Free two-hour tours are led by the Mayor of Bath’s Honorary Guides, volunteers who share their love of Bath with its many visitors (as the city’s mayor first did when he took a group on a guided walk back in the 1930s). These chatty, historical, and gossip-filled walks give you the lay of the land while you learn about the city’s evolution, architecture, and amazing Georgian social scene. How else would you learn that the old “chair ho” call for your sedan chair evolved into today’s “cheerio” farewell? Tours leave from outside the Pump Room in the Abbey Churchyard (free, no tips, year-round Sun-Fri at 10:30 and 14:00, Sat at 10:30 only; additional evening walks May-Sept Tue and Thu at 18:00; arrive 10 minutes early for all tours; bathguides.org.uk).

Mike James is a good Blue Badge Bath guide (£225/half-day, £370/day, mike@mikejames.org). Mike also runs Savouring Bath Food Tour, worth considering for a three-hour movable feast on their classic “Food Heroes” tour (£90, Wed-Fri at 9:45 or 14:00, Sat at 9:45, book online, RS%—10 percent discount with code “ricksteves,” savouringbath.com, hello@savouringbath.com).

Rock n Stroll Tours offers an intimate look at Bath’s often-overlooked role in the 1960s-1980s music scene, from Peter Gabriel to Van Morrison to Tears for Fears. Guides Shaun Smith and John Baker, musicians who played their own part in the scene, lead 1.5-hour tours through some off-the-beaten path parts of town (some hills, wear good shoes; £20, April-Oct, typically Thu-Sun, check website for times; rocknstrolltours.com).

Hop-on, hop-off Tootbus tours zip through Bath. Jump on a bus at one of 16 signposted pickup points, climb upstairs, and hear recorded commentary about Bath. Tootbus has two one-hour routes: the City Tour of Bath’s center and the Skyline Tour outside town. Download the app to see real-time bus info and find one near you. For the best sound experience, bring your own earbuds (£24.50 from driver, cheaper online, ticket valid for both routes; City Tour generally runs daily every 15 minutes, in summer 9:45-18:30; Skyline Tour runs daily every 30 minutes, in summer 10:30-17:30; both have shorter hours off season; +44 1225 330 444, tootbus.com).

Operating daily from Bath, Maddy offers thoughtfully organized, informative tours run with entertaining guides and limited to 15 people per group. Book as far ahead as possible in summer. The Stonehenge, Cotswold Villages, and Avebury full-day tour covers 110 miles and visits Stonehenge, the Avebury Stone Circles, photogenic Lacock (LAY-cock), and the southernmost Cotswold village, Castle Combe (£75 plus £23 Stonehenge entry—Mad Max purchases tickets but you must pay guide on day of tour, card or cash; tours depart Tue-Thu and Sat-Sun promptly at 8:25 and return at 17:30). They also run a tour of the Cotswold villages (£85, Mon, Wed, and Fri-Sun at 8:25). All tours depart from downtown Bath near the abbey (outside the Abbey Hotel on North Parade, arrive at least 15 minutes early; RS%—£10 rebate with online purchase of two separate itineraries, request when booking second tour, discount refunded to credit card; ask about discounted private tours for my readers; some winter tours but schedule is reduced; +44 7990 505 970, phone answered daily 8:00-18:00, madmaxtours.co.uk, maddy@madmaxtours.co.uk).

Bath Insider Tours, run by enthusiastic Daniel, a native Bathonian, offers half-day private tours to Stonehenge (prices depend on time of year but start at £352 for 2, maximum 6 per group, includes admission). Other day trips include Avebury, Wells-Cheddar, and South Cotswolds (daily, +44 7772 038 233, bathinsidertours.co.uk, info@bathinsidertours.co.uk).

Scarper Tours runs four-hour narrated minibus tours to Stonehenge, giving you two hours at the site. They offer plush minibuses, priority-access Stonehenge tickets, and insightful driver commentary along the way (£60 including Stonehenge admission, departs from outside the Abbey Hotel on Terrace Walk; April-Sept daily at 9:00 and 14:00, Jan-March and Oct-Dec at 13:00; scarpertours.com, hello@scarpertours.com).

