With its Roman history and sweeping Georgian crescents, Bath is a true English gem, and there is an almost endless list of things to do in Bath. Few can resist her Palladian architecture and buttermilk limestone: even UNESCO World Heritage gave into her classical charm (the only British city to warrant this stamp). Bath’s Roman history endures in the remarkably preserved baths and temples which were built around the hot springs of Aquae Sulis back in 70AD. Layered onto its ancient therapeutic legacy is the history of Bath's 18th-century society, catalysed by visionaries such as Beau Nash (a famous dandy), Ralph Allen (of Prior Park) and John Wood the Elder (whose designs spawned the Circus and Queen Square). The quintessentially English city – perfectly proportioned and tastefully weathered – is a perennial location for bonnets and horse drawn carriages, most recently for the Netflix hit, Bridgerton as well as their 2022 Persuasion adaptation, starring Daakota Johnson.
But amid Bath’s Jane Austen good looks, its cobbled streets and snaking river lies its wonderfully creative, and slightly dishevelled soul and the people who live and study here, who curate pocket-sized galleries, fashion boutiques, antique emporiums, wine bars and cafés, which are wowing visitors from London. The city happily lacks the Cotswolds’ polished, chichi demeanour, and instead, oscillates from the independent and homespun to the traditional, with bells-and-whistles restaurants with white tablecloths and old-school hotels.
From its welcoming, thought-provoking museums to its stylish, storied guesthouses luring London creatives, here’s our essential guide to Bath.
The best things to do in Bath
Where to eat & drink
Sitting just behind Bath’s grand Assembly Rooms, this brooding, candlelit wine shop and bistro, has a Dickensian spirit, stolen from an era of top hats and lantern-lit carriages, just with a modern edge. Browse the library of wines ranging from the classics to the more progressives – bottles that seduce in the low lighting, vintage tags round their glossy necks – then skip right across the street to its adjacent bistro for Head Chef James Harris’ seasonal small plates (beetroot from the restaurant’s allotment just outside Batah, with Beauvale blue and burnt lemon, a charcuterie board championing Somerset chorizo and fennel salami, or, perhaps, moreish Bath chaps with tomato waste ketchup). Ensure to nab the window seat for prime people watching, and, in sunnier months, a table on the pavement, European style.
London escapee, Andrew Lowkes, sent waves through Bath (along with warm cinnamon wafts) when he opened Landrace Bakery on Walcot Street in 2018. His obsession with specialty grain (sourced from two house millers using traditional grinding methods) paid off with his plump, rustic loaves, pistachio-filled croissants and sausage rolls swiped from the blonde-wooded counter well before midday by thrilled locals. With this success, he upped his game, (one floor or so to be precise, via a precarious staircase), alongside wife-and-husband duo, Jules and Rob Sachdev, and opened a small-but-mighty paean to Somerset’s first-class pantry. The little restaurant has a Diagon Alley quality to it, a smug, all-knowing flicker at the couple to your left, tucking into cheddar curd fritters and pork collar with bashed suede, delighted at the fruits of their research. The bakery below transforms into an elevated pizza shop by night, stretching that superior grain, purist dough still further.
Just down-street from its squiffy sister, Beckford Bottle Shop, neighbourhood favourite Beckford Canteen occupies a former Georgian greenhouse. Lime-green banquettes, Danish chairs and pine-green glazed crockery peppering the wall nod to this horticultural past, and are layered onto an otherwise white-washed canvas. It’s a pared down scene far removed from Bath’s Georgian pomp – its simplicity animated by bright sunlight at lunch then, at supper, a warming, dimly-lit hygge vibe. In warmer months, the canteen exhales into a pocket-sized courtyard with moss-green metal chairs (reminiscent of those scattering Paris’ parks), olive trees and potted plants. Head Chef, Joe Lacy is home to roost, having honed his culinary skills in top kitchens around the world, from Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s to the Stokehouse in Melbourne, and making the most of Somerset’s superior bounty. Come for modern British classics done well – your burrata with globe artichoke and salsa verde, dayboat fish with fregola and crab bisque, and ludicrously tasty venison with celeriac and quince. Beckford Canteen’s elevated Sunday roasts are a resounding hit with locals, who typically ease in with a Mandarin Margarita or a Somerset cider.
As the name suggests, this is oenophile territory, a slightly scruffy sort of place where the menu precedes the decor. That’s not to say Corkage lacks charm, or indeed subtly choreographed interiors, but there is an unpretentious tone beneath the upcycled timber and gingham table cloths as the food and wine sit front and centre. Marty Grant covers the wine side of things (decoding an enigmatic subject for us humble folk), while Richard Knighting focuses on the food – the cooking as well as the curating of local ingredients. Come here for tasty seasonal plates such as crab toast, pork belly with orzo pasta and caponata, all paired beautifully with the right wine, courtesy of Marty’s wisdom.
