Bath England

Bath, England

Bath is the most complete Georgian city in Britain, and the honey-coloured limestone that makes it look that way is not a coating or a resurfacing project. The stone is the same Bath stone quarried from Combe Down since Roman times, which also gives the whole place a geological consistency that cities assembled piecemeal over centuries almost never achieve. It was built fast, mostly between 1700 and 1800, when wealthy Georgians came to take the waters and needed somewhere to stay. They built the Royal Crescent, the Circus, the Pump Room, Pulteney Bridge, and the Assembly Rooms within roughly three generations. Then the spa culture faded, the fashionable crowd moved on, and Bath froze in amber.

The Roman Baths underneath all of this are the reason the city exists. Around 70 AD, the Romans built a temple complex around the natural hot spring that the Celts had considered sacred for centuries. The spring still delivers 1.3 million litres of water per day at 45 degrees Celsius from 10,000 feet underground. You cannot swim in the Roman Baths themselves, which is a shame and a common misunderstanding: the Thermae Bath Spa next door is where you actually get in the water.

The Roman Baths

The Roman Baths complex is one of the best-preserved Roman sites in Europe. The Great Bath, the temple precinct, the sacred spring, and the museum holding artefacts from 2,000 years of visitors (including hundreds of Roman curse tablets thrown into the spring to invoke the goddess Sulis Minerva against enemies) make for 2-3 hours of genuinely interesting material.

Ticket prices: around £25-30 for adults with advance booking online. Book ahead, especially in summer when the site reaches capacity. Guided tours in English run daily at 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm from the Great Bath; add around £8 per person. The audio guide (included in the standard ticket) is unusually good and worth using.

Go in the early morning before the tour groups arrive, or in the late afternoon for a noticeably thinner crowd.

Thermae Bath Spa

The Thermae Bath Spa, immediately adjacent to the Roman Baths, is the modern spa built over the same natural spring. You can actually swim here: the rooftop pool at 35.5 degrees Celsius has a view over the Abbey and is the correct way to experience Bath’s reason for existing. The Minerva Bath inside is larger and less photographed; the steam rooms add to the experience. A standard 2-hour session costs around £40-45 per person and access is popular; book the rooftop sessions ahead online.

The irony that the Romans could not bathe in the baths that bear their name while modern visitors can bathe 200 metres away in the same water is one of those historical facts that rewards dwelling on.

Architecture

The Royal Crescent, designed by John Wood the Younger and completed in 1774, is a sweeping arc of 30 Georgian townhouses with unified Bath stone facades over a sloping lawn. No. 1 Royal Crescent is now a museum showing 18th-century furnished interiors; worth 45 minutes. The Circus, designed by John Wood the Elder, is a circular ring of 33 houses, its facade decorated with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns in ascending order. These buildings were planned as one unified composition and were occupied by the likes of Thomas Gainsborough and William Pitt the Elder.

Pulteney Bridge across the Avon, designed by Robert Adam in 1774, is one of only a handful of bridges in the world with shops along both sides. The Palladian architecture is correct; the view from below (looking at the bridge from the Grand Parade) is better than the view from above.

Eating

Sally Lunn’s on North Parade Passage claims to be the oldest house in Bath (1482) and is the traditional option for a Bath bun, the enriched bread local to the city. It is touristy and worth doing once for the historic room. The bun museum in the basement is free.

The Circus Restaurant on the edge of the Circus is the best properly local option for lunch: seasonal British cooking in a small Georgian dining room, mains around £18-25. The cooking focuses on West Country ingredients. Book ahead for dinner.

The Scallop Shell on Monmouth Place is Bath’s best fish and chips: fresh fish, proper batter, and a queue worth standing in.

Staying

The Royal Crescent Hotel occupies two connected houses in the centre of the crescent, with doubles from around £300. The garden spa is excellent. This is the right stay if Bath is the point of the trip.

For mid-range: The Francis Hotel on Queen Square is well-positioned, comfortable, and has rooms from around £120. The square outside is quieter than the main tourist circuit.

Practical Notes

Bath is easily reached by rail from London Paddington in 1 hour 15 minutes (from around £15-40 depending on booking time) and from Bristol Temple Meads in 15 minutes. Trains are the right way to arrive; parking in Bath is expensive and the city centre is very walkable.

The city becomes crowded for the Christmas market in late November and early December; book accommodation months ahead for that period. September and October are probably the best months: summer crowds have thinned, the weather is reasonable, and the Bath Literary Festival runs in March for a different kind of trip.