Celtic Horizons is a car service offering tours from Bath to destinations such as Stonehenge, Avebury, and Wells. They also provide a convenient transfer service (to or from London; Heathrow, Bristol, and other airports; the Cotswolds; and so on), with or without a tour itinerary en route. Allow about £45/hour for a group (comfortable minivans seat up to 8 people) and £195 for Heathrow-Bath transfers (1-3 people; +44 1373 800 500, US +1 855 407 3200, celtichorizons.com, info@celtichorizons.com).

Undiscovered Cotswolds runs private, all-day tours to the Cotswolds from Bath, with stops in Castle Combe, Lacock, Bibury, Burford, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, and the Slaughters (£599 for up to 8 people, +44 7450 764 393, undiscoveredcotswolds.com, info@undiscoveredcotswolds.com).

Ground zero for sightseeing is Abbey Churchyard, a vibrant square surrounded by the Roman Baths, Pump Room, and Bath Abbey. The Parade Gardens, Guildhall Market, Victoria Art Gallery, Pulteney Bridge, and River Avon are beyond the left corner of the abbey, a couple of minutes’ walk away. Behind you, a block down Bath Street, is the Thermae Bath Spa.

Here in Abbey Churchyard, you can see the layers of Bath’s history in a glance. The Roman Baths put the city on Europe’s radar 2,000 years ago. The abbey made it an important medieval destination. The elegant Pump Room captures the city in its 18th-century heyday. And today’s lively street performers show the city hasn’t let up since.

The churchyard is also a showcase for Bath’s distinctive Georgian architecture. The Pump Room’s facade has a faux Greek-temple entrance: Four tall columns support a triangular pediment with an inscription in Greek letters (“The greatest blessing is water”). Below that, the doorway is topped with a characteristic Georgian semicircular fanlight window. Five round windows and a fetching balustrade across the roofline complete the Neoclassical look.

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For thousands of years, humans have marveled at the hot water that bubbles out of the earth on this spot. In ancient Roman times, high society enjoyed soaking in the mineral spring and built a large bathhouse around it. From Londinium, Romans traveled so often to Aquae Sulis, as the city was called, to “take a bath” that finally it became known simply as Bath. Today, a fine museum surrounds the ancient bathhouse. With the help of a great audioguide, you’ll wander past Roman artifacts, a temple pediment with an evocative bearded face, a bronze head of the goddess Sulis Minerva, excavated ancient foundations, and the actual mouth of the health-giving spring. At the end, you’ll have a chance to walk around the big, steaming pool itself, where Romans once lounged, splished, splashed, and thanked the gods for the gift of therapeutic hot water.

Cost and Hours: £28 on weekends, £26 on weekdays, cheaper off-season—see website; daily 9:00-18:00, mid-July-Aug Mon-Thu until 20:00 and Fri-Sun until 22:00, last entry one hour before closing; +44 1225 477 784, romanbaths.co.uk.

Combo-Ticket: A combo-ticket with the Pump Room (described next) can save you a few pounds on admission to the baths and a choice of morning brunch or afternoon tea.

Crowd-Beating Tips: Long ticket lines are typical in the summer—buy your ticket online in advance. On any day, try to visit early or late; peak time is between 13:00 and 16:30. If you’re here in mid-July or August, after 19:00 the baths are romantic and gas-lit, and you can listen to music with a bath-side beverage.

Tours: Take advantage of the excellent audioguide, included with admission. A kid-friendly audioguide is also available. One-hour guided tours of the Great Bath are offered a few times daily (£6/person, book in advance).

Self-Guided Tour: This brief tour follows the baths’ one-way route; for more in-depth commentary, make ample use of the audioguide.

• Begin by walking around the upper terrace, overlooking the swimming-pool-like Great Bath.

