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About Bath

THE WORLD HERITAGE CITY OF BATH

A WHISTLE-STOP TOUR OF BATH'S HISTORY...

With its striking architecture and sweeping Georgian terraces, Bath is considered to be one of the most elegant cities in Europe. It’s a sprawling city with plenty of green spaces, but the centre itself is pretty compact and very easy to navigate on foot.

Bath has a speckled history – going from fashionable and thriving, to spiralling into decline, and back again! The Romans flocked to Bath for the hot springs and easily worked limestone, building a town that flourished for over 400 years – known as ‘Aquae Sulis’. After they decamped, the city fell into disrepair until the eighteenth century when its natural assets were rediscovered and exploited (again)!

Throughout the Georgian period 1714 – 1830, Bath was a socialite’s playground, becoming the focal point for out-of-London get-togethers. Royalty, the aristocracy and the ‘commoners’ of the day all bathed in the spa waters. Over the next 100 years the population grew massively – from 2,000 to 30,000 – making it the eighth largest city in England by 1801.

Today, Bath is brimming with reminders of its fascinating history. That said, the city is far more than museums and old buildings. It has a lively cultural scene with several festivals and all kinds of shows, concerts and exhibitions filling up the events calendar. Being a university town, it also has a vibrant nightlife, and the foodie scene is up there with the best.

Five Reasons to Visit Bath…

Bath has the only hot spring in Britain.

The city has more officially listed buildings than central London (5000+) and Harington’s Hotel is one of them!

Bath hosted the first ever farmers’ market in 1987. A regular farmers’ market can still be found on Saturday mornings and our foodie credentials are still going strong!

The city also is home to over 400 shops, 50% being run by independent specialist retailers and around 100 restaurants and cafés.

The Pulteney Bridge in Bath is one of only four bridges in the world with shops across the full length and both sides.

Top Tips

If you are travelling by car to Bath, call us to pre-book your parking (£14 per day) and make the most of all the sights by foot. Parking spaces in Bath are hot property so reserving one in advance is well worth doing.