The city of Bath is one of the most picturesque places in England. Founded as a Roman spa town in c. 60 AD and later home to Jane Austen, you can feel how historic the city is despite its small size. It’s perfect for a weekend getaway, and is only an hour and twenty minutes on the train from London.

Stay at No. 15 Great Pulteney Street

No. 15 Great Pulteney has truly got it all. A bar that feels like a destination in its own right, enough art on the walls and ceilings to fill a gallery, and quirky touches throughout. The hotel’s location - about a two minute walk from Bath’s famous Pulteney Bridge - is ideal.

All the classic hotel amenities are accounted for and most of them are upgraded. Instead of a fridge in your room there’s a separate larder that’s open 24/7 and full of free snacks. The hair dryers are Dyson Supersonics (which are a whopping £300). The underground spa has a hot tub cave and a sauna pod, both of which can be booked independent of any treatments, and mean that you’ll have the space to yourself during that time.

Visit the Roman Baths

Normally I wouldn’t recommend a tourist attraction this expensive (my student ticket cost £18.50), but you can’t really visit Bath and not go see its namesake bit of history. The ticket does includes an audio tour, though to be honest I found it difficult to use. I struggled to find the numbers on the walls that I was supposed to be punching into the guide, but I may just be a bit daft because there were a lot of schoolchildren who seemed to have no issues whatsoever. Overall though, the Baths are beautiful, and the tour can be as quick or lengthy as you’d like. The Roman Baths are also right next to the Bath Cathedral if you want to pop there afterwards.

Browse the Shops on Pulteney Bridge

Pulteney Bridge is like a little Ponte Vecchio - full of tiny shops and cafés overlooking the water - but with fewer crowds and selfie sticks blocking your path. Definitely stop in at Pulteney Bridge Flowers, The Antique Map Shop, The Bath Stamp & Coin Shop, and Found (a clothing and homewares boutique).

Support Independent Bookstores

Topping & Company is one of the best bookstores in England for signed books, and you can ask for free tea or coffee at one of a number of small tables throughout the shop. Mr B’s Emporium also does free coffee and has loads of staff recommendations. The Oxfam bookshop on Lower Borough Walls in the center of town is pretty large and has like-new books at charity shop prices.

Explore the Holburne Museum

Located at the end of Great Pulteney street, The Holburne Museum houses the collections of Sir William Holburne. Holburne collected everything from furniture to snuff boxes, and there’s plenty to explore within the museum’s relatively small footprint. There are also temporary exhibit galleries, and I really enjoyed this summer’s display of Lauren Child’s illustrations (on until 8th September 2019). The museum has a large café with an outdoor seating area, and it backs on to Sydney Gardens if you fancy a stroll after your visit.

Wander Outside

We stumbled across the St Mary’s Church graveyard, and I would definitely recommend it. The link includes a list of marked graves of interest, but even if finding particular graves isn’t your thing, it’s worth visiting just to see the light streaming through the trees and plants surrounding the graves. Other spots not to miss are the view of the Royal Crescent in Royal Victoria Park, and the iconic curved townhouses of The Circus.

Sip Wine & Drink Beer

We were blessed with beautiful weather when we visited Bath so naturally looked for places to drink outside. The Bath Brewhouse has a great list of craft beer and a large beer garden out back. On the next evening we planned to go to Barton Street Wine Bar, but were gutted to find it was closed that day. Fortunately Bath is such a fancy city that we found another wine bar called Corkage literally just around the corner and it was absolutely lovely. There was a nice outdoor terrace, and a lengthy list of wine by the glass. For such a small city Bath has a great selection of drinking options.