Terrace: Lined with statues of VIRs (Very Important Romans), the terrace evokes ancient times but was built in the 1890s. The terrace sits atop the remarkably well-preserved lower story, which was actually built by the Romans: The bases of the columns, the pavement, and the lead-lined pool are all original from the first century AD. Those ancient ruins sat undisturbed for centuries before finally being excavated in the 1870s and turned into this museum. The terrace statues help put a face on the baths’ history: Julius Caesar first set foot in Britain (55 BC). Claudius conquered the Celts in Bath (AD 43) and enclosed the first bathing pool with oak pilings. Hadrian (c. 120) enlarged the complex around it, and Constantine (c. 325) ruled when the baths were at their peak of grandeur. Enjoy the great view from the west end, looking back toward the abbey.

At the end of the terrace, before going downstairs, peer down into the spring (on the left through the window), where little bubbles remind you that each day 257,000 gallons of water emerge from the earth—magically, it must have seemed to Romans—at a constant 115°F. It comes from rainwater that falls on the nearby hills, filters down through layers of limestone two miles deep, gets heated by the earth’s core, then rises back up through cracks to the surface. The water you see now first fell as rain about 10,000 years ago...making the Romans seem relatively recent.

• Now you’ll head downstairs to the...

Museum: Start with its helpful models. The first model (of plexiglass) shows the humble baths that stood here around AD 70. It’s just two buildings, with the spring in between, but it makes clear the complex’s dual purpose: The bathhouse was for soaking in the healing waters, and the temple was for thanking the goddess Sulis Minerva for giving humankind such a wondrous thermal spring.

The next model shows the baths at their peak, around AD 325. The tallest building (with a barrel-arch roof) is the Great Bath you see today, with its big swimming pool. The smaller arched roofs alongside were other bathhouse buildings—dressing rooms, saunas, cold plunges, and so on. The red-tile-roofed section was the temple. You can make out the big rectangular temple courtyard enclosing the small temple. Also in the temple courtyard is a small altar where sacrifices were offered. Get a close look at the temple’s colorful pediment (the triangular gable atop its four columns). Now, let’s see that actual pediment, displayed nearby.

The fragments of the temple pediment—carved by indigenous Celtic craftsmen but with Roman themes—represent a remarkable cultural synthesis. Sit and watch for a while as a slide projection fills in historians’ best guesses as to what once occupied the missing bits. The identity of the circular face in the middle puzzles researchers. (God? Santa Claus?) It could be the head of Medusa, the Gorgon monster, after it was slain by Perseus—are those snakes peeking through its hair and beard? And yet, the Gorgon was traditionally depicted as female. Perhaps instead it’s Neptune, the god of the sea—appropriate for this aquatic site.

The next exhibits examine everyday Roman life—living, dying, and worshipping here in Aquae Sulis. You’ll see vases, coins, and a stone head of a big-haired woman with her trendy first-century ’fro. The Beau Street Hoard—more than 17,500 Roman coins dating from 32 BC to AD 274 that were found near the baths—emphasizes just how well visited this area was.

Next up are a couple of rooms dedicated to Roman worship. You’ll see some of the small but extremely heavy stone altars that pilgrims hauled here as an offering to the goddess.

• Next walk through the ruins of the...

Temple Courtyard: Imagine being a Roman arriving here to worship at the temple, which would have stood at the far end of the room. You’d pause to sacrifice an animal atop the great altar (on the right); note the nicely carved statue of Hercules adorning the altar’s left corner. Then you’d continue on to the temple itself, where you’d come face to face with a gilded-bronze statue of the goddess Sulis Minerva (the surviving head is on display). The statue once wore a helmet (see the tiny holes for the rivets) and stood before a flaming cauldron. The goddess was a powerful multicultural hybrid of the Celtic goddess Sulis (who presided over the Aquae Sulis, or “waters of Sulis,” in prehistoric times) and Minerva (a Roman life-giving mother-goddess), with hints of the Greek warrior-goddess Athena. Downstairs, enjoy a close-up look at the spring overflow, part of the original drainage system built two millennia ago that still carries excess water to the River Avon.

• Now head down a hall (with more exhibits), until you emerge outside in the...

