Recommend me a Hotel or B&B in Bath

Not in Kansas · 31-08-2019 1:09pm #1

I'm off to the Christmas Markets in Bath (flying in and out of Bristol) with my elderly mother and young daughter in late November.

Looking for nice central and welcoming accommodation that won't be too noisy or popular with work-dos and Christmas parties. If it has a bit of charm that would be an added bonus.

Unfortunately AirBnB is out of the question. My mother wants a hotel or B&B.

Thank you in advance.

Franz Von Peppercorn II · 31-08-2019 1:14pm

I’d stay away from the Hilton in Bath as it’s fairly depressing 70’s building. Bath spa is nice. You can also stay in Bristol which is 12 minutes away.

Evil_g · 31-08-2019 1:14pm

We stayed here a few years ago. Can't recommend it highly enough. Friendly staff, great location, and a really charming building.

Only minor drawback I can think of is that they don't have an elevator.

Bath is a wonderful town. If you get a chance you should do the free Mayor's Guides walking tour to get a sense of the history of the place.

coylemj · 31-08-2019 4:44pm

For location, the Abbey Hotel is unbeatable though it won't be the cheapest. They have rooms on the ground floor which might suit your mum. Agree with poster above about the Hilton, I stayed there once when visiting for a Leinster match, it's ok but a bit grim on the outside.

It's worth considering Bristol as a base, you will probably get cheaper accomodation and the train to Bath takes 11 or 12 minutes. It's the mainline train which connects Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington and there's about 5 or 6 trains every hour in each direction. The railway station in Bath (Bath Spa) is very close to the new shopping area which is where most of the Christmas Market stalls are located.

Example: five trains departing Bristol between 11 and 12 on a random Wednesday in October....

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/BRI/BTH/161019/1100/dep

coylemj · 31-08-2019 5:25pm

In relation to your elderly mother, be aware that north of the city centre, there are lots of steep hills in Bath so if you're looking at accommodation, see if you can find the building on Google Maps and bring up a Streetview to make sure it's not up a steep hill.

Not in Kansas · 01-09-2019 10:56am

Thank you so much all for these helpful tips!

I'm on a mission now this morning to get sorted.

zweton · 01-09-2019 1:48pm

We are going back next week and staying here again. Love it and a great location. Free wine and cheese night every night. Reasonably priced.

https://www.thezhotels.com/hotels/bath/

Not in Kansas · 02-09-2019 3:47pm

Thank you all once again. Just to say I never had such difficulty booking accommodation in my life! It was my own fault for not thinking ahead, but a combination of it being Christmas Market season and Bath Rugby Club having a home game meant all triple rooms were either booked out or astronomical at 900 euro+ even for a B&B. A real shame as some your suggestions looked stunning!

We managed to get a nice AirBnB offering so I'm happy enough but a big lesson learned!

coylemj · 02-09-2019 6:05pm

Not in Kansas wrote: »

We managed to get a nice AirBnB offering so I'm happy enough but a big lesson learned!

I did check in case you needed to be alerted if there was any conferring ceremonies in the university in November but there isn't. Happened us a few years ago when we arived to find the place jammed with grey haired couples, a lot more than we expected. Turns out that lots of the parents use their son or daughter's conferring as an excuse to stay a night or two as it's such a beautful city. The problem for other visitors is that all the local restaurants are jammed each night. That would have put the complete kibosh on you!

Not in Kansas · 02-09-2019 8:59pm

coylemj wrote: »

I did check in case you needed to be alerted if there was any conferring ceremonies in the university in November but there isn't.

Thank you for going to such trouble. I really appreciate it!

Not in Kansas · 01-01-2020 12:40pm

Just thought I would report back in for anyone that searches Bath Christmas Market in the future. Don't do it, or at least go mid-week and not at a weekend.

I have never seen anywhere as busy in my life. It was not fun! Beautiful but not fun. I pictured us having a ramble, stopping for a bite, having a ramble, stopping for a drink. That is not how it went down at all! We gave up on lunch completely on the Saturday we were there (last weekend of Nov into Dec) as we couldn't get in anywhere, not even a Costa or a Insomnia, nowhere! Queues of 25 people outside everywhere. I realise we could have grabbed light bites at stalls but I had my elderly mother with me and we were looking to sit and rest.

When we needed the loo badly M&S was suggested so we went up to their toilets and there was a queue of 40 people. We got on the open top bus and it took 20 mins just to get through the first set of lights.

This was not what I expected. Over-tourism perhaps, coupled with day trippers from Cardiff and Bristol...the queues for buses and trains at the end of the day were insane also.

Go to Bath some other time of year is my advice as it is a stunning place. It just can't cope with or cater for the volume of people at Christmas and is not enjoyable at all.

Recommend me a Hotel or B&B in Bath

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