4 days in Bath (too many)?

Day 2: the Royal Crescent Museum is a much better attraction - and will give you a better sense of life back then - than the Jane Austen Centre, which is quite disappointing.

I’ve been to Thermae Spa. It was okay: basically a very fancy sauna/steam room complex plus the outdoor pool with great views of Bath Abbey. I found the outdoor pool a bit overcrowded and didn’t particularly enjoy myself but others seemed to like it.

I went to Stonehenge recently having been as a kid, and I liked it. But I’m interested in ancient history.

One excellent day trip from Bath is to Bristol, just minutes away by train. A big arty diverse city with some outstanding attractions - notably the SS Great Britain, easily my favourite of the many ship/museum type places I’ve been in, and also Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge. It would be my top day trip from Bath.

Oh! Another full day trip option would be train to lovely Salisbury, visit the stunning cathedral and do your own trip to Stonehenge from Salisbury via the very easy Stonehenge tour bus that goes from Salisbury station (Stonehenge is much closer to Salisbury than it is to Bath).

It was just fine for us. However did two day trips by train. Oxford and Salisbury/Stonehenge. We enjoyed Bath’s free walking tour there and truly loved the shops, churches and eateries! Toured Roman baths but we did not use thermal spa. Not our cup of tea.

I don't think it's too many, especially with day trips. We took a day trip to Bradford on Avon which is delightful. The best afternoon tea we had was at the Royal Crescent Hotel.

Great advice all.

Will keep plan to go to Royal crescent museum and then maybe tea at nearby Royal crescent hotel.

Honestly I don’t think the thermae spa is my cup of tea either, especially if it’s crowded. All the must do lists have it…but reviews say it’s crowded and not as clean as one would like.

A day trip to Salisbury in addition to Stonehenge may be good for my final day.

You are missing one great sight in Bath. The Holburne Museum; wonderful art collection.

If you like walking tours, I recommend the free city tours. Just did this in May and would give it 5 stars. We had a very knowledgeable guide.

https://www.bathguides.org.uk/

You may not need 4 days in Bath. Maybe 3 days and then devote one night to Salisbury/Stonehenge. Then it's an easy train ride back to London from there.

We did three nights in Bath at the Brooks Guesthouse. Also, dined the best fish and chips in England at The Scallop Shell.
We did a day trip to Wells and Glastonbury. We pretty much did Bath in one full day.

The Royal Crescent Hotel afternoon tea is excellent. If the weather is nice they serve it in their beautiful garden which makes it extra nice.

I’ve been to the Thermae Spa a few times. It is busy but the views from the rooftop pool are great and overall I enjoy going.

I might be biased but I reckon Bristol is a good day trip and makes a nice contrast to Bath, being a bigger and more youthful and diverse city.

Thank you!

Made a reservation at the scallop shell, looking forward to a proper fish and chips! This should be better than captain D’s, haha.

planning on doing the mayors free walking tour the first afternoon I arrive. They also have a Pulteney estates walking tour on Thursday morning…which I can combine with a visit to the Holborn museum, but I only have time for this if I just do the afternoon 4 hour guided tour to Stonehenge, and don’t day trip to Salisbury.

So much to see in limited vacation time.

Already booked London hotel, so moving and staying in Windsor one night was more trouble than just day-tripping. London hotel is right at Paddington, so transit should be quite easy.

Still on the fence about the thermae spa, but it may be therapeutic after a long flight in economy and several days touring.

I’m a bit confused. When I travel and plan by how many nights I spend somewhere the number of full days at the location is one less than the number of nights. I spent 4 nights in Bath, which gave me 3 full days there. I did not feel that was too much time in Bath.

To me Day 2 is too much even with skipping the Thermae. The Roman Baths will take a couple of hours. I walked up to Prior Park and it’s a significant uphill so took me longer than it might others. Once you enter, the landscape garden is back downhill so a bit easier. The Palladian Bridge feature is very cool and what I specifically went to see.

To get to the Number 1 Royal Crescent Museum you’ll go back past the Roman Baths and uphill again on that side of town. I might move this to Day 1. Bath Abbey is right beside the Roman Baths so you could work it in on Day 2.

