England · Self-guided walk
Bath in one walk 8 sights, 45 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Bath Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.2 km loop, about 45 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.2 km, a loop
- Time
- about 45 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- The Roman Baths
- Steps
- on Union Passage
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Bath walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Bath, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. The Roman Baths
the start
The whole of it sits under the courtyard, so you cross the top of the thing before you are let in. Take the stairs down, and then keep taking them. Depth is my favourite direction and there is more of it here than anywhere else on the walk.
Next: Saint John the Evangelist RC, 360 m, about 5 min, along Duke Street.
2. Saint John the Evangelist RC
about 5 minutes of walking from the start
Its steeple goes up further than anything else around here, and it does that from the bottom of the slope rather than the top. Use it. From the river end of the walk it tells you exactly where you are, which is the most useful thing any building has ever done for me.
Next: Pulteney Bridge, 450 m, about 7 min, along Duke Street, Pulteney Bridge.
3. Pulteney Bridge
about 12 minutes of walking from the start
Do not judge this one from on top of it. Go round to the terrace on the far side and look back, where the whole thing sits above a stepped half-moon weir. Then go and walk it, and be told nothing at all.
Next: Bath Abbey, 240 m, about 4 min, along Pulteney Bridge.
4. Bath Abbey
about 16 minutes of walking from the start
Two ladders run up the outside of the west face with figures climbing them, and not all of them are going up. Come at it from the square, not the churchyard side, so you meet the ladders first. Then go in and put your head back. The ceiling in there is what I put on this city's icon.
Next: The Pump Room, 60 m, about 1 min, along Abbey Churchyard.
5. The Pump Room
about 17 minutes of walking from the start
A grand room that is still in daily use as a room, which is rarer than it sounds. Look to the far end for the tall case clock and the musicians' gallery above it, and at lunchtime somebody is usually playing under there. Then look down. You are standing on the lid of something.
Next: The Assembly Rooms, 670 m, about 10 min, along Union Passage, Union Street, Burton Street, Milsom Street, Bartlett Street, Saville Row.
Lunch break
Landrace Bakery, 61 Walcot Street, about 140 m off the route, open Mon–Fri 08:30–15:30, Sat 09:00–15:00, Sun 09:00–13:00.
Walcot Street, a five minute walk off the main drag, in the part of town that was always the artisan end. More on what to eat in Bath.
6. The Assembly Rooms
about 27 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:30–18:00
Go up to it, because it sits at the top of the climb and every smart address in the upper town was aimed at its door. From outside it is a plain box. A plain box with something hidden in it is exactly my sort of problem.
Next: Queen Square, 400 m, about 6 min, along Bennett Street, The Circus, Gay Street.
7. Queen Square
about 33 minutes of walking from the start
Stand on the grass in the middle with your back to the traffic. One whole side of this place is dressed up as a single palace, and it is really a terrace of separate houses with one face pulled over all of them. A very Bath thing to do.
Next: Bath Farmers Market, 400 m, about 6 min.
8. Bath Farmers Market
about 39 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Sat 09:00–13:30, Mon–Fri, Sun closed
The far western end of the walk, over the water and off the ring, so plan it in or you will not get there. Come on a Saturday morning. On any other day the hall is still magnificent and completely inedible.
Back to the start: The Roman Baths, 570 m, about 9 min, along James Street West, Hetling Court, Bath Street.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Bath.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 110 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Bath Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.