Things to Do in Bath: A Complete Guide
Bath is one of those cities that looks like a film set the moment you arrive, all honey coloured stone and sweeping crescents. It’s the only entire city in the UK to hold UNESCO World Heritage status, and once you’ve walked its streets you’ll understand why. If you’re planning things to do in Bath, you’re spoiled for choice between Roman history, Georgian architecture and a spa culture that’s been drawing visitors here for nearly two thousand years. It makes an easy add-on to a longer UK trip too, especially if you are already planning a visit and want ideas for things to do in London to bookend the journey.
The Roman Baths and Bath Abbey
The Roman Baths sit right in the centre of the city and they’re the obvious starting point. The main pool still holds naturally hot water that bubbles up at around 46 degrees Celsius, and the museum around it does a genuinely good job of explaining how the Romans built this spa complex nearly two millennia ago. Audio guides are included with your ticket and they’re worth using properly rather than rushing through, since the site is bigger than it first appears once you get down to the lower levels and the temple courtyard.
Right next door stands Bath Abbey, a soaring example of Gothic Perpendicular architecture with fan vaulting that’s genuinely breathtaking when you look straight up from beneath it. The abbey’s tower tours take you up past the bells and the clock mechanism to a rooftop view over the city, weather permitting. It’s a steep climb but a much quieter alternative to the crowds down at the Baths.
Georgian grandeur: the Royal Crescent and the Circus
Bath’s Georgian architecture is really what sets it apart from other historic English cities. The Royal Crescent is the most photographed row of houses in Britain, thirty terraced townhouses curving in a perfect sweep facing an open lawn. Number 1 Royal Crescent is now a museum furnished as it would have looked in the 1700s, and it’s a nice way to see behind those famous facades rather than just admiring them from outside.
A short walk away, the Circus is Bath’s other great architectural set piece, three curved terraces arranged in a perfect circle around a garden of plane trees. John Wood the Elder designed it, and if you know your Jane Austen you’ll recognise both the Circus and the Crescent from her novels. Austen lived in Bath for several years and set parts of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey here. The Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street leans into this heritage with costumed guides and exhibits on Regency life, and it’s popular enough that booking ahead is a good idea in summer.
Thermae Bath Spa and day trips into the Cotswolds
Bath is still a working spa town, and Thermae Bath Spa lets you bathe in naturally warm mineral water the way Romans and Georgians both did, just with considerably better plumbing. The rooftop pool is the highlight, an open air pool on top of the building where you can soak while looking out over the Abbey and the surrounding hills, especially atmospheric at dusk. It’s a modern spa rather than a museum piece, so expect steam rooms and treatment menus alongside the historic setting.
Bath also makes an excellent base for exploring the Cotswolds, which start just a short drive north east of the city. Villages like Castle Combe, Bibury and Lacock are all reachable within half an hour to an hour, and Lacock in particular has been used as a filming location for several period dramas thanks to its unspoiled high street. If you don’t have a car, several tour operators run day trips from Bath that combine two or three villages with stops for photos and lunch.
More things to do in Bath
Beyond the headline sights, Bath has plenty to fill a second or third day. Sally Lunn’s, one of the oldest houses in the city, still bakes the famous Bath bun in a kitchen you can view downstairs, and Pulteney Bridge, lined with shops on both sides in the style of Florence’s Ponte Vecchio, is worth crossing just for the view of Pulteney Weir beneath it. The Holburne Museum, set in a grand building at the end of Great Pulteney Street, has a lovely collection of fine and decorative art along with pleasant gardens for a break between sightseeing.
Bath’s food scene has also grown well beyond cream teas, with a good spread of independent cafes and restaurants around Kingsmead Square and the Corn Street area. Sunday markets and the regular farmers’ market by the station are good spots to pick up local produce if you’re self catering during your stay.
Getting around Bath
Bath’s compact centre means most of the main sights are within a fifteen minute walk of each other, and the hilly streets are part of the charm even if they can be tiring in summer heat. The train station, Bath Spa, sits close to the centre with regular services from London Paddington taking around ninety minutes, making it a genuinely easy day trip from the capital.
Spring and early autumn tend to be the most comfortable times to visit, avoiding both the summer crowds around the Baths and the wetter winter months. If you do visit in summer, arriving at the major attractions right when they open will save you from queuing behind coach parties later in the day. If you fancy comparing notes with a trip closer to home, our guide to UK staycation ideas is worth a look too.