Great Bath: Take a slow lap (by foot) around the perimeter, imagining the frolicking Romans who once immersed themselves in this five-foot-deep pool. (These days, the water has turned greenish because of algae—don’t touch it.) Originally, this pool was housed in a spacious hall with a three-story-tall arched ceiling, and sunlight filtered in through vast windows.

Romans had bathhouses in all major cities and went to the baths almost daily. Besides being a way to keep clean, baths were also fitness clubs. This bath had the added feature of a natural thermal spring, which had sulfurous content that purportedly leeched out impurities, cured arthritis, and restored vigor. The role-playing actors lounging around are happy to talk (in Latin or English).

• Now explore more of the...

Bath Complex: The East Baths are a series of rooms showing how Romans typically bathed (with naked bodies artfully and modestly projected). The large open room as you enter served as a lap pool. You’d then enter the smaller rooms, going from cool to warm to hot—maybe getting a massage at the same time. The hot room (caldarium) was heated by the Romans’ famed hypocaust system: Stubby brick columns (which you can see) supported the floor, allowing the space in between to be filled with hot air to heat the room above.

Cross to the opposite side of the pool and enter the West Baths. On the right as you enter is the big round frigidarium, or “cold plunge” pool, sparkling with coins. On the left, follow the metal boardwalk through the “gym” to find the men’s-only sauna (laconicum), where you proved your manliness by enduring 140°F dry heat.

Back outside, as you turn left you’ll see a giant red-brick chunk of roof span, from when this was a cavernous, covered swimming hall. Continue along and step over a small canal, where hot water still trickles into the main pool. The water emerges from the spring at 115°F—about 10 degrees too hot for most people—but it quickly cools to a perfect hot-tub temperature. In modern times, Britons bathed in this swimming pool up until the 1970s, then opened the Thermae Spa a block away—fed by the same spring. Immediately after crossing the canal, look down to see a length of original lead pipe (remarkably well preserved since ancient times).

When you’re ready to leave, walk up the steps and take another look at the frigidarium, then turn around and walk up the ramp for one last close-up look at the source of this entire complex—the sacred spring.

• After returning your audioguide, pop over to the fountain for a free taste (if available) of the spa water, which purportedly has health benefits (see the minerals listed on the wall). Then pass the WC, head up the stairs, and exit through the gift shop.

The Pump Room, an elegant Georgian hall just above the Roman Baths, offers visitors their best chance to raise a pinky in Neoclassical grandeur. Above the clock, a statue of Beau Nash—who promoted Bath as an aristocratic playground in the 1700s—sniffles down at you. Come for tea or a light meal (see hours in listing on here), or to try a famous (but forgettable) “Bath bun.” The spa water is served by an appropriately attired waiter, who will tell you the water is pumped up from nearly 100 yards underground and marinated in 43 wonderful minerals. Or for the price of a coffee, drop in anytime space is available to enjoy live music (string trio or piano; times vary) and the atmosphere. Even if you don’t eat here, you’re welcome to enter the foyer for a view of the baths and dining room.

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The town of Bath wasn’t much in the Middle Ages, but an important church has stood on this spot since Anglo-Saxon times. King Edgar I was crowned here in 973, when the church was much bigger (before the bishop packed up and moved to Wells—only to return decades later). Dominating the town center, today’s abbey—the last great church built in medieval England—is 500 years old and a fine example of the Late Perpendicular Gothic style, with breezy fan vaulting and enough stained glass to earn it the nickname “Lantern of the West.”

Cost and Hours: £8, includes Discovery Museum in basement; Mon-Fri 10:00-17:30, Sat until 18:00, Sun 13:00-14:30; schedule of concerts, services, and evensong online, +44 1225 422 462, bathabbey.org.

Tours: Free guided tours covering the history of the abbey may run at :15 past each hour, depending on availability (ask when you buy your ticket). There’s also a £3.50 audioguide for your phone.

Evensong: Choral evensong generally takes place three times a week (Tue and Thu at 17:30 and Sun at 15:30, 45 minutes); spoken evening prayers on other days are also a beautiful 20 minutes of worship (17:30).

