When considering luxury hotel stays in the UK, Somerset has been enjoying a moment in the spotlight for a while now. Frome’s Babington House has been attracting guests since 1998. The Newt near Bruton regularly tops lists of the UK’s best hotels and was recently awarded the World’s Best Boutique Hotel at the World’s 50 Best Hotels. More recently, also in Bruton, the Number One Guest House, which until recently housed critically adored, Michelin-starred Osip, has been making waves. However, nowhere in Somerset (or the world) does a luxury Regency-style retreat quite like Bath.
With its elegant Georgian townhouses and mansions, Bath’s buildings are undoubtedly some of the most beautiful in Britain. It’s home to some 5000 Grade I, II*, and II listed buildings, one of the highest concentrations in the country.
There is, of course, no shortage of hotels housed within its historic buildings, all ready to receive and pamper you. From honey-hued hideaways to grand Georgian manors with sprawling gardens, these hotels blend comfort and luxury with the city’s unmistakable ambience, proving that Bath’s historical charm extends well beyond the Roman Baths and Royal Crescent.
Whether you’re on the hunt for a Jane Austen or Bridgerton-inspired break and keen for a hotel with historical charm, or you’re looking for something more contemporary and in keeping with Bath’s more cutting edge tendencies, this corner of Somerset is the place for you.
So, without further ado, welcome to our curated selection of Bath’s finest hotels. Prepare to be pampered, charmed, and possibly never want to leave; here are some of the best places to rest your weary head after a day of sightseeing, shopping, and bathing in Bath.
The Yard In Bath
Ideal for a bespoke, boutique hotel experience in Bath city centre…
If you’re looking for a beautiful boutique hotel with a fascinating history, The Yard is a good bet to satisfy those wants. Formerly the Kings Arms (an 18th-century coaching inn on the main route between Bristol and Bath) today it is an intimate boutique hotel. Set within a gorgeous listed building, there’s a chicness about this hotel that belies its historic roots. That said, the owners have ensured that it’s filled with plenty of character creating a boutique hotel that’s both charming and functional.
Each of its fourteen bedrooms is housed around a central courtyard, the focal point of the hotel, with every room boasting its own unique charm – think gorgeous floral-forward fabrics from local designers and a mix of antique and modern pieces. Sophie Conran crockery is used extensively, setting the tone for something genteel but contemporary.
Rooms have all the modern hotel must-haves, including gorgeous waterfall showers, Netflix, a fully stocked mini-bar with drinks and snacks, and even complimentary fresh milk delivered in glass bottles from a local farm.
With a dedicated bar and no restaurant, the hotel is geared more towards drinking than eating, sure, but you won’t want for breakfast. Every morning a breakfast hamper is delivered to each room at 8am, sharp. This lovely box of goodies includes just baked croissants from local Hobbs House Bakery and freshly squeezed orange juice. Enjoying a slow start to the morning is an essential part of a relaxing weekend break after all.
If you can pull yourself away from your beautiful room, you can upgrade to a continental grazing breakfast served in the cafe which extends onto the beautiful courtyard. If it’s a cooked breakfast you’re after, then you might have to venture further afield, but that’s no issue; Bath is home to many excellent cafes.
This writer’s personal tip is to go for a hearty and historic breakfast at Sally Lunn’s. The French toast, which sees a Sally Lunn bun dipped in cinnamon eggs and topped and with dry cured smoked bacon, will set you up for a day of sightseeing. There’s also a Full English on offer if you’re feeling particularly hungry.
Anyway, back to the hotel. In the summer months, The Yard’s courtyard transforms into a lively corner of the city serving a selection of wines and seasonal cocktails. Plates of local cheeses like Bath Soft and Wyfe of Bath are served to compliment the short but well-curated wine list.
On Fridays, The Yard has a ‘Fizz and Fromage’ night where you can get an English cheeseboard and two glasses of English sparkling wine for just £25. In such an esteemed setting, it feels like a bargain.
If you’re after a nightcap, may we suggest having a hot chocolate here, which comes from Clifton Coffee in Bristol. Come winter, why not spike it with a shot of bourbon and enjoy it in front of the hotel’s roaring fire?
There’s something incredibly relaxing about this hotel. It’s cosy and elegant, small but perfectly formed. Do be warned; like many hotels in Bath, parking is limited but bookable, with Charlotte Street Parking only a short walk away.
