Exploring Bath In Just One Day

It’s that time of the year, when I’m dreaming of vacations far, far away from my island paradise home. One of my favourite travel memories, was the time I fondly call Loud In Bath. It was a mini getaway to Bath, while I was on vacation in England.

You should know that Bath is small and affordable enough to explore in just one day. And because I had the best tour guide in my friend Lucy, we were able to hit all the high points, which included coffee and a great lunch. And make it back to Bristol with time to spare to get some shopping done at IKEA. All this, in just one day…good times I tell you.

We had an early start with a plan to grab breakfast in Bath. The great thing about being in Bristol and heading to Bath, is the short commute to get there.

Exploring Bath

First up on our plan was a trip to the Roman Baths…cuz hello! We are in Bath afterall! When we got there the line…or queue was already long with groups of students crowding around waiting to get in. Now as much as I would have loved to get a good look inside…that line was insane.

While it does not sound as good to say that I walked past the Roman Baths, that’s what I did. When I visit again, and I will! it’s number one on my list. I didn’t want to waste the little time we had, waiting in line. So new plan, let’s just explore and stop for coffee.

Bath turned out to be a beautiful and quirky, quaint little city. Walking, exploring and turning down random corners and hidden little side streets, the Roman influence is apparent but there is an obvious old world culture that is wholly British. It was very easy to feel like you were in another time in history.

We visited the Jane Austen Center and I was surprised with how small it turned out to be. Still, it was a most interesting experience, since Mr. Darcy greeted us at the door. In fact, it was at this point we were more than ready for coffee, and it was Mr. Darcy who recommended the coffee shop we had breakfast at.

On to Colonna And Smalls for some coffee and a break from all that walking.

I was so happy we waited to have coffee! It turned out that Colonna and Smalls is home to one of the UK’s top baristas. This was information one of the patrons happily shared with us, while we sipped on some great coffee. You see in our exploring we tried a couple coffee shops but when the person behind the counter opens with, ‘we serve americano”, you need to keep it moving. Good job with the recommendation Mr. Darcy!

Caffeinated and content, we pressed on for more exploring. We passed the Royal Crescent and the Circus. We walked along the River Avon, which afforded us some really nice views of the city.

We had a fahncy-ish lunch at Cote: Coq au vin and a dark chocolate pot of creme fraiche.

And then unto a stroll in the park, to walk off that dessert. We spotted mama swan as well.

Exploring Bath, made me feel like I walked into a Jane Austen novel, with a Mr. Darcy thrown in for extra measure! Have you even visited Bath? Or wanted to visit? Please share your thoughts below.