Special treat: The Bath Priory (01225 331922) has combines a country house hotel feel with the attractions of a city. Pretty and elegant rooms from £210. Read a full review http://bit.ly/Sseq9s.
Mid-range: The Halcyon (01225 444100; thehalcyon.com) is a central hotel in a Georgian townhouse, close to the railway station and the Roman Baths. From £125. Read a full review http://bit.ly/V59FEY.
On a budget: On an upmarket residential street about 15 minutes’ walk downhill to the centre, Badminton Villa (01225 426347) is a smart, homely B&B. From £75. Read a full review http://bit.ly/Tsr88g.
If up for a nightcap, Bath’s best cocktail bar, Sub 13 (01225 466667; sub13.net), is just three minutes’ stroll away, in stylish, vaulted underground premises.
On weekends, the best time to visit the Roman Baths (adults £12.25, 65 and over £10.75, children 6-16 £8) is soon after they open — later on, there can be queues to get in.
Enjoy a coffee at Colonna & Small’s (07766 808067; colonnaand smalls.co.uk). Its award-winning baristas prepare speciality brews with meticulous precision.
Have lunch at The Bertinet Bakery (01225 445531; thebertinetkitchen.com). Affiliated to a cookery school, it offers outstanding quiches, pasties and custard tarts well worth the wait for a table.
Tour Bath’s set-piece Georgian landmarks. Start at the Assembly Rooms (adults £2), the marvellously restored prime meeting places for Bath society in Jane Austen’s time.
The Royal Crescent is the most impressive of Bath’s seven Georgian crescents. The Royal Crescent Hotel (royalcrescent.co.uk) does an impressive, if pricey, afternoon tea (£25). Book ahead.
Get the evening under way at The Star Inn (23 The Vineyards; star-inn-bath.co.uk), a resolutely traditional, civilised pub with a “death row” bench for its elderly regulars.
A two-hour session in the thermal waters of the open-air rooftop pool and indoor Minerva Bath of Thermae Bath Spa (01225 331234; thermaebathspa.com) is very enjoyable.
Walk around Prior Park Landscape Garden, a woodland-bordered valley that sits above a rare example of a Palladian bridge. Nearby parking is tricky: a taxi from the city centre costs around £8.
