A beautiful spectacle and a brilliant atmosphere: that’s the Roman Baths experience. Costumed characters bring the era to life. Warm water steams as the winter sun rises. A guided walk back through the centuries, the Baths showcase just how advanced the Romans’ thinking, engineering and construction were. Intact artefacts hint at ancient mysteries. Tablets and objects tell stories of Roman beliefs and rituals. And of course jewellery and luxurious spa products await visitors to the popular gift shop.

The Roman Baths themselves are a compelling attraction, comprising impressive ruins, artefacts, treasures, exhibits, information and a museum element whose interactive features help your imagination piece together the lives lived by those who trod the same pavements as you, 2,000 years earlier.

(To answer a question you might be wanting to ask, no, the Roman Baths are not available to use as the Romans did (i.e., to bathe in) but all kinds of treatments, packages and experiences are available at Thermae Spa which is fed not by the Roman Baths’ King’s Spring but by the Hetling and Cross Springs.)

Whether the weather’s suggesting ice creams or icicles, the Roman Baths represent that rarity: a place in the heart of a busy city where you can withdraw to find a little peace and quiet and the chance for a moment’s reflection. This is what the buildings have offered for 2,000 years, so there’s a hard-to-define but unmistakeable sense of slowing down and solace there which feels part of their texture and essence.

Cities and towns often find themselves defined by characteristics which make them unique or somehow advantageous (close to a fast-moving river, access to the sea, high up and easy to defend, surrounded by fertile land, etc.,) and this is certainly the case with Bath, and its history of being home to the best Roman Baths in the United Kingdom.

According to archaeologists, the hot springs here have been attracting people since at least 8,000BC. Local legend says Prince Bladud (or Blaiddyd)’s leprosy cleared up nicely after a dip in what would then have been little more than hot mud. Given he was a character who may not even have existed (and King Lear’s father), the whole story needs more than a pinch of salt with it, but it’s said he was so grateful he founded a settlement which one day would become Aquae Sulis and then, eventually and more straightforwardly, Bath.

(Sulis, incidentally, was the Latin name for the local goddess of healing springs, worshipped by ancient Britons. When the Romans invaded they kept the local name but used it in combination with Minerva who was their own goddess of (among other things) wisdom, medicine and the arts. Hence Aquae Sulis became Sulis Minerva, before Bath.)

The water in the Romans Baths is quite a spectacle, and everything about the buildings, exhibits and museum is engaging, but if you’d like a spot of immersion as well as engagement, Bath has plenty of ways to oblige.

No city built around the beautiful River Avon could fail to offer visitors plenty of water-based diversion. Thanks to The Bath Boating Station, you can choose between rowing, canoeing or punting for an hour or two along one of its many lovely stretches. Six or fewer people can book online, there are lovely riverside lawns available for you to picnic on, before or after your watery jaunt, and you’ll find them just a short level walk from the city centre.

If canoes are more your thing, then you’ll find the Canadian variety available to help you navigate the Avon here too, and if your idea of river-based recreation is a little less strenuous, how about hiring a narrowboat for the day?

Meanwhile, should piloting yourself, rather than a craft, through water appeal, wild water swimming’s gaining popularity at Warleigh Weir, not far out of town. There’s a project in motion there to promote the sustainable use of the countryside and encourage people to engage with the nature, including swimming in the water there.

Much as we hope you agree there’s no better place to stay in Bath than here at The Queensberry Hotel, we do understand the lure of restful and therapeutic waters and treatments. So it would be perverse (and a little mean-spirited) if we weren’t to point you in the direction of some places where spa waters and treatments are available, even if those places might constitute what some would call “the competition”.

Whether the water’s icy or hot, the architecture Georgian or modern, the setting deep in the city or somewhere more rural and secluded, there’s a whole range of places in which to lose yourself, relax and make the very best of what nature, geology, geography (and the Romans!) have given Bath.