This former bakery shifts effortlessly from being a laid back lunch spot (handy for those having just visited the Museum of Bath Architecture) and a coffee shop favoured by locals to a restaurant offering a three-course supper with live music and even dancing. The Walcot's Vibrant plates of tender steak, butternut squash quiches, crab ravioli and wood fired pizza contrast with the subdued sage green walls and exposed industrial ceiling. The menu showcases the West Country’s rich bounty of produce and coastal plunder, while the basement dive bar Bread + Jam loosens up clientele with cocktails before the final stage of The Walcot assault course: the nightclub next door.
Another of Bath’s flexi-dining rooms – both a café for casual salads and three-course restaurant –Clayton’s Kitchen perfectly embodies Bath’s farm-to-fork culture. Chef Robert Clayton puts his Michelin pedigree to good use in this buttoned-down, seared scallops and Ploughman’s kind of establishment. Earthy, unfussy interiors indicate the ethos behind the menu, which is full of freshly caught fish and local Somerset produce. Make a turn off noisy George Street and sit downfor a Penrhos Apple and Elderflower gin cocktail under the blue awning. Or settle in for the long haul, and order mushroom risotto with Wyfe of Bath cheese and truffle or honey roasted duck with dauphinoise potatoes, washed down with Woodchester Valley white wine and La Fleur d’Or Sauternes port.
Following the triumph of its Bristol and Wells, vegetable-led restaurants, Josh and Holly Eggleton’s Pony Restaurant Group (and co-patrons Rob Howell and Meg Oaakley-Howell) have swiped up the former Jamie’s Italian site off Milsom Place in the shiny, newly-opened Shires Yard. Unlike the topsy-turvy city shells that the majority of Bath’s provenance-first chefs have clambered into, Root occupies two vast, light-filled floors with heart-tugging views over Bath’s limestone antiquity, and its own rooftop terrace (a prime summer cocktail spot). Upstairs mustard banquette seating and green, earthy shades evoke the restaurant’s main mission – to confound even the most carnivorous with clever, wildly tasty dishes such as celeriac pastrami with bread and butter pickles and a caper salsa, and an oyster mushroom and pickled onion skewer dunked in tahini yoghurt. Those who’ve scoffed at their Wells or Bristol joints will know to linger for their donut balls dipped in carrot jam, and a kitchen-garden-inclined cocktail or two at the easy-going bar downstairs.
Where to stay
This small-but-chic hotel is typical of the tastefully refurbished guesthouses and B&Bs that are springing up across the city. Aside from their carefully choreographed interiors and lo-fi aesthetic approach, these hotels all share a strong sense of character, with the owners sitting front and centre. The owners of The Yard’s brought an 18th-century Coaching Inn back to life, though in the form of a pared down oasis with rattan rugs and botanical wallpaper. Bath’s big hitters such as the Roman Baths, the Circus and the Royal Crescent are only a short walk away, and so are many cafes, boutiques and galleries. But guests would be forgiven for flunking a day of museums to read a book with a coffee in The Yard’s courtyard, where green chairs immediately recall those strewn across the Tuileries in Paris.
GuestHouse Hotels have worked their lauded design magic on this listed Bath townhouse, preserving its Georgian good looks while adorning it with kooky murals, playful chandeliers and restrained, understated tones worlds away from that 18th century pomp. It’s your classic grand-boned, centrally-located stay with all the modcons and head-turning art. Guests pootle around in expensive trainers and velvet loafers, listening to vinyl and relaxing over the surprisingly good coffee and just-baked brownies from the pantry. Filled to the brim with antiquity from a day perusing Bath’s treasures, a more modern menu of sage gnocchi, Wyfe of Bath cheese soufflé and Somerset steak is a welcome antidote. Afternoon tea swings back to the Georgian side of things, with polished silver tea pots and scones lathered in West Country cream laid out in the cosy bar area.
Famous for reviving frazzled, post-Glastonbury A-listers and Londoners in need of a wholesome, foodie escape, The Pig Near Bath still delivers the winning weekender formula a decade on from opening. The wisteria-browed Georgian beauty sits in the mist-strewn folds of the Mendips (twenty minutes from Bath), its chefs eyeing up the abundant walled garden bounty and surrounding farm produce for every-changing, best-of-Somerset menus and its guests, visibly relaxed with Plum Root or Elderflower Foragers Fizz cocktails in hand. Decor is vibey Victoriana – period shades, antlers and antiques galore, just without the formalities of a stiff country abode. No, it’s more heels-on-ottoman, breakfast-in-trainers territory, with artisanally-inclined larders for unmonitored scoffing and large rooms, many of which are crowned by enormous, claw-footed tubs (the two new stable rooms have seized on a cosy cottage aesthetic with all the deep armchair and exposed brick charm – emulating a rental with all the Piggy pampering right outside the barn-style doors).
