Bath Abbey & Roman Baths Shore Excursion from Isle of Portland

This private tour from the Isle of Portland visits the historic city of Bath, with stops at Bath Abbey, the Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent, plus free time for lunch and shopping.

After meeting your guide, you drive to Bath, which takes its name from the natural hot springs, reaching around 116 degrees Fahrenheit, that have flowed from a point in the center of town for thousands of years. The Romans built an extensive bathing complex here modeled on those found throughout the Empire. In the Georgian and Victorian eras, roughly the late 1700s through the late 1800s, Bath's hot springs drew both visitors seeking a cure and members of London high society, who would come for the summer season to follow a daily routine of a morning spa treatment, afternoon tea and evening gambling or gala balls.

Upon arrival, you visit the Royal Crescent and the Circus, Georgian neoclassical townhouses designed by architect John Wood the Elder, with the Royal Crescent completed by his son, John Wood the Younger, between 1767 and 1775, as a place for Bath's fashionable visitors to stay. Next you visit Bath Abbey, a Late Gothic church over 500 years old that stands on the site of a much older and larger church; its history is depicted on the carved West Front of the current building, considered the last of the great medieval churches built in England. A donation is requested at the entrance.

Following the Abbey visit, you have free time for lunch at a local pub (meal not included). In the afternoon, you visit the Roman Baths, a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of both the individually inscribed "City of Bath" (1987) and the transnational "Great Spa Towns of Europe" (2021) listings. Here the Romans built a temple and bathing complex around the same natural hot spring that still flows today, and the tour lets you see the ancient baths up close along with Roman artifacts and learn how the complex originally worked.

Following the Roman Baths visit, additional free time in this walkable town may be available depending on the schedule, before the drive back to the Isle of Portland.