It is time for another breakdown of one of our city breaks, this time it was to the historic city of Bath! It is a stunning southern English city, simply oozing with history and beautiful buildings all around, plus some great shopping and, as our visit was in December, the incredible Christmas Markets. We've been lucky enough to check out some of the greatest cities around the United Kingdom, but our tour is hardly exhaustive, so we continue our adventures to see all these grand isles have to offer - that said, Bath's beauty and wonder were no surprise, it had been high on my list for quite some time, only hampered in previous years by the extortionate cost of travel and hotels. But the stars seemed to align this year, with a great pub offering a perfectly reasonable price for a room granting us a chance to finally check out Bath, we've done it, and now you should too!
Our journey into Bath to begin our weekend city break was a smooth one, a surprisingly smooth one. The motorways moved well and as we dodged around Bristol, trundled across the countryside and arrived at Bath proper I was expecting the normal A-roads to give way to narrow, winding and confusing streets, but to its credit Bath is well laid out and handles its historic city really well. I diverted south, hopeful to get a space in the conveniently located Southgate Car Park - the digital signs not filling me with hope, as they listed the car park as entirely full. Figuring people would come and go from the car park, I decided to give it a shot anyway and I'm glad I did, we drove straight in and naturally, I expected to drive all the way to the roof of this multi-storey car park, instead I found myself delving all the way to the basement to snap up one of the few available spaces dotted around the depths. If you're considering Bath in the summer or around Christmas, know that parking is likely to be a real challenge, we got by only because it was early December and our "weekend" break ran Monday - Wednesday, specifically to avoid the nightmares of a major Christmas Market on a weekend.
Far too early to check in but wanting to make the most of our day, we headed straight into Bath to get our bearings. It was a cold and clear day, the sun shining in December is usually a bad sign as it really allows the temperature to drop, but we were happy to avoid the rain as we zig-zagged through the streets, checking out the entrance to the Baths as well as the Abbey, before dropping into Mrs Potts Chocolate House to grab a couple of hot chocolates and warm the cockles of our heart, as well as our chilly hands. We ended up quickly checking off some of the must-sees on the first day, walking up to Bath City Parade Gardens, getting great views of the weir and Pulteney Bridge, then crossing over the bridge and dropping below for some photos as well as walking the Beazer Garden Maze. A quick refuel with a great sandwich from La Baguette made for a great pick-me-up as we slowly began to run out of steam. Back up the town and check out some of the shops, time was advancing nicely so we could finally go check in.
Now I'm no hotel snob, I'm more than happy with a clean room and simple bed to act as a base of operation while we explore - although, the one non-negotiable for Rox is a private bathroom, something I completely understand. I'm usually trying to strike a balance between price and reviews, and most years I've ended up doing well by finding somewhere that doesn't break the bank and always over-delivers. We headed out of the city just a little ways, Rox completely in the blind about where we would be stopping but with the illuminated Travelodge sign ahead, a perfectly cromulent hotel chain. "We're here" I announce, on the corner of St. Jame's Parade and beneath the sign for The Black Fox pub. We checked in, and ventured just around the corner to the rooms, situated in a twisty and charming building with uneven floors but clean and well-appointed rooms perfect for our needs - a slam dunk for the price! We dropped off our bags, got changed and headed straight downstairs to test the beers on tap.
A nice pint in the warmth of The Black Fox later, we decided to have a wander up the town. Our meal wasn't for a little while but was roughly on the same side of town, so rather than heading off too far, we dropped into the nearby Brewdog for a quick one just to fill the gap, with their typical great range of beers to pick from we both found something we loved. The drinks were going down a little too well, we were still early, so we headed to our evening plans first: Boom Battle Bar. We had planned for an evening of games, but for now, we grabbed a couple of drinks, me enjoying their great range of cocktails and Rox sampling a beer, and finally, we were ready to head for food.
