Roman Baths, Bath

Tickets and tours: all the options

The museum sells dated tickets, and prices change with the season and day of the week; buying online is cheaper than at the door. The ticket includes the audio guide in several languages, with versions for children, and the costumed characters who appear on busy days. Residents of Bath with the local Discovery Card enter free. From late July to the end of August evening openings let you see the Great Bath lit by torches.

On GetYourGuide the choices are the entry ticket, city walking tours that include the baths, and many coach day trips from London or Oxford combining Bath with Stonehenge, Windsor, Lacock or the Cotswolds. On these day trips you usually get around two to three hours in Bath, enough for the baths or a quick walk, but not both. Check whether entry is included or optional; several tours add it as an extra at a reduced price. For most visitors the best option is a dated ticket booked a few days ahead and an early start; from London, a combined day trip with Stonehenge makes sense if you have only one day.

A short history

The hot spring was a sacred place of the native Britons, dedicated to the goddess Sulis. Soon after the Roman conquest, in about AD 60 to 70, the Romans built a temple to Sulis Minerva beside it and, over the next three centuries, a large bathing complex around the spring, the centre of the town of Aquae Sulis. After Roman rule ended in the 5th century the buildings decayed. Medieval and Georgian Bath built new baths on the site, and the Pump Room opened in the 1790s. The temple pediment was found in 1790, and the Great Bath was uncovered in the 1870s and 1880s. The City of Bath has been on the UNESCO list since 1987.

Getting there

Trains from London Paddington reach Bath Spa in about 1 hour 20 minutes, and there are frequent services from Bristol, which takes about 15 minutes. From the station, walk north along Manvers Street and Stall Street for about ten minutes to Abbey Churchyard, where the entrance is beside the Abbey. Bristol airport is about 40 minutes away by car or by direct bus. National Express coaches from London stop at the bus station next to the railway station. Driving in central Bath is slow and parking is expensive, so use one of the three park-and-ride sites on the edge of the city, with buses every 10 to 15 minutes.

Rules and what to bring

Do not touch the water or put your hands in it: it comes straight from the ground and is not treated. Large bags and suitcases are not admitted, so leave luggage at your hotel. Eating is not allowed in the galleries, and flash may be restricted in some areas. The stone around the Great Bath is often wet and slippery. Toilets are near the start, a café and shop are near the exit, and the Pump Room serves meals.

When to go

The museum is busiest from about 10.30 am to 3 pm, when coach tours from London and school groups arrive, and at weekends and in school holidays all day. Arrive at opening, when the steam rises from the pool in the cool morning air, or come after 4 pm when the coach day trips have left for London.

Bath has mild weather all year, and as the visit is mostly indoors, rain is not a problem, though the Great Bath is open to the sky. From late July to August late evening openings allow a visit by torchlight with smaller crowds. In winter the steam over the pool is most visible, and the Christmas market around the Abbey in late November and December fills the centre with visitors. Allow two hours for the audio guide route, more if you listen to every commentary, and half a day if you add the Abbey and the Pump Room.