indy_dad

Sorry, I lied. There are additional offerings on all days but Saturday.

From: http://www.bathguides.org.uk/when-where.html

When

Sunday to Friday - 10.30am and 2pm

Saturday - 10.30am only

Additionally May to September: Tuesdays and Fridays 7pm

All walks take approximately two hours.

Outside the Pump rooms in the Bath Abbey Churchyard

monicapileggi

Thanks for the reply! I will be in London towards the end of October with friends prior to a cruise. I hired a company to take 14 of us from our hotel for the day to Stonehenge and Bath. This was their suggested itinerary - would appreciate your comments on it:

<i>- Depart hotel (Bloomsbury area) at 7.30am to arrive at Stonehenge for opening at 9.30am. Spend 45 minutes to an hour at Stonehenge and arrive Bath.
- Leave Stonehenge 10.30
- Arrive Bath at 11.30
- Depart Bath at 15.15 (= 3 hours 45 mins in Bath or we could shorten this a little a make a stop in the village of Avebury, which I would recommend if you like photography!
- Arrive Lacock 15.45
- Depart Lacock 16.30
- Arrive back to London hotel 18.30</i>

How much time is needed to tour the Roman Baths? Just want to figure out how much we can see (plus a quick lunch in a pub or sandwich shop) during the 3 hour, 45 minute visit.

Thanks!

Monica

indy_dad

The Roman Bath Museum is 1 - 2.5 hours depending on how much you want to listen/read on your way through. We were more towards the 2 hr mark. It can be crowded and have a wait to get in -- perhaps you can look into the group option.

You could have lunch/tea in the Pump Room as well (though that looked crowded as well -- reservations?).

Just to be clear, this is a paid museum and is different from the free walk mentioned earlier.

I liked Avebury but I wouldn't short change Bath for it. We took a very full day for Bath and another 1/2 day for Stonehenge/Avebury. I'd skip it this time.

janisj

<B>monicapileggi:</B> That tour is giving VERY short shrift to Bath -- even w/o a side trip to Avebury.

Is there some reason you are leaving Bath so early? You get back to London at 6:30 PM --which is very early for an all day guided tour of Bath/Stoneheng/Lacock.

3 hr 15 mins in Bath will only give you time for the Roman Baths and a bit of lunch. and cutting that shorter would mean grabbing a takeaway and eating on the coach.

You are spending at least 5.5 hours on the coach for only 5.5 hours' on the ground'. That is a poor ratio to say the least and not well planned IMO . I wouldn't do this (or spend the £££) w/o a minimum of 5 hours in Bath, 6 would be better.

You could still visit Avebury since the stones can be accessed at any time. The museum will close - but the stones won't.

If the early return is because you are planning something in London that evening . . . That isn't guaranteed since a traffic jam on the M4 blows your schedule out of the water.

monicapileggi

Thanks for the comments. We only have this one day to visit Stonehenge and Bath. My original intent was to visit Stonehenge. When I did some reading/research, I decided to add Bath to the day.

We do have plans in London in the evening, but I will check with company to see about adding an extra hour to Bath, although that may cost more, as it would go over the hours set for the tour that we booked. Or we can at least drop Avebury and Lacock, since these two were not in my plans to begin with.

Monica

skibumette

The first time we did the Mayor's Walking Tour in Bath, our guide was a former actor with a love for Georgian architecture. He did a wonderful job of portraying life in the city (visiting the Baths in Romans times or "taking the waters" in Victorian times). Our tour ended up lasting 3.5 hours -- and, despite having started to rain, every single participant was still following along! The second time our guide was less dramatic, but still extremely informative. This tour makes Bath one of our favorite destinations...

flyme2themoon

monica, we had the same dilemma while planning our day trip to bath. this is what we are bent on doing (unless one of the experts in the UK board, suggests a better strategy)

pick up day tour from london that would take us to stonehenge, oxford/lacock and bath. the bus tour will leave bath by i think, 15:30 so we will just ditch the bus and train back to london. this plan is going to cost a bit more since we will be paying for our train ride back to london but it gives us another 4-5 hours in bath. the extra time in bath, to us, is worth the extra money we're paying for the train plus, the train fare isnt going to be too much since we're going back off peak at around 19:00 or 20:00 ( it's around 9.5 GBP by train ) also, we save about 1.5 hrs taking the train vs the bus back to london which definitely adds to our sightseeing time in bath.