Tower Climb: You can reach the top of the tower only on a worthwhile 50-minute guided tour (212 steps; £16, Mon-Sat, no tours Sun, generally at the top of each hour, more often during busy times, online booking recommended—arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled time).

Visiting the Abbey: This impressive church encapsulates Bath’s long history in stone. It stands near the mineral springs where, even in pagan times, people came to worship. When Christianity arrived, a monastery was built here (8th century), then a larger church (11th century). The present church was begun in 1499.

No sooner was the church finished than it was stripped of its furnishings by King Henry VIII (1539), who dissolved the monastery and sold off its valuable lead roof and glass windows. (At the same time, the statue of Peter lost its head to mean-spirited iconoclasts; it was re-carved out of Peter’s once supersized beard.)

For the next phase of the abbey’s story, step inside and admire the nave. Queen Elizabeth I began repairing the abbey her father had plundered. In 1608, Bishop James Montague (see his large tomb on the left side of the nave) took over. One rainy day, he saw water dripping down inside the church and vowed to finish the ceiling. Thanks to Montague we have one of the abbey’s most splendid features—the fan vaulting. Symbols from Montague’s coat of arms, three diamonds and eagles, are found throughout the church. Next to the tomb, the stained-glass window depicts coats of arms of other donors who financed the church’s windows. On the wall beneath the window are several gravestones honoring Bath’s notable citizens. More than 600 memorials to the deceased are in the church.

Cross to the opposite side of the nave toward the right transept. Just before entering the transept, find a gravestone on the wall for “Ricardi Nash”—better known as Beau Nash, Bath’s 18th-century master of festivities. In the right transept is the 15-foot-tall stone Waller Memorial. It depicts the renowned English Civil War general Sir William Waller relaxing after liberating Bath from royalists. But the focus here is on his wife Jane, who died young. Now they gaze into each other’s eyes for all eternity.

At the far end of the church (above the altar), the large window shows 52 scenes from Christ’s life—good for weekly sermons for a year. The window to the left of the altar shows King Edgar being crowned. Edgar (in red) sits on a throne clutching the orb and scepter while the Archbishop of Canterbury (in purple) places the crown on his head. Edgar was one of the first monarchs of what we now call England. His coronation in AD 973 established the protocols used by all future English monarchs up to the present—and it all started here in Bath.

Before leaving the church, stand once again in the nave and appreciate the intricacy of the fan vaulting and brilliance of the windows. The glass, red-iron lamps and the heating grates on the floor are all remnants of the 19th century. (In a sustainable, 21st-century touch, the heat now comes from the baths’ hot runoff water.) Note that a WWII bomb blast destroyed the medieval glass; what you see today is from the 1950s.

Finally, head through the gift shop and downstairs, where the Discovery Museum celebrates the abbey’s history with interactive exhibits and a handful of ancient artifacts.

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Opposite the back side of the abbey, the Parade Gardens is a riverside park with manicured lawns, knockout flowerbeds, a café, and good views of the Pulteney Bridge and the abbey. In season there’s a small fee to enter the park, which was designed by prolific 18th-century architect John Wood the Elder (£2, daily 10:00-18:00, Oct-April free and open until 15:00 hours, the park hosts summer concerts some Sun at 14:00, entrance a block south of Pulteney Bridge).

The little old-school shopping mall just north of the Parade Gardens is a frumpy time warp in this affluent town. In the 12th century the king gave Bath the right to have a market, and that market moved here from the abbey in the 18th century. Stand under the central dome and feel the surviving character. Nearby, the historic negotiating table (or “nail”) dates from 1768.

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This small gallery, between the Guildhall Market and Pulteney Bridge, was opened in 1897 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Today it’s a delightful space with two parts: The ground floor houses temporary exhibits, while the upstairs is filled with paintings from the late 15th century to the present. There’s also a small collection of decorative arts, including 187 porcelain and pottery dog figures.

Cost and Hours: Free, Tue-Sun 10:30-17:00, closed Mon, +44 1225 477 233, victoriagal.org.uk.

Tours: The Bloomberg Connects app has additional information on each work in the collection.

