Things to do in Bath

Bath exists because of hot water. Springs push up through the limestone at 46C, the only hot springs in Britain. The Romans built a temple and a bath house over them.

The spring and the Romans

Over a million litres a day come up at that same temperature. The Romans dedicated the site to Sulis Minerva and built around it from about AD 70. Most of what you walk on is theirs.

• The Great Bath — the lead-lined pool below street level, open to the sky.
• The Sacred Spring — the source that fed the whole complex, still steaming.
• The temple pediment — the bearded head at its centre, the best-known carving here.
• The museum — curse tablets thrown into the water, and the coin hoards with them.

The Georgian city above it

The rest of Bath was speculative building, and it was very good. Two architects called John Wood, father and son, gave the city its shape. All of it is the same honey-coloured stone.

• The Circus — the elder Wood's ring of thirty-three houses, begun in 1754.
• The Royal Crescent — thirty houses in one sweep, finished by the son in 1774.
• Pulteney Bridge — Robert Adam's span with shops the whole way across, and the weir below.
• Bath Abbey — often called the last great medieval church in England, with its fan vault.
• The Pump Room — the Georgian salon over the spring, where Jane Austen's Bath came to be seen.

You cannot swim in the Roman pools. That is the thing visitors most often expect. The modern spa two streets away uses the same water, has a rooftop pool, and opened in 2006.

Bristol, twenty minutes west

What is listed here reaches past the city, and the walking games run in Bristol.

• The harbourside — Brunel's SS Great Britain and the warehouses round the floating harbour.
• Street art — Banksy grew up here, and the walls around Stokes Croft show it.
• Clifton — the suspension bridge over the Avon Gorge, and the terraces above it.

Practical

• Weather. Mild and wet, with summer highs near 22C. The valley holds warmth, so Bath usually runs a degree above the country round it.
• Crowds. The Roman Baths sell timed tickets and the middle of the day is the crush. First and last slots are calmer.
• Walking. The whole centre fits inside a mile, but the climb to the Crescent is real.
• Driving. Central parking is scarce and expensive; the park-and-ride sites work better.
• Trains. London Paddington is ninety minutes off, Bristol Temple Meads about fifteen.
• Booking ahead. The spa at weekends, the Baths in summer, and any table on a Saturday night.