The best hotels in Bath city centre
An insider's guide to the top places to stay in Bath city centre, including the best for Georgian architecture, pampering spas and brilliant breakfasts, in locations near to the Royal Crescent, Victoria Park and the Thermae Bath Spa.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath, Somerset, England
9Telegraph expert rating
This luxury hotel spreads over two townhouses in the centre of Bath's showpiece Georgian crescent. Curvaceous staircases overseen by classical busts, lounges with chandeliers and oil paintings, and extravagant suites with elaborate stuccoed ceilings set the elegant tone. Behind lies the hotel's lovely, hidden acre of garden, with mature trees and shrubs, and wooden tables and chairs on lawns used for eating and drinking in fine weather. Four further Georgian buildings at the back of the garden house the spa, a stylish bar and the pretty Dower House Restaurant. It has the best possible location in Bath. The crescent is residential and very peaceful, with no passing traffic. It overlooks lawns and one end of Victoria Park, Bath's main green lung. Read expert review From ￡264 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
The Gainsborough Bath Spa
Bath, Somerset, England
9Telegraph expert rating
The Gainsborough is the only hotel in Britain to have access to natural thermal waters. Named after the artist Thomas Gainsborough, who lived in Bath, the Grade-II listed building dates from the 18th century and is a stunningly imagined addition to the city. It's right in the heart of town, a short walk from the station. Care has been taken to build on the hotel’s Georgian characteristics by introducing a sensitive blend of the traditional and the contemporary. Roman columns and a glass roof dominate the compact and exquisite Spa Village, which comprises three thermal pools, sauna, steam room and 11 treatment rooms offering a range of massages and Asian influenced therapies. Read expert review From ￡213 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best luxury hotels in and around Bath
Harington's City Hotel
Bath, Somerset, England
8Telegraph expert rating
The hotel is on Queen Street, a picturesque cobbled lane with next-to-no traffic and lots of inviting places to drink, eat and shop yards away. The classic Georgian features of the hotel are livened up with whimsical period and modern furnishings. In the quaint lounge and bar expect pot plants, oil paintings and candelabra. The 13 bedrooms are individually decorated in fun styles. Most strikingly, one wall of each room has boldly-patterned wallpaper (butterflies, birds and scenes from the theatre). Breakfast, served in an attractive two-part dining room (one side of which has picture windows on to the street), is really excellent. Read expert review From ￡94 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best restaurants and cafés in Bath
The Abbey Hotel
Bath, Somerset, England
8Telegraph expert rating
The Abbey Hotel spreads over three interconnected 18th-century townhouses overlooking an open, triangular area close to the rear of Bath Abbey known as Bog Island. The hotel has a confident, individual look. This is particularly true in the plush and fun-looking ArtBar, where lampshades are made out of decanters and dozens of glasses hang from the ceiling, and in the restaurant, which is painted pink and has long, beige drapes framing modern art. Eye-catching paintings in fact fill the property from top to bottom – the previous owners are art collectors. Rooms are good-looking and colourful: think bold paintings (of course) and tartan bedheads. Read expert review From ￡108 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Three Abbey Green
Bath, Somerset, England
8Telegraph expert rating
The cobbled square – Abbey Green – is shaded by a giant plane tree and surrounded by handsome Georgian buildings. You could not be more central: the Roman Baths and the abbey are yards away, Sally Lunn’s (a famous tea shop) is just round the corner, and you are perfectly placed for the shops. It's an upmarket, but not posh, family-run b&b, with lots of interesting, period Georgian features (fireplaces appear in some bathrooms, for example). Expect bags of character and comfort in the 10 bedrooms, in the form of king-size beds, antiques and smart, well-functioning modern bathrooms. In the most characterful – the Lord Nelson – you’ll find a giant four-poster bed, a gas fire and three windows overlooking the square. Read expert review From ￡90 per night
The Queensberry Hotel
Bath, Somerset, England
9Telegraph expert rating
The Queensberry’s location is excellent: the hotel is spread over four interconnected Georgian townhouses on a quiet, residential street, just north of the centre up from the Assembly Rooms. While Bath’s other luxury hotels are ultra traditional, The Queensberry – its first owner was the eighth Marquess of Queensberry – is, despite its 18th-century surroundings, thoroughly modern in look. It has a likeable jauntiness: for example, the Old Q Bar is decorated with a Union Jack rug and British bulldogs on cushions, and it has its very own version of the Queensberry Rules ("anyone overheard attempting to sell timeshare properties in the bar may be asked to leave"). Read expert review From ￡110 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Francis Hotel Bath
Bath, Somerset, England
8Telegraph expert rating
Spread over seven Georgian townhouses in Queen Square, Francis Hotel is right in the city centre, a short stroll from the main shopping streets, the Roman Baths and Thermae Bath Spa. It offers a contemporary take on Regency style: a modern chandelier is offset by an old grandfather clock in the lobby, and two-tone button-back armchairs sit amid peacock-patterned wallpaper in the bar/lounge. As you pass between townhouses in the corridors upstairs, the wallpaper changes and blue plaques on the walls indicate distinguished past residents who once lived here. There are 98 rooms, decorated in quirky neo-Regency style. Read expert review From ￡107 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Henrietta House
Bath, Somerset, England
8Telegraph expert rating
This b&b occupies a handsome, double-fronted townhouse on a wide, curving, residential street of Georgian houses in central Bath. Great Pulteney Street, one of Bath's architectural set-pieces, is 50 yards away. The listed, four-storey house was built in the 1780s. The owner, Peter Sherwin, is an art collector, and eye-catching old and modern paintings are dotted all over the building. With its arched windows, brass chandelier, Persian rug and cornicing, the reception room, which doubles as the lounge, sets the the house's chic tone. The 19 individual, en-suite bedrooms have an attractive but unfussy style: think shutters on sash windows, rugs on wooden floors, and a mix of antique and good-quality reproduction furniture. Read expert review From ￡95 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
SACO Bath - St James's Parade
Bath, Somerset, England
7Telegraph expert rating
SACO Bath is hidden away in a Georgian terrace in the city centre, and offers easy access to the station and the Thermae Bath Spa. The studios and apartments, some of which have their own pedimented blue front door directly on to the street, are decorated in inoffensive Ikea-style furnishings. For all room types, the accommodation is impressively spacious and the facilities outstanding. Self-catering is the name of the game here, however on arrival you are provided with a generous welcome pack which includes tea and coffee, some cereal, a pint of milk, a local flapjack and butter biscuits. Read expert review From ￡102 per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com