The Royal Crescent is unapologetically traditional with all the chintz, pomp and plump pillows you’d expect from a hotel that proudly promotes its Georgian heritage. Yes, there are the busts, the cantilevered staircases, the orchids and plush, cushioned headboards, but the main event here are the afternoon teas: a theatrical affair of ritualised precision and conversation-stopping cakes. After a day out in the town, guests can wrap themselves in robes and make for the Spa & Bath House, where massages are followed by a dip in the indoor relaxation pool or a pootle around the pretty walled garden. The hotel is set along Bath’s most famous crescent, with hotel rooms peering over the manicured Victoria Park and the city centre a picturesque 10-minute stroll away.
The Guest House Group have worked their lauded magic on this listed townhouse, preserving its Georgian soul while adorning it with kooky murals, playful chandeliers and restrained, understated tones that are a far cry from 18th century opulence. No.15 Great Pulteney's blend of new and old is clever – emphasising the building’s grand bones while thrusting it into the 21st century. Guests pootle around in expensive trainers and velvet loafers, listening to vinyls and relaxing over the surprisingly good coffee and just-baked brownies from the pantry. Filled to the brim with antiquity from a day perusing Bath’s treasures, a more modern, menu of sage gnocchi, Wyfe of Bath cheese soufflé and Somerset steak is a welcome antidote. Afternoon tea swings back to the Georgian side of things, with polished silver tea pots and scones lathered in West Country cream laid out in the cosy bar area.
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What to shop & do
Shoppers will relish Bath’s warren of independent boutiques, delis and antique stores, where one-of-a-kind presents are easily procured and where the act of shoppings itself feels like a cultural, rather than just consumerist, activity. Head to wine shop and bistro, the Beckford Bottle Shop (which is set to open its offshoot restaurant, The Beckford Canteen, in December with ex-River Cottage and Kitty Fisher's chef, George Barson) on Savile Row for a well picked bottle of red or a platter of cured meats. Grace & Ted is a much-loved designer consignment boutique, whose treasures can include anything from pre-owned Chanel earrings to a vintage Saint Laurent dress. Just as beautifully-curated is Found, a light-filled treasure trove dedicated to good taste, showcasing homeware pieces, fashion and trinkets, while Topping & Company is a bookworm's paradise, with a dizzying collection of books on an encyclopaedic array of topics and authors ready to be mined. Right by the Jane Austen Centre, Milsom Place is a swishy spot for fashion or interiors shopping, (especially for the newly-owned Shires Yard championing luxury British brands and local artisana, from florists and cookery schools to Bramley and ME + EM boutiques. But those with more bohemian aspirations should head to Walcot or The London Road (Bath's official Artisan Quarter and the epicentre of the city’s fabled antique and independent scene). The Saturday flea market unfurls amid swanky interiors shops and high-end antique shops that want a piece of the action, but Walcot's sensationally scruffy charm endures, with Diagon Alley-esque cobbled stretches and eccentric characters.
Those with a penchant for dashing white sergeants and petticoats, or just a jolly good period drama should take a turn about the Jane Austen Centre. This Milsom Street institution celebrates Jane Austen’s literary impact and deft social observations, a generous helping of Regency era Bath which can be debriefed and dissected over drawn out cups of tea and scones in the museum’s quaint tearoom.
Relax as the Romans did by indulging the healing powers of the thermal baths. First, visit the Roman Baths Museum, whose audio guide will teach you how structures were built around the hot springs. Then, with the UK’s only natural warm and mineral-rich water, Thermae Bath Spa is a steamy, photogenic spot to spend an afternoon of decompressing – its open air rooftop pool can be booked at night for romantic views across the city. The Gainsborough is a city institution, where a handsome, pillared spa serves up exclusive access to Bath’s natural thermal waters – along with Asian-influenced massages and an (undemanding) steam-and-sauna assault course.
The two go hand-in-hand in this perfectly proportioned city, where splendid stucco walls and pillared rooms are adorned with works from Thomas Gainsborough through to Grayson Perry. Bath’s public art museum, Victoria Art Gallery, hosts a free permanent collection (expect original Tudor portraits of Henry VIII and Paul Klees), while it's hard not to be distracted by the Holburne Museum’s landscaped gardens and striking Regency architecture while perusing its Renaissance works and bronze sculptures. No. 1 Royal Crescent offers a glimpse into Bath’s Palladian era flamboyancy of piano recitals, silk wallpaper and chandeliers, while Centre Space is a decidedly more modern proposition – a gallery and studio set up to support local emerging artists and creatives. The beauty of Bath is the spontaneous encounter - stumbling upon The Lotus Gallery on Chapel Row (a collection of works by young artists), 44AD ArtSpace with a similar local-focus or David Simon Contemporary, which feels more like stepping into an art lover’s home than a gallery.
