Steves - Rick Steves Snapshot Bath, Stonehenge & Nearby

Rick Steves'

SNAPSHOT

Rick Steves

This Snapshot guide, excerpted from my guidebook Rick Steves England, introduces you to the elegant city of Bath, thought-provoking Stonehenge, and a delightful variety of other towns, cities, prehistoric sites, and rural charms of southwest England. Bathbuilt around the ruins of a Roman spa, and later one of Englands most genteel Georgian citiesis an idyllic spot for relaxing, strolling, and sightseeing. The surrounding countryside contains many of Englands most goose-pimple-inducing prehistoric sites, from the famous Stonehenge to the mysterious Glastonbury Tor to the evocative stone circle at Avebury. Tour the top-notch cathedrals in Wells and Salisburyeach of which is also a fun town to exploreand joyride through the pastoral countryside to a smattering of other uniquely English attractions.

To help you have the best trip possible, Ive included the following topics in this book:

Planning Your Time, with advice on how to make the most of your limited time

Orientation, including tourist information (abbreviated as TI), tips on public transportation, local tour options, and helpful hints

Sights with ratings:

Dont miss

Try hard to see

Worthwhile if you can make it

No ratingWorth knowing about

Sleeping and Eating, with good-value recommendations in every price range

Connections, with tips on trains, buses, and driving

Practicalities, near the end of this book, has information on money, phoning, hotel reservations, transportation, and more.

To travel smartly, read this little book in its entirety before you go. Its my hope that this guide will make your trip more meaningful and rewarding. Traveling like a temporary local, youll get the absolute most out of every mile, minute, and dollar.

Happy travels!

The best city to visit within easy striking distance of London is Bathjust a 1.5-hour train ride away. Two hundred years ago, this city of 85,000 was the trendsetting Hollywood of Britain. If ever a city enjoyed looking in the mirror, Baths the one. It has more government-listed or protected historic buildings per capita than any other town in England. The entire city, built of the creamy warm-tone limestone called Bath stone, beams in its cover-girl complexion. An architectural chorus line, its a triumph of the Neoclassical style of the Georgian eranamed for the four Georges who sat as Englands kings from 1714 to 1830. Proud locals remind visitors that the town is routinely banned from the Britain in Bloom contest to give other towns a chance to win. Baths narcissism is justified. Even with its mobs of tourists (2 million per year) and greedy prices, Bath is a joy to visit.

Baths fame began with the allure of its (supposedly) healing hot springs. Long before the Romans arrived in the first century, Bath was known for its warm waters. Romans named the popular spa town Aquae Sulis, after a local Celtic goddess. The towns importance carried through Saxon times, when it had a huge church on the site of the present-day abbey and was considered the religious capital of Britain. Its influence peaked in 973 with King Edgars sumptuous coronation in the abbey. Later, Bath prospered as a wool town.

Bath then declined until the mid-1600s, wasting away to just a huddle of huts around the abbey, with hot, smelly mud and 3,000 residents, oblivious to the Roman ruins 18 feet below their dirt floors. In fact, with its own walls built upon ancient ones, Bath was no bigger than that Roman town. Then, in 1687, Queen Mary, fighting infertility, bathed here. Within 10 months she gave birth to a son...and a new age of popularity for Bath.

The revitalized town boomed as a spa resort. Ninety percent of the buildings youll see today are from the 18th century. The classical revivalism of Italian architect Andrea Palladio inspired a local father-and-son teamboth named John Wood (the Elder and the Younger)to build a new Rome. The town bloomed in the Neoclassical style, and streets were lined not with scrawny sidewalks but with wide parades, upon which women in their stylishly wide dresses could spread their fashionable tails.

Beau Nash (1673-1762) was Baths master of ceremonies. He organized the daily social regimen of aristocratic visitors, and he made the city more appealing by lighting the streets, improving security, banning swords, and opening the Pump Room. Under his fashionable baton, Bath became a city of balls, gaming, and concertsthe place to see and be seen in England. This most civilized place became even more so with the great Neoclassical building spree that followed.

These days, modern tourism has stoked the local economy, as has the fast morning train to London. (A growing number of Bath-based professionals catch the 7:13 train to Paddington Station every morning.) With renewed access to Baths soothing hot springs at the Thermae Bath Spa, the venerable waters are in the spotlight again, attracting a new generation of visitors in need of a cure or a soak.

Bath deserves two nights even on a quick trip. On a three-week England getaway, spend three nights in Bath, with one day for the city and one day for side-trips (see next chapter). Ideally, use Bath as your jet-lag recovery pillow, and do London at the end of your trip.

Consider starting your English vacation this way:

Day 1: Land at Heathrow. Connect to Bath by National Express busthe better optionor the less convenient bus/train combination. While you dont need or want a car in Bath, and some rental companies have an office there, those who land early and pick up their cars at the airport can visit Windsor Castle (near Heathrow) and/or Stonehenge on their way to Bath. (You can also consider flying into Bristol.) If you have the evening free in Bath, take a walking tour.

Day 2: 9:00Tour the Roman Baths; 10:30Catch the free city walking tour; 12:30Picnic on the open deck of a tour bus; 14:00Free time in the shopping center of old Bath; 15:30Tour the Fashion Museum or Museum of Bath at Work. Take the evening walking tour (unless you did last night), enjoy the Bizarre Bath comedy walk, consider seeing a play, or go for a nighttime soak in the Thermae Bath Spa.

Day 3 (and possibly 4): By car, explore nearby sights. Without a car, consider a one-day Avebury/Stonehenge/cute towns minibus tour from Bath (Mad Max tours are best; see Tours in Bath, later).

Baths town square, three blocks in front of the bus and train station, is a cluster of tourist landmarks, including the abbey, Roman and Medieval Baths, and the Pump Room. Bath is hilly. In general, youll gain elevation as you head north from the town center.

The TI is in the abbey churchyard (Mon-Sat 9:30-17:30, Sun 10:00-16:00, pricey toll tel. 0906-711-200050p/minute, www.visitbath.co.uk). The TI sells various visitor guides and mapssurvey your options before buying one (1-1.50), and can book rooms with no extra fee (booking tel. 0844-847-5256). If youre a Jane Austen fan, ask about the walking tours that leave from the abbey square on weekends. Entertainment listings from the local paper are posted on the bulletin board.