How To Reach Bath

One of the largest cities in Somerset County, England, Bath is known for its Roman Baths. Located in the valley of Riven Avon, this city is a world heritage site since 1987 and its cultural diversity, sporting venues, theatres, museums have supported Bath in becoming a significant tourist hub with over a million visitors staying each year! The beautiful city of Bath is quite a crowd puller for its waters, both at the ancient Roman Baths as well as the modern Thermal Bath Spa with the only exclusive natural thermal hot spring in Britain that one can bathe in.

With an abundance of places to wine and dine, with an additional array of some of the finest stand-alone stores in Britain, Bath calls for a perfect break with an assortment of art galleries, musicals, year-round festivals and more! The gorgeous honey-colored Gregorian architecture seems straight out of a Jane Austen novel, in addition to its stunning countryside and popular tourist attractions like the Longleat Safari, Avebury or Stonehenge. One of the cheapest and fastest ways of reaching Bath from New Delhi is to fly and then make the onward journey on the train.

Flying to Bath from New Delhi costs approx. INR 22,000-72,000 and takes roughly 14 hours. There are no direct flights to Bath. Flights operating on New Delhi-Bristol route include Air India, Alitalia, Brussels Airlines, and few others. The best way to travel to Bath entails taking a 12 hour, 55-minute flight to Bristol International Airport. On arrival at Bristol International, there’s a bus every 15 minutes for Bristol - Temple Meads Station, from where you can then board a train to Bath Spa. Other flight options include flying to London Heathrow/Cardiff/Birmingham/London City/Southampton or London Gatwick.

Bath is supported by the Bath Spa Train Station with access to London Paddington, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff Central, and more, with services offered by the Great Western Railway. The train journey from Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa Station takes approx. 10 mins. Operated by the Great Western Railway, there’s a train every 20 minutes at an estimated fare of INR 450-850, while other trains operated by South Western Railway and Cross Country have many trains every day at an estimated fare of INR 500-2,900 on the route.

Situated approx. 18 km from the city of Bristol, Bath is linked to the port city by the A4 road and has a network of buses to surrounding cities and towns. The bus journey from Bristol Temple Meads Stn to Bath City Centre, Bus Station is all of 43 minutes. Operated by First in Bristol Bath & the West, there’s a bus every half hour on the route with the first bus leaving at 7.14am and last bus out at 6.13pm.

The road distance between Bristol and Bath Spa Station is 20.7 km. If you’d like you can travel to Bath Spa from Bristol by road by hailing a cab, with a travel duration of 32 minutes at an estimated fare of INR 3,900-4,700. The recommended cab operators include:

• Yellow Cabs: https://yellowcabsbristol.co.uk
• Gloucester Road Taxis: https://gloucesterroadtaxis.co.uk
• City for Taxis: https://cityfoxtaxi.com
• Bristol City Taxis: https://bctaxis.co.uk.

The ancient city of Bath is quite compact and hence best explored on foot, with innumerable pedestrian areas along the shopping routes, making it easy for visitors. In addition, the city has a reliable bus service that covers both the city centre as well as stretches out to the countryside with city/inter-urban and rural bus services. Driving is best avoided as the city’s streets are quite narrow and jam-packed usually, with most of them being one-way, which can be quite unnerving for visitors. For a full-day excursion, it is best to use the city’s four park and ride facilities. Like most other English cities, Bath too has bike hire facilities with bicycles on hire for full/half day.