I’ve done both those Mad Max tours (well, the day long tour to Stonehenge) and they are both great. There is some overlap. I’d probably put your day seeing the sights in Bath between the 2 van tour days.

I agree with skipping the Jane Austen Centre. She didn’t live there. They had nothing that actually belonged to her there. Not worth the time or money. I did do an excellent walking tour thru them one time (pre-Covid).

Andrea, I’m arriving on train from Oxford on day 1, willl be there by 9 am, and leaving day 5 at 9 am…so that’s 4 days and 4 nights.

Pam, I thought the 2 mad max tours would have some repeat…and due to their timings would have to back to back, so decided just to do Cotswolds tour. (Already booked)
I may do an uber from prior park straight to Royal crescent museum to save time and legs.
my thoughts were baths 9-11ish, I’m not the type to linger. Then to prior park, and yes, the Palladian bridge is a must see for me, uber to Royal crescent museum, then tea at Royal crescent hotel, I can book a 4:30. This works for lunch and dinner! The thermae spa is open til 9, so I may book 7-9.

I’m here now and found both the Therme Spa and Sally Lunns to be low quality. Roman Baths, #1, and the Abbey were excellent.

Mad Max Cotswolds was great as was Salisbury, Windsor, and Stonehenge.

Im based out of Bradford on Avon and set aside two days for Bath and found 1 day to be fine with careful scheduling of tours.

Mad Max tours are excellent.

There's a bus ride around Bath (includes 2 routes) that leaves from near the Visitors Center behind Bath Abbey. Both routes are scenic. Buy tickets at the Visitors Center. One route goes through the center of town with the narrator telling you what sights you're seeing. The other route goes past the train station, up the mountain, out into the hills past The American Museum. There's a bus stop there so you can get out, see the museum, be picked up later by another bus.
These buses are open-top and a good way to get a quick look at most areas of Bath.
https://visitbath.co.uk/things-to-do/tootbus-bath-p3023853

You may be able to use this bus as a transportation option instead of Uber from Prior Park to the Royal Crescent, in a hop-on-hop-off way.

Another vote for dinner at The Scallop Shell!

Thermae Spa--perhaps skip it because there are so many more interesting things to do?

Have you considered taking in a play at the Bath Theatre Royal?
I also enjoyed cycling to Bradford upon Avon on the Kennet and Avon canal. Bikes were available to rent right by the canal.

Love Bath! i stayed 2 nights but would have loved more. I really enjoyed the Mad Max tour - i did the all day tour of stonehenge and the cotswolds and really liked it. we stopped for lunch in one of the villages. Also recommend the Royal Crescent museum - it was fascinating!

Glad to hear everyone unanimous on recommending mad max tours, Royal crescent museum and the scallop shell!

I did look at the theater Royal, Ralph Fiennes is directing “As you like it”, while I’m there. Thinking about it, prices are very reasonable.

Thank you Rebecca for info on open bus. I’m currently doing PT on some tendonitis in my ankle, so it may be a necessary backup.

When I travel and plan by how many nights I spend somewhere the number of full days at the location is one less than the number of nights.

I understand that many people take this approach, and it's a conservative one. But I find, especially if one is arriving from a nearby location, that it's overly pessimistic for my purposes. It takes just over an hour to get to Bath from Oxford by train.

“ I understand that many people take this approach, and it's a conservative one. But I find, especially if one is arriving from a nearby location, that it's overly pessimistic for my purposes. It takes just over an hour to get to Bath from Oxford by train.”

The OP had not mentioned the arrival time in Bath, hence my comment. Instead of arriving in the morning it could have just as easily been mid-afternoon. I have no idea if they are an experienced traveler or if this is a first trip.

To the OP, I took the Mad Maxx tour of Stonehenge and Cotswolds Villages and enjoyed it very much. I had been to the Cotswolds on a previous trip and these were new villages to me. If you don’t have an interest in Stonehenge I don’t think you can go wrong with the Cotswolds tour. And another vote for eating at the Scallop Shell.

kkmintz, you will need reservations for the Scallop Shell.
It's very popular.