As I had arranged the holiday, Rox picked the food, and she went for the neighbouring Bar + Block Steakhouse, a great restaurant linked to the Premier Inn, we accidentally took advantage of their 2-for-1 cocktails a little too well, ordering one each and getting 4 delivered, so it was certainly going to be a merry one, but the drinks were great and the food was even better, service was slick and the Christmas themed meals we got were simply brilliant. The only detractor was an unruly screaming child, or perhaps more accurately a complacent parent practically ignoring them, but a friendly manager and a quick move later put us far enough away to be able to drown out the little nightmare without it spoiling the meal! A delicious dessert later, we circled back to Boom Battle Bar for a few games but ended up almost completely hooked on playing shuffleboard all evening while enjoying our drinks. Although we would have tried Axe Throwing, but the staff informed us that we must be sober to do that - a completely understandable rule. Full of food and merriment, we returned to our warm room to get a good night's sleep ready for a full day of exploring Bath.
I arose surprisingly alive considering how many delicious cocktails I had partaken in the previous night, nearly ready to face the day - first, breakfast. The Black Fox had an included breakfast that was simply fantastic, the bread on which my bacon sandwich was served was simply divine and really started the day off well. As we headed out into the city I had one goal and one goal alone today: to see Bath's baths! I won't retread our experience of the Roman Baths here, you can read all about it here, but I think naturally they are an essential part of any visit to Bath and we really enjoyed our morning exploring.
Once we had our fill of the waters of Bath, metaphorically and physically (the warm water at the end of the tour was unquestionably disgusting), we started by grabbing a phenomenal bagel from The Whole Bagel, just what we needed before we took off across the town, making a few stops along the way, such as to see a small remaining section of Bath's city walls. Our next stop was perhaps another essential visit, it is at least something a lot of people picture when they think of Bath, after the baths at least - we went through the Royal Victoria Park so we could check out the Royal Crescent, the beautiful big curve of huge terrace buildings. It was a beautiful sight, and the brief exploration of the natural beauty of the park was a nice break from the city - from here we cut across, exploring more beautiful streets, cutting via The Circus and passing the Assembly Rooms in order to check out the Gargoyle Wall before finally heading back down into the town to check out some shops and take a little walk around the Christmas Markets.
By this point we were seriously starting to burn out, hungry and tired, we were struggling to find something that really tickled our fancy. After having jumped from one great-looking place to another, but either they didn't tickle Rox's fancy or were simply overflowing with people, we were running out of options as we got closer to the Hotel but we stopped at Heavenly Desserts because the menu honestly sounded great - the staff were lovely and friendly and the food (and, of course, the desserts) were simply incredible. We went from frustrated and frazzled, unable to find somewhere to eat, to perfectly satiated and over the moon with where we ended up eating. All it was time for now was to head back to the room, let our feet recover for a bit and let night fall - it was time to see the Bath Christmas Markets in the dark.
Darkness fell but Bath remained illuminated, the city is beautiful by night during the Christmas period with lights just about everywhere - the Christmas markets are lively and a great bit of fun to explore, we took in each of the stalls and hunted for some souvenirs, with my favourite being my selection of beers and a new beer courtesy of Electric Bear, a great local brewery. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and because I knew we would be heading home the following day I knew tonight would not be a late one - we dropped into The Alchemist for a quick drink, then decided to head over to our final meal of choice of the holiday: The Black Fox! Yes, we really enjoyed our breakfast and decided a few more beers and checking out their main menu offerings were the perfect way to round out our holiday, and of course, they delivered a fantastic meal, so we went to bed happy and very full!
The following morning we, yet again, enjoyed a perfect breakfast courtesy of The Black Fox before checking out, moving our luggage to the safety of the car and doing one last lap of Bath before departing to get back to the comforts of home. Bath was a wonderful break, a perfect mix of a historic and charming city combined with a lively city with plenty of things to do on an evening. We've had all different types of city breaks, all of them have been wonderful and Bath joins them comfortably as a great city worthy of anyones time.
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