One quick aside; we think the hotel has missed a trick not putting a fancy freestanding bath in the courtyard here. Having a bath in the yard, in the Yard in Bath? It just makes sense!
Rooms start at around £120 a night for the most basic room.
Website: theyardinbath.co.uk
Address: 1 Monmouth Pl, Bath BA1 2AT
Read: The best restaurants in Bath
No. 15 by GuestHouse
Ideal for some serious Bridgeton cosplay…
Bath’s No. 15 by GuestHouse Hotel sits pretty in one of the loveliest spots in the city. Next to Henrietta Park (home to some of the best trees in the city) and just along the road from Pulteney Bridge (one of only four in the world to have shops on both sides), No. 15 by GuestHouse is in a plum central location, ideally suited for soaking up the city.
With its Georgian aesthetics, every aspect of this hotel has been designed to reflect Bath’s graceful, rarefied air. The elegant, honey-hued hotel is made up of three interconnected townhouses with 36 uniquely designed bedrooms, all in keeping with the hotel’s Georgian roots.
Those townhouses include snug attic spaces, as well as both light-bright and minimalist rooms and more grand affairs with four poster beds, regency-style fireplaces and chandeliers, all with views of the park. Pretty perfect for pretending you’re part of Bridgeton, we think – the hit Netflix show was filmed on this strip!
Anyway, you don’t have to get dressed up in some Regency-era threads to luxuriate in the experience here. Instead, the 200-thread count Egyptian cotton bed linen will see you right, which sits stop Hypnos Lansdowne cashmere mattresses. Even writing those words has made us feel all luxurious.
Rooms are equipped with Nespresso machines, Dyson hairdryers, and even record players. Yes, you read that right — record players, with a selection of vinyl appropriate to the occasion.
Beyond the elegant rooms, guests have access to a pantry full of treats stocked with homemade sweet and savoury snacks. Fancy an ice cream at midnight? It’s yours. A scone with the jam and cream setup whichever way you darn want it? That can be yours, too.
Unlike most cities, Bath doesn’t have many late night convenience stores. Best One Bath, just down the road and open until 1am, is about your only bet. Otherwise, if you’re hungry and it’s late you’ll find food trucks selling kebabs – perhaps not in keeping with the esteemed surrounds of No. 15 and their lovely bed linen, but it could work…
… You won’t go hungry at No. 15 though. There’s both a breakfast and a brunch menu, the latter of which has addictive salted caramel and banana waffles. Other cooked items, wide-ranging and well executed, are available, the highlight for us a moreish breakfast muffin with sausage patty, maple bacon, fried egg, dijonnaise and emmental. We’d go as far as saying it’s one of the best hotel breakfasts in Somerset, all to be enjoyed in a room that thrums with that golden glow that so many great places in Bath seem be blessed with.
From just after midday to late evening, The Bar here (prosaically named but poetically delivered) serves seasonal cocktails like a Somerset Old-Fashioned, featuring cider brandy and demerara-sugar syrup made in neighbouring Bristol. There’s snacks and small plates like the local favourite Bath chaps, here with chorizo jam atop a fried brioche with crackling. There’s also larger heartier dishes like a stacked charcuterie plate from nearby Dorset and a sirloin steak sourced from Stokes Marsh farm. There’s even a burger oozing with Somerset brie, if you hadn’t figured out where you were resting your head yet.
Since this is Bath, the hotel of course has spa facilities, and while not as extensive as other hotels in the city, it’s great for couple’s treatments. We love their Copper Room – an intimate and sensual space which you can book exclusively and relax in their oversized freestanding copper bathtub.
Soothing and spoiling, No. 15 by GuestHouse is one of the most beautiful boutique hotels in Bath city centre, without doubt. The small guest room here starts at £180 a night.
Website: guesthousehotels.co.uk
Address: 15 Great Pulteney St, Bathwick, Bath BA2 4BS
The Pig, Pensford
Ideal for those who want to explore Bath without staying in the busy city centre…
Bath teems with tourists come summer. Come to think of it, it’s no different in spring, autumn or winter, the latter particularly packed with Christmas Market revellers.
Indeed, the city attracts a staggering six million visitors every year. Don’t let this put you off. Despite the influx of visitors and congestion, especially on weekends, Bath manages to maintain a tranquil air. Although it’s not one of those cities where the urge to escape the chaos can feel overwhelming, it does get busy.
