Hotels Near the Roman Baths

Places To Stay Near The Roman Baths

After a busy day exploring everything the Roman Baths has to offer, our nearby boutique hotels are the perfect place to stay the night and treat yourself to a delicious, locally-sourced pub meal and an award-winning pint of Butcombe beer.

Broad Street Townhouse

See all that the beautiful city of Bath has to offer with a stay at Broad Street Townhouse, a Grade II-listed hotel just a 5-minute walk away from the Roman Baths. Relax in style in one of our 11 luxurious boutique rooms, each with sumptuous king-size beds and en-suite bathrooms. Take a break from exploring Bath city in our ground floor café/bar, or enjoy a more hearty meal at our sister venue next door, The Pig & Fiddle. Find out why The Sunday Times voted Broad Street Townhouse one of the Best Hotels in the South West, and book your stay today.

The Roman Baths

Nearly 2000 years old, the Roman Baths are some of the best-preserved Roman remains in the world, attracting over a million visitors each year.

A brief history of the Roman Baths

The Romans started building on the site of the hot springs around 60-70AD, first building a religious temple, before developing the site over the next 300 years into a public bathing complex featuring baths, saunas, plunge pools and heated rooms.

Known as Aquae Sulis, the baths attracted visitors from all over the country and even parts of Europe. When the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, the complex fell into ruin due to a combination of flooding and neglect. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the baths were rediscovered, restored and reopened to the public.

Today, the baths are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK.

The Great Bath

The Roman Baths’ star attraction is the Great Bath, a massive pool lined with 45 sheets of lead and filled with hot spa water. Now open to the skies, the pool was originally enclosed in a huge, 20-metre high hall, which would have been the largest building many Romans will have seen in their lifetime.

Today, visitors can see the Great Bath from its upper terrace, which is filled with statues of Roman Emperors and statesmen – later additions added by the Victorians ahead of the bath’s grand reopening in the 1800s.

The Sulis Minerva Temple

Before the Romans discovered the natural springs, they were originally a place of worship for the Celts, dedicated to their goddess Sulis. When the Romans invaded, to keep the peace with the locals, they merged the goddess Sulis with their own goddess Minerva and built a temple dedicated to the newly-created Sulis Minerva beside the springs.

Today, you can find the remains of the temple pediment in the bath’s museum, alongside the gilt bronze head of a Sulis Minerva statue which would have once stood inside the temple.

The Sacred Spring

Next to the Great Bath is a smaller room housing the Sacred Spring, where 1,170,000 litres of hot water rises from each day and feeds the entire bathing system.

This was where the Romans thought the spirit of Sulis Minerva dwelt, and they would throw small metal sheets inscribed with curses against specific people into the water for the goddess to act upon. A selection of surviving ‘curse tablets’ can be found in the baths’ museum for visitors to see!

The Pump Room

Dating back to 1706, the baths’ beautiful Pump Room was once the centre of the Georgian social scene. High society would flock here to drink the famous spa water, believing it would cure their illnesses and discomforts. Visitors can still sample the spring water today if they don’t mind its unusual taste!

The Pump Room room is also featured as a setting in two of Jane Austen’s novels – ‘Persuasion’ and ‘Northanger Abbey’.

See pictures of the Roman Baths here.