Step into Bath: Ancient spas, Austen’s legacy, and Bridgerton’s filming locations

A view over the city from Bath Abbey in Bath, England, June 10, 2023. Photo / Jeremie Souteyrat, The New York Times

Hot water mingles with 2000 years of history in Bath, the spa town in southwest England. Named for its ancient, thermal-spring-fed Roman pools, Bath is a Unesco World Heritage Site as well as the beautiful backdrop to Jane Austen films and the Netflix series Bridgerton.

But the town is not resting on its past. Impressive restaurants such as the Elder, which opened during the pandemic, add finesse to regional British fare, while a new museum dedicated to Mary Shelley, who wrote most of Frankenstein while a teenager in Bath, celebrates the city’s literary side in good, spooky fun. Though centuries’ worth of visitors have flocked to Bath for a steaming soak, the sweeping Georgian architecture and rolling, lush countryside also attracts active travellers to enjoy the area on foot or bicycle, or even in a kayak.

Visitors at the Roman Baths, originally built by the Romans around A.D. 60, in Bath, England. Photo / Jeremie Souteyrat, The New York Times

INTINERARY

Friday

2.30pm | Take time for tea

Start your weekend with afternoon tea at No. 15 by GuestHouse, a hotel in Bathwick (the area across the River Avon from the city’s historic centre) that occupies three adjoining Georgian townhouses. In the bar, where afternoon tea is served, glass-topped tables reveal colourful jewels displayed under their surfaces, and locally commissioned art hangs on the walls alongside theatre programmes from the 1800s. Afternoon tea (£35pp, about $74) may include sandwiches with cave-aged Cheddar, a refreshing jelly made with Aperol and clementines, and lemon macarons, along with seven other dishes. Arrive hungry.

4pm | Shop with independents

Walking from Bathwick to the city centre will take you to Pulteney Bridge, completed in 1774 and a rare example of a bridge with storefronts built along both sides. On the east side of the river, Bathwick Pharmacy is worth visiting for its elegant 1826 interior and a display of old dispensary bottles and jars. Nearby, the Antique Map Shop (closes at 4.30 pm) sells maps of the British Isles, Europe and the Americas; most are more than a century old, and many are annotated in copperplate handwriting and decorated with mythical creatures and the coats of arms of landowners. Over the bridge, Independent Spirit of Bath has spirits, wines, beers and mead by local producers — look for Bath Botanical No 1. Gin (£37.95), a classic London dry-style made in Bath.

5pm | Visit the Roman baths

By making it in time for the last entry into the Roman Baths (£26), now a museum in the centre of the city, you can catch the peace between daytime bustle and nightlife, even if there is no swimming allowed. Steaming spring water flows into the lead-lined pool originally built by the Romans around A.D. 60, when the town was known as Aquae Sulis, and resurrected by the Victorians, who discovered its ruins. The surrounding columns and walls provide a wheat-coloured backdrop to the light green water, tinted by algae. See the Bath curse tablets on display — metal sheets inscribed in British Latin with curses asking the goddess Sulis Minerva to mete out punishment against thieves.

7.30pm | Indulge in oenophilia

At Corkage, spend an evening perusing the wine list one glass at a time (from £5.75), either inside the bar, where the walls are decorated with old posters and shelves lined with bottles, or on the canopy-covered terrace, where lights and vines sprawl around the wooden beams. There is no need to be knowledgeable about wine to enjoy it here, and the servers are happy to give recommendations. The menu of small plates (from £6 to £22), is perfectly sized for grazing. You can even buy a bottle to take home.

Saturday

10am | Step into another time

Inside No 1. Royal Crescent, a museum in a restored townhouse, period furnishings and a soundscape of imagined conversations between family members and staff convey a sense of life in the Georgian era. The characters discuss objects on display and concerns of the time: A fossilised mollusc prompts a discussion of creation and evolution. Talk of a slave rebellion in Jamaica and how it may affect the family’s income offers a window into how opulent Georgian life was supported by products of slavery in the colonies, as well as industrial labour by the working class. Admission is £15, or £22 for combined entry into the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

11.30am | Stroll in the gardens

Pop into the Green Bird Cafe for a coffee or a snack before taking an hour-long stroll through scenic streets and parks. Start with the Royal Crescent’s curved sweep of Palladian-style townhouses, immortalised in the Netflix film of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Walk through Royal Victoria Park and its botanical gardens, where paths pass flower beds and a stream. Continue uphill along Cavendish Rd, where you will see villa-style houses built in the 19th century, when a wealthy mercantile class began constructing permanent homes in Bath. In Lansdown Crescent, you can still occasionally see sheep grazing against a backdrop of trees and distant hills, and the city is almost obscured. Head downhill on Lansdown Rd then cut through Hedgemead Park to reach Walcot St.

Afternoon tea at No. 15 by GuestHouse in the Bathwick area in Bath, England. Photo / Jeremie Souteyrat, The New York Times

12.30pm | Make a glass bauble

Walcot St, which formed part of the Roman road network, has resisted urban development and corporate incursion to remain a home for artistic and independent endeavours. At the Bath Aqua Glass studio, you can blow your own glass bauble to take home £22.50). Walking south, pass the Bell Inn and check the quirky live music schedule for anything appealing to see later. The pub is a customer-and-worker-owned co-operative, operating for the benefit of the community. Continue south to find Dangleberg, a shrine to spicy or fermented condiments, including hot sauce, and the Yellow Shop, where both vintage and new clothes evoke nostalgia for decades past.

