Bath

Bath wears its colourful history on its sleeve, so prepare to be dazzled.

You’ll feel you could be in a horse-drawn carriage trotting past curves of honey-coloured townhouses like Georgian gentry or reclining with lazy Romans in a colonnaded public bath. Plenty is bubbling below this elegant Somerset city’s surface, not just the ancient thermal springs. There are Victorian parks to roam, medieval abbeys to scale, and dreamy punts along the River Avon. You’ll feel like a fully-fledged ‘Bathonian’ once you have raided Upper Town’s boutiques or cheered on the local rugby team.