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The shop-lined Pulteney Bridge was designed in 1770 by Scottish architect Robert Adam in the same Georgian, or “Palladian,” style that John Wood the Younger was applying to the row of townhouses known as Bath’s Royal Crescent.

The best view of the bridge is from its downstream side. The most Palladian feature is the center of the bridge, with the outline of a Greek temple seemingly stamped into the stone. The temple’s pediment is “broken”—that is, the triangle’s base is purposely left incomplete. The bridge has grid windows, a few round medallions, and a central window that’s bigger than the others, with an arched top. The view from the upstream side lets you see a few shops jutting out (cantilevered) from the bridge. On the Pulteney Estates side of the bridge, stairs lead down to a riverwalk and great photo ops.

Pulteney Estates, the section of Bath stretching from Pulteney Bridge across the river, was open farmland owned by the Earl of Bath until the 18th century. Frances Pulteney (cousin to the earl) inherited this land in 1762 and started a project to develop it as a grand neighborhood in 1788. But with the French Revolution in 1789, England fell into an economic recession and construction ground to a halt. All that was built was the Pulteney Bridge (a classy way to connect the old town with the new zone across the river) and Great Pulteney Street—intended to be the central axis of this new Georgian Bath.

Looking at Great Pulteney Street and the “Bath” map on here, you can imagine what was planned. Georgian England was all about appearances. The grand, uniform facade was key—everything behind that was higgledy-piggledy (a great metaphor for social life in the 18th century). If Great Pulteney Street looks like a film set to you, it did to the producers of the Bridgerton series on Netflix, too, who used it and other locations in Bath as Regency-era London.

This rectangular park surrounded by townhouses was Wood the Elder’s first great real estate development. He ringed the square with symmetrical facades in the classical style pioneered by the influential Italian architect Andrea Palladio. The north (uphill) side has a Greek-temple look to it, made of six columns topped with a triangular pediment. The windows are large, symmetrically placed, and topped with Palladian pediments and arches. The writer Jane Austen lived in the corner apartment to the right of the Francis Hotel (#13). Completing the square’s classical look is a 70-foot-tall obelisk in the middle, generously donated by Beau Nash.

True to its name, this is a circular housing complex. It was Wood the Elder’s next great expansion, consisting of 30 symmetrical townhouses arranged in a perfect circle. The best views are from the middle of the Circus among the grand plane trees, on the capped old well. Imagine the days before indoor plumbing, when servant girls gathered here to fetch water—this was gossip central. If you stand on the well, your clap echoes three times around the circle—try it.

The circle of houses is broken into three segments, so that anyone approaching from the street has a great view of the crescent-shaped facades. Each residence has five stories. You’d enter at street level into the workaday public rooms. The entrances were made large enough that aristocrats could be carried right through the door in their sedan chairs, and women could enter without disturbing their sky-high hairdos. The next floor up (with bigger windows) generally had ballrooms and dining rooms for hosting parties. The floor above that held bedrooms. The top floor (the tiny dormer windows in the roof) housed servant bedrooms, and the basement (below street level) held the kitchen and workrooms. Wood united it all with a symmetrical facade, but the arrangement of the actual rooms behind the facade was left to the owner’s discretion. If you circled around, you’d see that the backs are a jumble, infamous for their “hanging loos” (bathrooms added years later).

Note the frieze—a continuous band of sculpted reliefs—located just above the ground floor. There are 525 panels, each one unique, depicting everything from dogs to eagles to roses, scrolls, guitars, anchors, leaves, and roosters.

In its mid-1700s heyday, the Circus was home to Britain’s elite. Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder (who oversaw the American colonies’ French and Indian War) lived at #11. Baron Robert Clive (who brought India under British control) vacationed here at #14 (on the sunny side of the Circus). Thomas Gainsborough set up shop at #17 to paint portraits of fashionable lords and ladies to take home as souvenirs.

