Family Day Out Review: The Roman Baths*

[Ad-gifted] If you have time to visit just one place while you are in the City of Bath in Somerset, I would recommend visiting The Roman Baths.

Located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site and build nearly 2,000 years ago, The Roman Baths was constructed with a temple on site and was once a wellness retreat of the ancient world.  Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis came to worship Goddess Sulis Minerva and bathe in the waters of the natural thermal springs, which still flow with hot water to this day.  Aquae Sulis is also the Roman name for Bath. 

Today, The Roman Baths is a well-preserved museum featuring archaeology exhibits, decorative and applied art, social history and other items such as coins and medals.  The Roman Baths has four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and a Museum which holds artefacts from Aquae Sulis.

So keep on reading to find out more about The Roman Baths and what we did on our visit to Bath.

What did we think of The Roman Baths?

When I told my children that we were visiting The Roman Baths, they asked if they could swim in it 😆… I had to explain that although it its heydays it would have welcomed them, the Baths is now preserved as a museum and unsuitable for swimming.

Our visit to The Roman Baths was well organised.  We arrived in the morning and made our way to the reception desk which is housed at the magnificent Victorian Reception Hall to collect our audioguides. The audioguides are available in numerous languages such as English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.  As we walked along, we saw boards with numbers on it. We just inserted the numbers into your audioguide and were able to find out more about a certain artefact or the area in which we were standing in. There is also a children’s audio tour which kids can listen to.  Both our children enjoyed the freedom of listening to what they wanted as they walked into each area at their own pace and repeating the audio guide if they missed some details.

There are plenty of arrows to show us which direction to follow, and we eventually arrive at the Terrace which overlooks the Great Bath and is lined with Victorian statues of Roman emperors and governors of Britain. The statues on the terrace date to 1894, as they were carved in advance of the grand opening of the Roman Baths in 1897.

We had a chance to explore the Roman Baths complex, walk on the original Roman pavements, see the ruins as well as projections of how the Temple once looked like and observe the Roman artefacts in the museum collection.

At the end of our tour, we had the chance to taste the famous spa water containing 43 minerals, which for centuries has attracted visitors to Bath for curative purposes before we exited via the gift shop.

The Roman Baths is a must visit place, there is something so tranquil and sacred about the place. As I feel the stones and admire the Bath House, I can imagine myself in a glamourous robe chatting with my Aquae Sulis friends and swimming in its warm healing waters during its prime.

The Sacred Spring/The Roman Bath House

The water from the Sacred Spring feeds The Roman Baths and was once the area of worship before the Roman Temple and Baths were built. It is said that offerings were thrown into the spring during Roman times as an offering to the Gods.

You can see some of the offerings which have now been preserved in the museum.  The Roman Baths was fed with hot water directly from the Sacred Spring and provided a luxurious warm swim.

The Roman Temple

The Temple was built in a classical style and dates back to first century AD.  Dedicated to the Goddess Sulis Minerva, the Roman settlements worshiped her in Aquae Sulis during that time.

The Temple remained a focal point for worship until late in the 4th century AD but as Christianity gathered strength, the old pagan religion was marginalised and in 391 AD the Emperor Theodosius ordered the closure of pagan temples throughout the Empire. The Temple fell into a state of disrepair and eventually collapsed. Some of the carved stones from the Pediment were re-used as paving slabs in the courtyard.

The great ornamental pediment from the temple survives and has been re-erected in the museum (see photo above).  The pediment carries the image of a fearsome head carved in Bath stone and it is thought to be the Gorgon’s Head which was a powerful symbol of the Goddess Sulis Minerva.

The Museum

The museum is very interactive and is entertaining for both adults and children. Visitors would get a chance to meet the people who once lived and worked here through film projections as well as small scale models of the temple complex.  All this created from the knowledge of the people who once lived there.

The museum also houses thousands of finds from the site itself including a collection of over 17,000 Roman coins which were discovered in Bath in 2007.  This area of the museum includes film projections of Roman characters to interpret scenes of Roman life.  Many of the objects in the museum tell us about the people who lived and worked in the area and those who visited the great Roman religious spa of Aquae Sulis (the Roman name for Bath).

How much are the tickets?

A family ticket for 2 adults and up to 4 children costs £71 (weekend) or £63 (weekday). There are also family tickets available for 1 adults and up to 4 children or 2 adults and a child.  Individual tickets are also sold:

£18.50 (weekend) or £16 (weekday) for children from age 6-18
£26 (weekend) or £23.50 (weekday) for adults (19+)

Discounted tickets for seniors and student. Please check their website for the full pricing.

What are their Opening Hours?

Mon-Fri 10am to 6pm
Sat – Sun 9am to 6pm
(The Roman Baths is open every day except 25 and 26 December)

Where is The Roman Baths?

The Roman Baths is in the centre of Bath near Bath Abbey, the entrance is in Abbey Church Yard.  It is within walking distance of most tourist attractions in Bath.  The Roman Baths does not have any carparks on site but there are plenty of carparks located around the city area.  If you are driving into the city, do note that Bath is under the Clean Air Zone Restriction so you may need to pay a daily charge to drive in Bath if your vehicle does not meet emission standards.

The Roman Baths
Abbey Church Yard
Bath
BA1 1LZ
+44 (0)1225 477785

Note:

About

The Roman Baths is one of the finest historic sites in Northern Europe.  Once the site of one of the great religious spas of the ancient world; the people of Roman Britain came to the site to worship the Goddess Sulis Minerva and bathe in the waters of the natural thermal springs, which still flow with hot water today.

Today visitors can explore the Roman Baths complex, walk on the original Roman pavements and see the ruins of the Temple of Sulis Minerva. The museum collection, located next to the bathing complex, includes a gilt bronze head of the Goddess Sulis Minerva, and other Roman artefacts.

You may also want to read this:

Family Day Out Review: Windermere Lake Cruises

Family Day Out Review : Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Family Day Out Review: Stratford-Upon-Avon Butterfly Farm

*We were gifted a family ticket in return for the feature.  All opinions are our own.

Photo Credit: Visit Bath