Bath

Yes, you can do a day trip. We took the train to Bath - left London in the AM (before 9:00) and had a great day visiting Bath and all the tourist sites.
The train trip was about 90 minutes each way (Paddington to Bath)
Had a lovely lunch too.
Then hopped the train Back to London.
Happy Travels

Thanks Frances! Good to know. Did you have to leave right after lunch due to not many trains in the afternoon or did you stay awhile? Just wondering how late they still have trains heading back to London to see how long of a day we can have in Bath. Thanks again, thats good to know!

No - we went back to London in the afternoon. Spent a nice day wandering all over Bath and went into see the "baths", had tea in their tea room too.
They also have a beautiful Abbey. And, they have a nice costume museum that we visited....
It was a few years ago, so I don't remember the exact times of the trains....but there were several to pick from.

Here is a link with some "return" train times. Click on the arrow (lower right) to see later times
train times sample

You will find the train times here:> www.nationalrail.co.uk

Just put in for PAD > BTH

The trains are usually very 30 minutes and travel at up to 125mph. Buying tickets on the day can be expensive - the cheapest deals for specific trains can be found about 11 weeks out. If you don’t want to be tied down to specific trains, check out the prices for Anytime returns or Off peak returns.

You can pick up Advance singles for £10 each way on specific trains if pre-booked well ahead. The train company is Great Western Railway but Americans have reported problems with their website. I suggest that you try and pre-book withhttps://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk as they will let you change arrangements without a re-booking fee. (Yes, I know they are a different company but all train companies will sell each others tickets without a fee). You will get a booking number which you use to collect your tickets from a machine - using the SAME DEBIT card on which you made the booking.

Walk on returns are mainly £73.30 if paying on the day. On weekdays, if you travel on the 10.30am or later, this drops to £57.50 = off peak return. However, I have a way in which you can get this down to £48.10 return pay on the day. You walk into Paddington station and ask for an off-peak return to Didcot = £25.60. (On weekdays, you can travel on the 10am or later). Now, this 10am train is going to Paignton in Devon calling at Didcot, Swindon & Bath en-route so you will sit on the same train throughout. You then ask for an off peak return from Didcot to Swindon = £11.20. You then ask for an off peak return Swindon to Bath = £11.30. So we have a total of £48.10. Sounds bonkers but that is the crazy pricing for trains in Britain. If doing the 3 way split, you must make sure that your train stops at Didcot. (They all stop at Swindon). The x43 departures from Bath do stop at Didcot. You can check on the national rail website by clicking details > show calling points.

Do not travel on a Sunday as much engineering work is taking place on this route and this can lead to Sunday diversions. You will find more off peak fares for earlier departures on Saturdays.

Looking at tomorrow's times, there are trains every 30 minutes until 18.43, and then roughly every hour. The last train from Bath to London is at 22.47, arriving Paddington 00.34. You could easily have dinner in Bath, or go to the theatre, and then return to London that evening if you wanted to.

Thank you so much to everyone on all this great info including the links. We have booked our train ride from London Paddington to Bath Spa to mix up the trip a little and see other places.

Thanks again!

If you go to nationalrail.co.uk now you can get two return tickets (round trip) for £40.00. You can leave from London Paddington at 8:00am arriving in Bath at 9:27am. You can get a train back at 6:43 or 7:43 or later. Have fun!!!

Just returned from a trip 2 days ago (trip report to come) and would recommend the Roman Baths, Bath Abbey, the walking tour if the timing fits for you, and the fashion Museum. This is a lot for one day so decide what fits you.

Jkelman,
Looking forward to your trip report.

Have afternoon tea in the Jane Austen Centre tea rooms. You might need reservations but last September we popped in early and made one then went and visited the fashion museum and the bath at work museum. It was a highlight of the trip.

There are also a number of companies that offer one-day trips to Bath, including London Walks (though only infrequently).

I will be in London in late September and will probably make a Saturday excursion with London Walks to Bath, which I have never visited. But I have a concern, and it is not logistics. The concern is whether I really want to spend a day in Bath? Are the sights there really worth a day trip?

I understand that this is a personal question, and that any number would say "definitely yes". But I have day excursions planned to Oxford and Cambridge, which I really want to see, and I find the same ardor lacking for Bath, which I think of as a tourist site with some old and lovely buildings.

Richard, why do you want to go to Bath? Is it because everyone else goes there and you feel that you must go as well? It appears that it's somewhere that doesn't particularly interest you and personally I would never consider going somewhere without having at least researched it and decided whether it was somewhere I wanted to go or not. Asking the opinion of strangers on a forum on whether you should visit or not is an odd way to plan your visit. Personally I don't have much time for Paris but if I were to ask people on here whether I should visit there would undoubtedly be a resounding "yes".

If you're having doubts about going somewhere, don't go, there are plenty of other places that will be of interest to you.

understand that this is a personal question, and that any number
would say "definitely yes". But I have day excursions planned to
Oxford and Cambridge, which I really want to see, and I find the same
ardor lacking for Bath, which I think of as a tourist site with some
old and lovely buildings.

Two things:

1. One, Bath is not "a tourist site with some old and lovely buildings." It's a living, breathing city that happens to have a stunningly well-preserved set of Roman Baths and some old and lovely buildings.

2. So don't go! If you have no ardour for a place that you've already made up your mind that you don't like, don't waste your time and money going there.

Friends, thanks for the responses. I can assure all that I was not trying to be provocative with my comments. Why would I go (or consider going) to Bath? Because it is a major attraction in the UK, because I have never been there, and because I intend on an upcoming trip to London to venture outside the city, which I have never previously done.

However, on these forums, we do ask "strangers", don't we, for their opinions on countries, cities, regions, and sites to travel to. It is amazing how much information and how many great insights are generated by a number of posts responding to such questions. It matters whether a number of people say, for example, I felt the same way, went, and loved it for these reasons; or I wanted badly to go and went and loved it for these reasons; or I went and was disappointed for these reasons. That's 30 percent of the threads on these forums.

And certainly most do not make travel decisions based solely on forum responses, but those responses can be another good source of information on which travel decisions are made. That's why I asked the questions. I am trying to decide and to gather as much information possible. Thanks again.