All of this to say, if you’d prefer to stay outside this city, then The Pig, a twenty-minute taxi ride away from the centre, is an excellent place to retreat. Set within a charming, honey-coloured (we’re sensing a theme here) Georgian mansion nestled in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, this countryside retreat boasts 29 uniquely decorated rooms. Guests can revel in the rural surroundings, which feature a deer park home to a fallow deer herd.
Come winter, you can enjoy cosy lounges with open fires. In summer, the sunlight streaming through those lounges more than makes up for the lack of a crackling fire. For those wanting to unwind even further, the hotel offers bespoke spa treatments in its Potting Shed and Sheep Hut treatment rooms.
All great stuff so far, but it’s the sprawling kitchen garden and its lucky restaurant that’s the real draw here, a genuinely sustainable, organic, hyper-seasonal and hyper-local affair that’s like catnip to the culinary cognoscenti.
Whatever they can grow or rear themselves, they do. That means there are miles of polytunnels, and chickens, sheep and pigs reared on-site to ensure quality and provenance. Whatever is pulled from the vegetable patch that day appears on the menu. All other ingredients that aren’t grown or reared on-site are sourced within a 25-mile radius. The hotel even has its own beehives, producing 2000kg of honey a year.
It all feeds into a menu stacked with ‘zero mile’ ingredients, shoutouts to farmers and suppliers, and plenty of excellent technique that brings out the best from those ingredients – think Crystal Sea hake fillet, with leeks, spinach and Windfall apple verjus, or Newton Farm pork loin chop with sweetcorn and mustard sauce. There’s also a dedicated wood oven menu with some delicious flatbreads, for those after a more casual affair.
The Pig’s 25-mile radius menu has become synonymous with the hotel – raising the bar for food-forward hotels. The cocktails are of note, too – a carefully curated menu of local botanicals that drink wonderfully. Ours is a Pisco’s Not Dead (featuring pear and sage infused Barsol Pisco), if you’re getting a round in.
Snug rooms start at £235 a night on quieter days.
Website: thepighotel.com
Address: Hunstrete House, Hunstrete, Pensford, Bath BS39 4NS
Read: The best cocktail bars in Bath
The Bath Priory
Ideal for a sophisticated stay that seamlessly blends city and countryside…
Bath is a place where city meets countryside in the most seamless, subtle fashion, and the Bath Priory is a perfect example of a country house hotel on the city’s edge, giving guests the ideal mixture of both worlds. The hotel sits a short stroll from Royal Victoria Park, and the gorgeous walk into the city centres takes you past must-see landmarks including the Royal Crescent and the Circus.
Built-in 1835, originally as a private residence and formerly owned by the Priory of Bath Abbey, this honey-coloured Georgian mansion has gone through various incarnations, including being dormitory for The Park School in the sixties – the lucky folk. Today, the Bath Priory is part of the Andrew Brownsword Hotels group, owned by Christina and Andrew Brownsword CBE DL, and has been bestowed with more awards than you can count on two hands.
The hotel itself is set within four acres of gorgeous gardens which are looked after by a former Chelsea Flower Show silver medalist – if you’re looking for a tonic to urban life, this is it. The stoic, beautiful ancient Cedar of Lebanon dominates the garden – a stately tree in stately hotel grounds.
Be sure to plan to spend some time relaxing in the heated outdoor pool during the summer months. The hotel also offers a prepared picnic or afternoon tea hamper – pick a spot on the lawn and enjoy the grounds. There’s also a gorgeous terrace bar for when you get parched. Basically, this is kind of what heaven looks like.
Back indoors, and you’ll find elegant drawing rooms full of antiques and walls adorned with fine art. the Library Room has a working fireplace for that nostalgic crackle and glow. Move up into the guest rooms and suites, which are admirably classic in style, with decoration leading towards the timeless, verging on the dated. Not that we’re complaining; they are pretty and comfortable and all you want from a hotel stay in such aristocratic surrounds. Some suites have large motifs depicting Bath of yesteryear on the walls. Others, timeless wooden panelling. Choose your poison, and once you’ve taken it, sink into your four poster bed for a long lie down.
Or, for the ultimate relaxation, guests seeking a soothing spa will not be disappointed. The Bath Priory is home to the first and only L’Occitane spa in the UK. At The Garden Spa by L’Occitane, guests can choose from treatments that highlight L’Occitane’s best products, including anti-aging facials and relaxing massages. There’s also an indoor pool and sauna, natch.
