Roman Baths

The Roman Baths are the best-preserved Roman bathing complex in northern Europe. The Romans built their first structure here around 70 AD after discovering the hot spring (the only naturally occurring hot spring in Britain, releasing 1.17 million litres of water per day at 46 degrees Celsius). The complex expanded over three centuries into a full thermae: a sacred spring, a bathing hall, and a series of rooms ranging from hot to cold. The green water in the Great Bath is fed by the same spring today, and the steam rising from the surface is the detail that photographs cannot fully prepare you for. The museum around the complex is one of the best Roman collections in Britain: the gilded bronze head of Minerva, the carved stone altar pediment, the curse tablets thrown into the spring by supplicants (a form of petition to the goddess Sulis Minerva that produced extraordinarily personal inscriptions, including requests for the goddess to punish specific people who had stolen specific items). Entry is GBP 26 for adults. The site is busy year-round and extremely busy in summer: book skip-the-line tickets in advance. The evening tours (running in high season from 7 PM, when the site is lit by torchlight) are significantly less crowded than daytime and worth the effort of planning around.