Created at the height of Wood’s creative powers, the Circus shows off the architect’s mature style. There’s Palladio’s Greco-Roman classicism—Doric columns on the ground floor, Ionic in the middle, and Corinthian on top—like Rome’s Colosseum. For more Georgian effects, Wood added a balustrade and ornamental acorns on the roofline. The circular shape was likely inspired by Stonehenge, representing Britain’s druid roots. And the symbolism in the frieze is distinctly Masonic. By combining the three styles—Roman, Celtic, and Masonic—Wood was creating his personal vision of Bath as the “new Rome.”

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This long, graceful arc of buildings evokes the wealth and gentility of Bath’s glory days. The Royal Crescent was the majestic showpiece of John Wood the Younger. He took the Georgian style his father had pioneered and supersized it. The Crescent is a semicircular row of 30 townhouses 500 feet long and 50 feet tall. It’s lined with 114 Ionic columns that span the middle two stories. A ground floor of large blocks and a balustrade across the roofline unites it all. In typical Georgian style, the only deviation from the symmetry is in the very center of the crescent, which has two pairs of columns and a taller arched window. The building’s warm golden color is typical of the city, made of limestone from the surrounding hills, which began forming hundreds of millions of years ago when Bath was covered by an ocean.

Completed in 1774, the Royal Crescent quickly became the trendiest address in Bath. It offered stunning views of a park—a novel idea that gave city dwellers a slice of the country (though now residents just see the trees, not the park). Like his father, Wood the Younger designed only the facade, allowing residents to build whatever home they wanted behind it.

As you cruise the Crescent, strut like an aristocrat. Now imagine you’re poor: Notice the “ha ha fence,” a drop-off in the front yard that acted as a barrier, invisible from the windows, for keeping out sheep and peasants. The refined and stylish Royal Crescent Hotel sits virtually unmarked in the center of the Crescent (delightfully understated, with just two potted shrubs marking the entrance). You’re welcome to (politely) drop in to explore its fine ground-floor public spaces and back garden, where a gracious and traditional tea is served (see here).

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This former residence at the east end of the Crescent is now a museum, taking visitors behind the classy Georgian facade for a glimpse into the everyday life of wealthy residents during the mid-1700s. At the time, Britain was on the leading edge of global exploration and scientific discovery, and the period artifacts show the wide-ranging interests of the educated rich. Docents may be on hand to share insights, like how high-class women shaved their eyebrows and pasted on carefully trimmed strips of mouse fur in their place.

Cost and Hours: £15, open Tue-Sun 10:00-17:30, closed Mon; last entry one hour before closing, +44 1225 428 126, no1royalcrescent.org.uk.

Visiting the Museum: Audiovisual elements bring life to the rooms, telling the story of a Georgian family and their servants. Be sure to linger in each room long enough for the audio to kick in, with delightful reenactments of Georgian-era conversations.

Start on the ground floor with the Dining Room, where refined 18th-century gentlemen ate with elegant dinnerware, drank, smoked, talked business, and relieved themselves behind the folding screen.

The Parlour was the main room of the house, used for breakfast in the mornings, business affairs in the afternoon, and various other everyday activities throughout the evening. The Chippendale bookcase, with its octagonal woodwork, is typical, as is the (modern-looking but Georgian-era) design of the carpet. The Gentleman’s Retreat—an educated fellow’s man-cave—has various proto-scientific objects, like a globe, telescope, and clock.

Head through the hallway, passing a sedan chair before heading upstairs, where you enter more intimate rooms. In the Lady’s Bedroom, you can picture her ladyship waking from her canopied bed, attended by her maid (who arrived through the hidden door), dressing at her table, and donning her big-hair wig. The Withdrawing Room (later called simply a “drawing” room) is where the ladies would withdraw from the rude company of men to play the harpsichord (badly) and enjoy other “gentler” pursuits. Note the fake door, to maintain the Georgian symmetry of the room. Up another flight is the Gentleman’s Bedroom, with his wig, engravings of old cityscapes, and a great view out the window of the Royal Crescent.

