Discover Bath, Somerset

Bath, England: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial.view.of.bath.arp.jpg
Author: Adrian Pingstone


Bath is a city in the county of Somerset in Southwest England. It is located about 160km (100 mi) from London and 21km (13 mi) from Bristol.

Bath is said to have been established by the Romans as a spa resort around AD 43 under the Latin name Aquae Sulis, although the hot springs of that area has been know longer than that. During Roman times, it was known as Aquae Sulis. The Romans built their baths at the only hot springs to be found in the United Kingdom.

A historic significance to Bath is that in AD 973, Edgar was crowned the King of England at the Bath Abbey. The town itself was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590. City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site during the 11th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris, France, on 7 - 11 December, 1987. It is a major tourist destination in Britain, drawing close to 4 million visitors every year.

Pulteney Bridge, Bath: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pulteney_bridge_in_bath_england_arp.jpg
Author: Adrian Pingstone


The hot springs at Bath are the only naturally occuring ones in the United Kingdom. It continues to be a popular spa resort during the Georgian era. This was when the heritage buildings of Georgian architecture was built out of Bath Stone. The most famous is the Royal Crescent, also called The Circus, built between 1754 and 1768.

The Circus in Bath: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bath_Circus_part_of_north_side.jpg
Author: NorFromUtrecht

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location: N 51 22 53 W 2 21 31 in Somerset, England.
Inscription Year: 1987
Type: Cultural
Inscription Criteria: I, II, IV

Going to Bath

By Plane: The nearest airport is the Bristol International Airport, located some 20 miles from Bath. There are public bus services from the airport to the Bristol Temple Meads Station, and from there, take the train to Bath. The whole journey should take an hour outside of rush hour in Bristol, which is from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

By Train: There are regular inter-city train services connecting Bath with Bristol, London, Reading, Southampton, and several other cities. The trains from London leave London Paddington station every 30 minutes for the one-hour-30-minute journey.

By Road: Driving to Bath is not encouraged for the uninitiated due to its many one-way streets and lack of a bypass. As a result, the roads tend to get congested with traffic.

Camden Crescent, Bath: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camden_Crescent_Bath_2.jpg
Author: NotForUtrecht

Places of Interest in Bath

Bath is on the Map of cities in England

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Map of Ceremonial Counties of England

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.