfully nowadays we have the M4 to the south so that the enormous amount of east-west traffic along the former Great West Road no longer needs to come through town. When you get into town from one of our three exits (junctions 10,11 and 12 of the M4) there is plenty of parking, albeit a bit on the expensive side. But we have one of the best urban bus services in the country and a host of taxi drivers who will always be happy to take you where you want to go.

Visiting Reading

You might like to visit Reading's Official Tourism site

Click on one of the links below to learn a litle more about places to go :-

Museums, Archives and Galleries

Public works of art

Places of entertainments

Waterways - Thames and Kennet

Places of Worship

Sports and Leisure

Houses and Gardens

Places to stay

Shopping

Places to Eat

Heritage Trails

Car Parks and Transport

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