Visiting Bath England is on most people’s UK travel bucket lists.
Here’s how what to do in Bath and how to visit from London, PLUS a free self-guided walking tour with map, created by yours truly!
Bath is the epitome of what England has to offer; a picturesque village with a long a fascinating history set in idyllic countryside, with all manner of relaxation and entertainment at your fingertips.
And it’s just an hour and a half from London!
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Where is Bath England?
Bath is located in the county of Somerset, England. According to Wikipedia, it is 97 miles northwest of London, close to the famous Cotswolds.
It is named after it’s famous Roman Baths that were built way back in 60 AD! The baths are over 1,900 years old and were in public use until the late 70’s when a bather died of an amoeba-borne illness.
Bath is UNSECO World Heritage Site and is one of the UK’s most visited destinations, at over 6 million yearly visits.
How to get to Bath England
The easiest and most common way to visit Bath is by train. From London, the journey is only about an hour, and if you pre-book your train tickets during early bird sales (usually 3 months in advance) they can be quite affordable (I got mine with Great Western Railway for £14 in June 2023).
I recommend pre-booking your journey, especially during summer, as seats can fill up and prices can sky-rocket.
Alternatively, National Express buses also serve Bath from London. Tickets are cheaper than the train but the journey takes 3 hours and 15 minutes.
How to get cheap train tickets in the UK
- Make use of railcards (30% discount)
- Pre-book during early-bird sales (usually 3 month in advance)
- Book directly via the company’s website, not through a third party.
Resources
Books to read before going to Bath England
- Jane Austen – Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.
Both novels are partially set in Bath which reflects Austen’s fondness for the city.
- Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
Shelley wrote Frankenstein while living in Bath in 1816-17.
Where to Stay in Bath
$ Hostel $
Bath Backpackers
13 Pierrepont Street, Bath, England.
This hostel is perfectly located close to both the central sights and the train station. Set inside a Georgian building, it has classic interior features; high ceilings, big staircases, and big sash windows. It offers both gendered and mixed dorms, as well as regular social activities. Check availability or see other options.
$$ Hotel $$
The Windsor Townhouse
69 Great Pulteney Street, Bath, BA2 4DL, United Kingdom.
This gorgeous guesthouse is located on the famous Great Pulteney Street. The rooms are spacious and the furnishings ooze classic English cottage vibes. They offer a free continental breakfast and easy access to all Bath’s best sights. Check availability or see other options.
Bath England Day Trip Itinerary
This is one of those days where it will be worth it to skip your beauty sleep.
Try to take the earliest transport possible so you have as long as you can exploring Bath!
Brekky/Morning Tea
Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House
This tea room is the oldest house in Bath, and serves the world-famous Sally Lunn Bun (a slightly sweet bread bun that can have either a sweet or savoury filling).
However, this tea room is pretty iconic so it definitely tends to get packed with tourists. If you’re looking for something a little more low-key, there are other cafes around such as The Courtyard Cafe, The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, or The Pulteney Bridge Cafe.
Explore central Bath
Bath Guildhall Market
This market is weirdly cluttered and super touristy, but it was pretty fun to wind through the tiny walkways between toppling piles of stuff. Inside is the Guildhall Market Cafe, potentially the cheapest cafe in the whole city.
Great Pulteney Street/Bridge
This street is lined with traditional sandstone buildings. You’ll notice that even though the front door opens onto the street, there is another level of the building below the street. This is so that the servants could enter and exit the kitchen without disturbing the main house!
At the end of Pulteney Street is Holburne Museum (pretty expensive for what it is at £12.50) and around the corner is Henrietta Park. The Holbourne Museum is free on Wednesday’s from 3pm if you happen to be lucky enough to time it right!
Henrietta Park
Henrietta Park is so cute and underrated. In fact, it is so underrated that I honestly felt a little weird because it was SO quiet. I only saw a couple of other people around and they were definitely not tourists.
From Henrietta Park, there is a great picturesque view of the Henrietta Mews, a street of Bath’s classic sandstone buildings.
Bath Guides Free Walking Tour
This group of volunteers run a daily FREE walking tour around the city. The walks occur at 10:30am every day and at 2pm every day other than Saturday. I found them the guide to be really knowledgeable and I loved that it was genuinely free, which is hard to come by. Seriously, they do NOT accept tips at all!