A reservation at the celebrated onsite 3 AA Rosette restaurant of the same name completes the picture. A menu of contemporary British and European dishes with seasonal and carefully sourced ingredients hits all the right notes – so, that’s lamb from Wiltshire, wild Cornish turbot, Brixham crab and Orkney scallops, to name but a few. You know how the story goes, and usually, it’s a delicious story to read (hmmm, the ol’ synaesthesia’s kicking in a little here).
Perhaps the best part about the Bath Priory, though, even as one of the city’s more exclusive stays, is that there’s nothing pretentious or stuffy about the place, with service graceful and light, and the whole vibe thoroughly demure.
Classic rooms start at £234 a night on quieter days.
Website: thebathpriory.co.uk
Address: Weston Rd, Bath BA1 2XT
Read: Where to eat the best vegetarian and vegan food in Bath
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Ideal for a luxurious stay in Bath’s most iconic location…
A Bath totem, this historic hotel occupies numbers 15 and 16 of the Royal Crescent. Sitting in a coveted spot and commanding impressive views of the park, the Royal Cresent Hotel is a bona fide landmark offering a splash of historic splendour to any stay in Bath. It’s also one of the few landmark buildings in the UK where you can actually spend the night.
The Royal Crescent itself was designed by architect John Wood the Younger and completed in 1775. As you’d expect, those running the hotel now are keen to preserve as much if its heritage as possible. Interiors are, as you’d expect, period-inspired with velvet fabrics, portraiture and antiques setting the tone. To lighten the mood, they sit prettily alongside bold and bright modern furnishings, blended harmoniously together which is no easy feat. The contrast infuses drama in an opposites-attract sort of way, making for a unique space that feels both stimulating and serene.
Each of the 45 uniquely designed guest rooms are finely appointed and, again, a perfectly balanced mix of contemporary bright furnishings and period features. Historic detailing like ceiling roses, intricate cornices and other original elements are paid tribute to, while modern flourishes have brought this period property into 2024 in some style.
The best rooms are those that command floor-to-ceiling windows of the Crescent. Suites, of which there are 17, come with a private living room and are yours from £665 per night. This is a hotel for deep pockets – a fairly simple room will set you back £405.
Fine dining abounds here in the hotel’s restaurant Montagu’s Mews. Named after the 18th Century writer and women’s education advocate Elizabeth Montagu, this Michelin-recommended restaurant serves intricate, precise plates that burst with clarity of flavour. You’ll pay for the privilege – the tasting menu here is £105 a person. We’ve already established you’ve got deep pockets, though…
In the summer months, picnics are available for guests to take onto the Royal Crescent lawn that stretches over the expanse in front of the hotel – it’s a quintessential Bath experience. Hampers are full of local goodie like homemade Bath Buns and Cheddar Valley strawberries with clotted cream. As part of the full Royal Crescent Hotel experience, it’s undeniably one of the most luxurious and historically significant things to do in the city.
Website: royalcrescent.co.uk
Address: 16 Royal Cres, Bath BA1 2LS
The Gainsborough Bath Spa
Ideal for the UK’s only private hot-spring-fed spa…
There’s nothing quite like a relaxing spa day in a luxury hotel. Fluffy white robes, a glass of fizz, a peaceful atmosphere and relaxing treatments. Maybe even a little bit of Enya… This is what you get – and more – at The Gainsborough.
Named in homage to the artist Thomas Gainsborough and housed in two 18th-century Grade II Listed buildings, The Gainsborough is a stylishly opulent five-star, located in the epicentre of Bath.
It’s a hotel that’s managed to capture the essence of the city perfectly and, accordingly, the hotel’s stand-out facility is its spa. Its Romanesque-style spa is notable for its unique access to the natural thermal, mineral-rich waters. This distinction sets it apart as the only hotel in the UK with such privileges. There are three pools, heated at slightly different temperatures, all filled with thermal water. A full roster of treatments is available in its Spa Village including a ‘Roman renewal’ body treatment and a warm mineral mud scrub. Aaaah – doesn’t that feel good?
The rest of the hotel is plush and luxurious without being flashy. Once checked-in, it’s one of those hotels that you’ll have no desire to leave. The Gainsborough Bath Spa offers just about everything else you need for a spot of R&R. Nothing says ‘holiday’ like soaking in thermal waters and pretending you’re a Roman emperor, don’t you think? Now, where can I find Bath’s best bacchanalia?
Rooms start at around £235 a night on quieter days.
Website: thegainsboroughbathspa.co.uk
Address: Beau St, Bath BA1 1QY