Where to Stay in Bath, England

What is Bath known for?

Bath is known for the Roman Baths built over its hot springs, and for the pale stone terraces of its Georgian streets. The Romans raised Aquae Sulis here, and its baths survive at the heart of the city. The great curve of No. 1 Royal Crescent stands among the later terraces, and the Jane Austen Centre recalls the writer who lived in the city.

Two ages made it. Roman and Georgian Bath share the same stone.

What are the main landmarks in Bath?

Bath's landmarks span two ages. The Roman Baths stand over the hot springs at the centre, on the site of Aquae Sulis, and No. 1 Royal Crescent shows the finest of the later terraces. St John's Church rises among the central streets.

The Holburne Museum, the Victoria Art Gallery, the Fashion Museum, and the Jane Austen Centre hold the city's collections and its literary memory. The Herschel Museum of Astronomy and Beckford's Tower and Museum complete the set.

What is the history of Bath?

Bath was founded by the Romans as Aquae Sulis, and its story begins in AD 43. The hot springs drew them, and they raised the great Roman Baths and a temple around the water, making the place a spa in the province of Britain. The springs never stopped flowing.

Romans, Saxons, and medieval builders each left their mark, and St John's Church and the older parishes at Bathampton and Englishcombe carry that long history down the centuries around the city. The Georgian age remade Bath in pale stone. Wealthy visitors came to take the waters, and architects laid out the crescents and circuses whose curve No. 1 Royal Crescent still shows.

Jane Austen lived here for a time, and the Jane Austen Centre now records that. The Herschel Museum of Astronomy keeps the house where a great astronomer worked. Collections gathered in the Holburne Museum and the Victoria Art Gallery as the city grew genteel.

The stone unites every age. Above the old core, Beckford's Tower and Museum and the American Museum and Gardens stand on the heights, and the springs that began it all still rise beneath the Roman Baths.

Where is Bath?

Bath lies in England, in the west of the United Kingdom, a city built across a valley among hills. The old core with the Roman Baths sits low in the valley, and the Georgian crescents climb the slopes above it. Villages ring the heights around the city, among them Bathampton, Southstoke, and Englishcombe.

The ground rises steeply. From the valley floor Bath spreads up the hills that enclose it.

What is the climate of Bath?

Bath has a mild, damp climate, sheltered by the hills that enclose its valley. Winters are cool and grey, with rain and low cloud settling in the valley for long spells while frost lingers on the higher slopes above the city. Summers stay temperate and green.

Warm bright days come and go, and the weather turns often over the hills that ring the valley around Bath.

How do you get to Bath?

Bath is reached by rail and road from London and across the west of England. Trains run in from London and nearby cities to the station at the edge of the old core, close by the river and the centre, and roads wind down into the valley from the surrounding hills. The station sits near the baths.

From there it is a short walk to the Roman Baths, St John's Church, and the Georgian streets at the heart of Bath.