Bath Abbey
Tickets to visit the Bath Abbey cost £7.50.
The stained glass windows in this church are breathtakingly huge. This church was formerly a monastery, and was the location of the coronation of the first king of England, King Edgar, in 973.
There are wall tablets and stone plaques on the floor commemorating people who lived or were buried in Bath. Most notably (as an Australian), is the plaque to Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of Australia.
Roman Baths
Tickets for the Roman Baths are £21.50.
I have a confession to make: I never actually visited the Roman Baths. I meant to, but I didn’t pre-book and all the time-slots were sold out when I arrived. So I HIGHLY recommend pre-booking your ticket, especially during the summer.
For those on a tight budget, just know that I didn’t visit the Roman Baths and I had a perfectly amazing visit to Bath, so don’t feel like you HAVE to. Don’t feel like you have to visit ANY specific tourist sight to truly experience any city.
Pump Room
If you are feeling peckish, now is a great time to have morning tea at the Pump Room. This is the restaurant that elites had tea at when they came to experience the healing qualities of Bath’s… baths.
Self-Guided Walking Tour Map
Self-Guided Walk through regency Bath England
Follow the route I have drawn on the map above to weave through Bath’s best regency-era sights.
This walk will take about 1 hour, however, I recommend having a picnic lunch or lounging in Victoria Park.
The Circus
A row of Georgian-style townhouses curving around a central grassy area: The Circus is one of Bath’s most iconic sights.
I happened to be there when a tour group arrived, so I got to hear a little about its history (most of which I forgot immediately, but it was interesting at the time).
Designed by the famous (at the time) architect John Wood, and later built by his son, also John Wood, The Circus has been home to many famous people over the centuries (Nicholas Cage!).
Some of the houses were demolished by a bomb during WW2 raids and were rebuilt.
Bath Travel Essentials
SIM cards: Airalo offers eSIMS for over 200 countries which you can install BEFORE travelling, saving you the stress of running around to find a store or from being ripped off by local vendors. This is perfect for backpackers who are travelling to multiple destinations in a short period of time.
Insurance: You should NOT go overseas without getting travel insurance. Travel insurance protects you in case you get injured or your plans change or are cancelled. I always use Covermore, because the cover is comprehensive and they were easy to work with when I needed to make a claim.
Banking: When travelling and saving for travel I use Up Bank, an online Australian bank, that allows fee-free overseas transactions, unlimited savings ‘pools’ and easy transfers. If you join Up with my invite code we both get $13!
The Gravel Walk
You could head straight across to the Royal Crescent from here, but I recommend heading back down and around to access the Royal Crescent via the Gravel Walk.
This lovely walk connects Queen Square to the Royal Crescent, and is supposedly the walk that Wentworth and Anne Elliot travel in Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
The Georgian Garden
Along the way, check out the Georgian Garden, a tiny walled 18th century style garden.
The Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a massive curved building containing 30 terraced houses that look out onto a big grassy field. It’s bigger in real life than I expected. I had a picnic lunch on the lawn and people watched, which was very entertaining.
It’s honestly difficult to get a good photo of the Royal Crescent because it is simply so BIG.
Botanic Gardens
Continue along Royal Avenue, through the Royal Victoria Park to the Botanical Gardens. Most tourists don’t make it this far so it was quite peaceful. There is a massive expanse of grass to laze around and relax on, or continue on for a stroll around the Botanic Gardens.
While I’ll admit that they are not even close to the best botanic gardens that I have seen, they are really quiet and peaceful simply because no tourist comes this far. And for that alone, I will come here.
Afternoon in Bath England
Depending on what bus or train you are returning on, you might have a little bit of time left.
There are a couple of ways to spend this:
- Relax in the Royal Victoria Park.
- A spot of shopping through the centre of town: Bath has a lot of boutique clothing stores, but as a tourist I liked visiting Primark and Urban Outfitters because we don’t have them at home in Australia 🙁
- Head to a pub or bar and listen to some music, always a good time.
There you have it, the perfect Bath day trip from London itinerary!
I hope you enjoy your trip and please let me know if you try my walking tour!
If you are thinking about staying longer in Bath, read: Bath and the Cotswolds: Ultimate 3 Day Itinerary!
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