The visit ends (down the servants’ back stairs) in the basement with the Servants’ Hall and Kitchen. The wooden rack hanging from the ceiling kept the bread, herbs, and ham away from the mice. Notice also the “coal chute” adjacent to the kitchen. Remember, the servants lived way up in the attic, worked in the basement, and served the family on the middle floors—lots of upstairs and downstairs. The kind of English class system seen at the Royal Crescent reached its peak in the 1700s. But by the next century, a middle class was on the rise, and the era of harpsichords and linen doilies would soon be consigned to museums.

Back when Bath was the liveliest city in Britain, festive partygoers would “assemble” here almost nightly to dance, drink, gamble, and mingle. The building was designed by John Wood the Younger as part of his real estate development. For some 200 years, these lavish rooms have been used as a fashionable venue for parties, wedding receptions, and as the setting for lavish balls on the TV show Bridgerton. The National Trust recently assumed management of the property, and it will remain closed until possibly sometime in 2027 while restoration projects are underway, including to some upper rooms damaged in World War II. A reimagining of the experience is taking place, with the aim to transport visitors back to the social scene of late 18th-century Georgian Bath (nationaltrust.org.uk).

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This modest but informative museum northeast of the Royal Crescent explains the industrial history of Bath. If you want to learn about the unglamorous workaday side of the spa town, this is the place. The museum is dedicated to the well-preserved, circa-1900 fizzy-drink business of one Mr. Bowler. It includes a Dickensian office, engineer’s shop, brass foundry, essence room lined with bottled flavorings (see photo), and factory floor. Upstairs are display cases featuring other Bath creations through the years, including a 1914 Horstmann car, wheeled sedan chairs (this is Bath, after all), and versatile plasticine (colorful proto-Play-Doh). On your way out, don’t miss the intriguing exhibits on the ground floor, featuring cabinetmaking, the traditional methods for cutting the local “Bath stone,” a locally produced six-stroke engine, and more.

Cost and Hours: £10; daily 10:30-17:00, Nov and Jan-March weekends only, closed Dec, last entry one hour before closing; free audioguide for your phone; Julian Road, 2 steep blocks up Russell Street from Assembly Rooms, +44 1225 318 348, museumofbath.org.

Two blocks south of the Circus, this exhibition does a decent job of illuminating the world of Bath’s most famous writer. Jane Austen spent five tumultuous, sometimes troubled years in Bath (c. 1800, during which time her father died), where she bristled at the vapid social scene. You’ll learn about Austen’s life and family history through a short film and docent talk, then head downstairs, where you’re free to try on Regency-era costumes and sniff era-appropriate scents, play parlor games such as spillikins, and pen a note with a quill.

Cost and Hours: £17, family tickets available; best to book a timed-entry online though walk-up tickets are sometimes available; daily 9:45-17:30, July-Aug until 18:00; shorter hours Nov-March, last entry one hour before closing; just northeast of Queen’s Square at 40 Gay Street, +44 1225 443 000, janeausten.co.uk.

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The UK’s sole museum dedicated to American history has thoughtful exhibits on the history of Native Americans and the Civil War, but the museum’s heart is with the decorative arts and cultural artifacts that reveal how Americans lived from colonial times to the mid-19th century. The 18 completely furnished rooms (from a bare-bones 1600s Massachusetts dining/living room to a Rococo Revival explosion in a New Orleans bedroom) are hosted by eager guides waiting to fill you in on the everyday items that make domestic Yankee history surprisingly interesting. It’s fun to see your own country through British eyes—but on a nice day, the surrounding gardens (including a replica of George Washington’s garden at Mount Vernon) and view of the hills might be the best reasons to visit.

Cost and Hours: Museum and gardens-£16.50, cheaper online; grounds open Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, museum 10:00-16:00—last entry 15:00; closed Mon and Jan-mid-Feb; download the Bloomberg Connects app for audioguide; at Claverton Manor, café, +44 1225 460 503, americanmuseum.org.

Getting There: The museum is just east of town. From the city center take the #U1 or #U2 bus to The Avenue stop (£3, 15-minute ride, 4/hour, stop is just before Bath University) and follow the tree-lined path (left of stone wall) 10-15 minutes. You could also hop a taxi for about £18. By car, it’s well signed from the A-36 and the city center.