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Top 10 Things to do in Bath
- Cheap Rail Travel
The trek to Bath from London used to take weeks on board the old-school, painfully strained, horse drawn canal boats. Fortunately for the modern backpacker, you can now jump on a train at London Paddington station, pay as little as £6.25 (€8.30 or $12.40) for a single ticket and be there in an hour and a half. It's a nice ride through the countryside and the view on the way into the station is breath taking. Don't let the building site outside the station colour your first impression of the city. It won't be there for long and the monstrous seventies building, which used to inhabit the site look much better as piles of rubble!
- City Sightseeing Bus
In all honestly Bath isn't really a city – it's a large, perfectly preserved Georgian town that got bumped up a notch because of the religiously important Abbey. That aside, these beautiful streets all look the same after a while and it's easy to end up walking in circles. Avoid this by jumping on a City Sightseeing Bus. The two tours take you on a city circuit and through the countryside, they don't cost much and you can listen to the pre-recorded narration, in whatever language suits you best. They set off on a regular basis, don't cost more than £10 and feature some wonderfully cheesy, sight seeing music. Both tours start out from near the Abbey.
- Thermae Bath Spa
This is Britain's original and only natural thermal spa, and it's something you can't afford to miss – no matter your budget. A two hour session is only £22 (€29 or $43.7) and this gets you into the gentle rapids of the basement Minerva pool, the beautiful airway decongesting vapours of the four flavoured steam room and my personal favourite, the open-air rooftop pool! You can save a buck by bringing your own towels, slippers and robes, and you can save yourself from accumulated jet lag stress by taking my word for it. This is worth every penny! In fact it's so spectacular, that Beauty Terrorist has no other focus this month! Check out this special feature to see why it's so special!
- The Walrus and Carpenter
There's a plethora of random and wonderful eateries in Bath but the Walrus and Carpenter takes the biscuit. If you only get the chance to hit one niche eaterie then this should be it. You'll find it at number 28 Barton Street and you'll find the menu, mouth watering, allergy friendly, completely unique and unsurpassed within in a thirty mile radius. The décor is something else, the candlelit atmosphere contrasts romance with business meet ups and the dessert is better than waking up every day, next to your most desired, eager to please, movie star icon. Sausages with red wine gravy – beautiful!.
- Bill Bryson at the Baths
There's a poignant story behind the original baths in this city. In the 1970s the baths were closed to the public after a little girl fell into the water, contracted meningitis and died. The water source had become contaminated and for the first time in hundreds of years, the city no longer had access to hot spring bathing facilities. It's safe to visit now and while bathing is still prohibited, the exhibits and extensive multi-lingual guides are not to be missed. Mr Bryson is of course the cherry on the top and while he doesn't narrate the entire tour, his insights are a mould breaking, entertaining break from the archived audio knowledge of a fair few generations!
- The Jane Austen Centre
This is by far one of the strongest attractions in Bath and when it's in honour of such a great lady, it's not hard to understand why. When Austen arrived in Bath and based Northanger Abbey in the city, the settlement with its preened society was the jewel of her eye. If you compare this work to her final novel - Persuasion, also set in Bath, you begin to see a more rounded, mature and jaded author. This progression from naïve optimist to a mature and brilliant realist, is expertly relayed at the centre. The hourly talks uncover everything from the Austen family's money tight house hopping in the city - to the fate of her extended family and the boundaries she covertly broke as a female author, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
- Sally Lunn's Bunns
No holiday would be complete without a mandatory, calorie rich and fatty tasty treat. When you're in Bath the place to go for this is Sally Lunn's. It's the oldest house in the city and serves up the tasty, brioche-esk bread that Sally Lunn made popular more than 300 years ago. Mademoiselle Lunn was a French refugee who fled religious persecution and took refuge in the Georgian city. Her house dates back to 1482 and the giant bread-cake buns, with clotted cream and tangy jams are worth every, over priced, tourist exploiting penny. If however you're on a budget tighter than a rock star's leather trousers then grab three to take away and add your own toppings.
- The Royal Crescent
Like celebrity riddled, paparazzi fuelled, tabloid excuses for newspapers, these attractions are free, pretty to look at and surrounded by interesting and possibly plausible stories. Number 1 Royal Crescent is possibly the grandest, semi circle of terraced mansions in the country and it shares the same architects as the nearby and equally stunning Circus. John Wood, junior and senior designed both residential masterpieces and their interest in Masonic symbolism and the occult, can be clearly seen in both. From the air No 1 Royal Crescent is a giant circle and crescent, representing the soleil-lune (sun and moon). The Circus on the other hand, blends into Queens Square and Gay Street to form a mystic Masonic symbol.
- Pultney Bridge
If you've ever been to Venice then this shop-tastic bridge might seem a little familiar. Robert Adam based it on Palladio's unused design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice! You'll find this architectural accomplishment a stone's throw from Bath Abbey and despite the emphasis on pricey, middle aged-spending power, it's worth a saunter along just to say you've done it. The Apple Tree Juice Bar is a great hang over lay by, the Hamstead Bazaar is populated by some very entertaining and lovely shop ladies, and Yet Yeti Yak serves up authentic and tasty Nepalese dishes. It's easy to forget that you're actually standing over water, but if you take a well timed glance from the aforementioned bus tour, you can see straight through this stone suspension.
- Free Walking Tours
The superbly proactive Mayor of Bath has a legion of fully trained Honorary Guides who take and talk you through the city, every day of the year. Come rain or shine, this team will pick you up from the message board outside the Abbey Church Yard and drag you through two hours of historical entertainment and architectural achievements. The guides are all volunteers, they don't get paid and they don't accept tips or gratuities. They do this out of a pure, socially evolved passion for Bath and their friendly approach will leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling. With your faith in humanity restored and reinforced, you'll be much more prepared for the other end of the friendly spectrum on the streets of London.
- Rob Savage
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