Bath — Romans, Regency & Roman Baths

Bath is one of the most elegant cities in Europe — a UNESCO World Heritage site made of honey-colored limestone, where the Romans bathed 2,000 years ago, the Georgians created England's finest architecture, and Jane Austen set her novels of high society.

The absolute highlight: the Roman Baths. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Romans discovered the hot springs (46 °C, over 1 million liters per day) and built a monumental bathing complex — temple, baths, and social meeting point. The excavation is spectacularly preserved: you walk on Roman paving, see the lead pipes of the water supply, and the steaming, greenish shimmering Great Bath. The museum next door displays Roman everyday objects, curse tablets (curses the Romans threw into the spring water), and a gilded bronze bust of the goddess Minerva.

The Georgian architecture of Bath is unique: The Royal Crescent — a majestically curved crescent of 30 terraced houses, built in 1774 — is the finest example of Georgian architecture in all of England. No. 1 Royal Crescent is set up as a museum. Next to it, the Circus (circular row of houses) and the Pulteney Bridge — one of only three inhabited bridges in the world (like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence).

For those who want to get into the warm water themselves: The Thermae Bath Spa (£40, 2h) offers a modern thermal bath with a rooftop pool, from which you can look over the skyline of Bath — natural hot thermal water, fed by the same spring the Romans used.