Almost my last stop on a six and a half month RTW will be five nights in Bath. It was going to be two nights in Bath and three nights with a car in Wells (where I thought I might want to live), but after several years of not driving in the UK and several months of not driving at all I decided against the car.

I haven't been to Bath for 20 years, so will probably have enough to do there for a couple of days, but would also like to do day trips - by public transport, or just possibly coach tours. Any suggestions? (I'll be gong to Oxford after Bath.) I don't have a guide book for the area, and am currently in France, so am relying on the internet.

Suggestions for things to do and places to eat in Bath also welcome.

I believe there are day tours to Stonehenge from Bath....

Bath's astonishingly well-connected by direct trains.

Apart from Bristol (which some like), the hourly train to Pprtsmouth stops at Bradford (glorious) Salisbury (for Stonehenge) and the bits of Portsmouth that aren't hideous are really interesting (try the Conan Doyle stuff in the main library, for example, as well as the naval things).

Cardif's more fun than Bristol (and an interesting lesson to it of how late 20th century commercial development need't be horrid)

The Brighton train stops at Chichester (fab): the Great Malvern (interesting) train stops at Cheltenham, Gloucester and Worcester (all fab. Well, Gloucester is in parts)

And the Weymouth train stops at Castle Cary. Can't remeber which of the next two stops the Jurassic Coast buses go from: Upwey or Dorchester West (Dorchester, for all its Thomas Hardy connections, is deeply sdisappointing. But Maiden Castle, on the outskirts is astonishing)

It's been a while since I've been to Bath as well, but I remember having tea and scones with clotted cream and jam adjacent to the baths - always makes me think of Bath fondly!

I too was going to mention getting out to nearby Stonehenge. I'm not sure how to do it on public transit - or even if there's anything to see there - but Solsbury Hill of which Peter Gabriel sang is also nearby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solsbury_Hill

Wow, thanks a lot flanneruk! I'm surprised (and pleased) that Bath is so well-connected, I was just glad I could get there from Gatwick after Easyjet messed up the flight times to Bristol.

I visited Stonehenge back before they roped it off, and I used to live between Portsmouth and Chichester (but didn't know about the Conan Doyle stuff!) Cheltenham, Gloucester and Worcester are all possibles, and I know nothing about Castle Cary or Bradford - we're not talking about the one up north, I take it? I was definitely thinking about Bristol, which I've only visited briefly on a business trip, and of course the Cotswolds if the weather is good.

However, both bahn.de and nationalrail want me to go to Brighton via London - is Bath Spa not the right station for that? Or did you mean to change at Portsmouth?

Use the "view departing trains" feature at www.nationalrail.co.uk. And try playing with departure times.

National Rail is programmed to show you the fastest journey. Because trains from London to Bath and Brigton are so fast, it's often faster to go that way than by the bizarre services, between Great Malvern or Cardiff and Brighton or Weymouth, which meander across Southern England via Bath.

But a lot less fun. Remember: any train ticket that's not linked to a nominated departure time lets you get on and off as often as you like during its validity. Buy an offpeak return to Brighton and you can pop round Salisbury, Portsmouth and Chichester if you've got time.

"But a lot less fun. Remember: any train ticket that's not linked to a nominated departure time lets you get on and off as often as you like during its validity."

Thanks. Totally agree about the fun (I once traveled 17,000 miles by train to get from Scotland to Saigon). Didn't know about the multiple stop-offs - that's great. It might be interesting to revisit the place I lived back in the early 70s...

Don't know if you're a Thomas Hardy fan but there will probably be a Thomas Hardy tour from Bath. I seem to remember a few years back going to the house where he was born, the church where he is buried, Dorchester where there's some connection and of course Maiden Castle (think Terence Stamp Far from the Madding Crowd).

You probably won't need them -- as flanner says you can get to so many places on your own -- but if you do decide on a coach trip, Mad Max is based in Bath and does really good tours.

http://www.madmax.abel.co.uk/

Cotswolds are terrific, if you can get there.