2pm | Taste the West Country

Cheddar is the most famous cheese of Somerset, the county that encompasses Bath, and the sharpest renditions of Cheddar are a product of the green pastures nurtured by West Country rains combined with cave maturation. The Fine Cheese Co, on Walcot St, sells cheeses made by small European producers who use traditional methods, although British cheeses are the highlight. Local varieties worth tasting include Bath Blue, which is made from herds on the nearby Mendip Hills, as well as Pitchfork Cheddar, which is dense and savoury. Have a platter of your choice of three cheeses for £13, or try the staff’s selection for £11, and enjoy in the shop’s cafe.

3.30pm | Ponder Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley stayed in Bath for five months, from 1816 to 1817, attending scientific lectures. By the time she left, most of Frankenstein was written. (Many say the novel started the modern science fiction genre.) Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein (entry £17.50), a museum that opened in 2021 near Queen Square, explores Shelley’s life and the time she spent in Bath, as well as her influences and her legacy. Gothic imagery guides you through her complicated romantic life, which led to social ostracism, and her loss of three children and her husband by the time she was 24. Basement rooms add to the creepy experience by pushing you through bad smells and weird textures while someone lurks in costume. Upstairs, explore the vast quantity of films and memorabilia inspired by the book.

5pm | Soak in the famous water

Experience the naturally heated water that has brought visitors to the area for millennia. The multifloor Thermae Bath Spa, near the Roman Baths, offers bathers a variety of geothermal pools. In the basement Minerva pool, sit in a bubbling hot tub that you have to swim to reach, or allow the currents to move you around the surrounding pool. The Wellness Suite offers a number of spa experiences, including heated loungers, scented steam rooms, an infrared sauna and an ice chamber for cooling down. Finish your journey at the rooftop pool, where you can take in the city views. (Two-hour sessions, from £45 on weekends. Massages and spa treatments are available for an extra charge.)

The rooftop pool at Thermae Bath Spa, which offers bathers a variety of geothermal pools, in Bath, England, June 10, 2023. Photo / Jeremie Souteyrat, The New York Times

8pm | Surrender to taste

Visitors to the Elder, a restaurant on South Parade serving seasonal British fare, will notice the dining room is painted a shade of celadon that evokes the water of the Roman Baths. The celebration of heritage extends to the table with dishes including Bath Chaps (£12), a traditional cut of pork that is brined, bread-crumbed and fried. (The tasting menu, £85 for seven courses, is good value.) While the Elder is excellent for omnivores, Oak, an outstanding restaurant on nearby North Parade, is entirely vegetarian — and mostly vegan — and grows some of its own produce. Oak offers a five-course set menu at a very reasonable £49, with matched wines for an additional £26. Both restaurants have a la carte menus as well.

Sunday

10am | See the cosmos

At the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, west of the city centre, you can stand where the known edge of the solar system expanded when astronomer William Herschel set up his homemade telescope and discovered a new planet: Uranus. Occupying the house that he and Caroline Herschel, his sister and fellow astronomer, lived in for five years, the museum offers a glimpse of late-18th century middle-class life and charts the advance of astronomy. Satirical prints of the time portray stargazing as a hobby of the Enlightenment and mock Caroline, who was an anomaly as an unmarried, educated female scientist. Despite this, she discovered several comets and is thought to be the first woman paid to be an astronomer. Entry is £12, or combined with entry to No. 1 Royal Crescent, £22.

11.30am | Savour the river

The River Avon, which loops around Bath and connects to London via the Kennet and Avon Canal, is a place for recreation. Go for a paddle with Original Wild, a local outdoor adventure company, either by kayak or stand-up paddleboard ( £36 for two hours). Architecture and wildlife come together when you spot the peregrine falcons that nest on St John the Evangelist, a tall Victorian Gothic-style church. Guides share unusual facts about Bath: For instance, they may point out a riverbank spot where you can slip an arm into cool river water to feel a warm current emerging. The warmth comes from the restored floor of Bath Abbey, a 7th-century church, which is now heated using Bath’s thermal springs.

The Roman Baths in Bath, England, June 10, 2023. Photo / Jeremie Souteyrat, The New York Times

KEY STOPS

The Roman Baths, a preserved ancient spa complex and museum, offers immersion in the city’s history, even if visitors cannot soak in its famous hot water.

No 1. Royal Crescent, a museum in a restored townhouse, re-creates the interior of a wealthy Georgian family’s home.

Thermae Bath Spa offers a contemporary way to enjoy the city’s hot water.

Oak is a mostly vegan restaurant that grows some of the produce that ends up on diners’ plates.

WHERE TO EAT

No. 15 by GuestHouse, a hotel occupying three Georgian townhouses, serves afternoon tea with style.

Corkage is a wine bar and restaurant with an inviting terrace.

The Green Bird Cafe is a pitstop for coffee and snacks.

The Fine Cheese Co. sells cheeses made by small producers who use traditional methods.

The Elder serves British fare, with an emphasis on local produce and game, amid elegant wood-panelled decor.

WHERE TO STAY

The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is a peaceful eyrie and a stunning example of Bath’s Georgian architecture. Rooms start at £319.

Eight, in two townhouses in the city centre, has 20 rooms, each with its own spirit. Rooms start at £130.

Cheap and cheerful, the YMCA Bath hostel is off Walcot St, the creative heart of the city. Rates start at £22 for a bed in a dorm, with a variety of private rooms available.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times

Writer: Susanne Masters

Photos: Jeremie Souteyrat