Bath and North East Somerset: Art, Bathing History and Walking Routes

Bath and North East Somerset brings together a variety of cultural highlights: Bath is known for its art collections, Georgian architecture and bathing history; other attractions range from industrial history to gardens and walking routes. If you are looking for a hotel, you can plan your stay around the activities that interest you most. The examples below differ in theme and in their time or distance format—from exhibitions and a one-hour tour to longer routes.

Art collections and historic rooms

The Victoria Art Gallery is Bath’s public art museum. Its collection includes paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. The gallery on the first floor is devoted to 500 years of European art and European artists. Items on display include Georgian drinking glasses, British porcelain, Bohemian glass and a curious collection of ceramic dogs. This brings together a broad overview of art and specific groups of decorative objects.

The Holburne Museum has a different focus, with a collection of more than 10,000 objects. These include portrait miniatures, porcelain, embroidery and portraits. The collection therefore ranges from small-format portraits to textile works and ceramics.

No. 1 Royal Crescent presents historic rooms furnished and equipped as they might have been between 1776 and 1796. The furnishings include historic furniture, pictures and objects from the museum’s collection. No. 1 Royal Crescent offers a family trail for children. Visitors who cannot access the Tower can use an accessible digital telescope tour in the step-free Tower Vault.

Bath: architecture and bathing history

In Bath, Georgian public buildings and monumental ensembles combine neoclassical architecture with the city’s development as a spa town. The one-hour tours of the Roman Baths take you through the Great Bath, the rooms of the East Baths and to the Sacred Spring. Naturally hot water has been rising from underground there for thousands of years. The tour’s duration and the named areas give you a practical guide for planning your visit.

Other cultural attractions and their special features

In 2026, Saltford Brass Mill is open to visitors from May to October on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, as well as on additional days in connection with local and national events. Check the specific dates before you travel.

Radstock Museum conveys the difficult conditions in Somerset’s thin coal seams. An authentic reconstruction of a miner’s cottage, a village shop, a village school and a blacksmith’s forge, along with the experience of walking through a coal seam, brings the subject to life through specific places and impressions.

The American Museum & Gardens presents American stories, heritage, art and design in historic period rooms as well as in special exhibitions. The grounds include wildlife-friendly gardens, parkland and woodland with impressive views across the Cotswold valleys. Seasonal family trails run both indoors and outdoors. You can reach the museum by car, coach, train, taxi, bicycle or on foot. Free use of the car park is reserved for visitors and members during their visit.

Canal paths and circular routes

The audio trail along the Kennet & Avon Canal runs for one mile between Darlington Wharf, east of Bath, and the River Avon’s confluence with the canal to the west. You can reach it from Bath’s bus and railway stations, or start there. The Bath Two Tunnels Circuit offers a different kind of route: the 13-mile circular route is designed for walking and cycling. One of its tunnels is 1,672 metres long and is considered the longest cycling and walking tunnel in the United Kingdom.

Discover more destinations: Timsbury, Radstock, Midsomer Norton, Keynsham, Bath, Temple Cloud, Farrington Gurney, Pensford, Saltford, Bathampton, Bishop Sutton, Wellow, Chew Magna, Batheaston, Kelston, Farmborough, Ubley.

For the regional travel overview: South West England.