Inspired by the York thread, I (a New Yorker) am looking for recommendations for things to see/do during two day stays in each of Bath and Oxford later this month.
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I can comment on Bath. Roman Baths, of course with the museum and sub-surface street remains. The Royal Crescent and Circus are worth checking out on foot. Assembly Rooms (if open) and Prior Park Gardens with its nice landscaped bridge and lake.
The whole centre is just a great place to walk round, soak it all in and check out the Georgian architecture and shops. Parking can be an issue though.
A good opportunity to call in at Audience (Naim dealer) on Broad Street. If it was 10 years ago I would recommend checking out the ace jazz and classical CD shops nearby but alas, they are no longer there.
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I can see why a New Yorker may wish to visit these places but they are very much a toy box image of Olde England packed with tourists and totally unreal. Bath is overrun with hen parties screaming and puking and Oxford is overrun with entitled tw… on bikes acting like they own the place. If you want to see the inbred upper classes at play it’s your place. That said, the Botanic Garden and Ashmolean museum are lovely.
I suppose it’s the reverse of our trip to New York. We stayed at the Washington Square Hotel and moseyed around the place on foot. My big memories were the Village Vanguard, the Metropolitan Opera, the Central Park café and the Highline, but my greatest memory of all is how lovely everyone was. Other than the bloke who told us there was nowhere to eat in Central Park and guided us into the restaurant just outside. We twigged that one and he went ballistic. Maybe these things are unreal to a NYC local, just as Bath and Oxford are unreal to me.
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But I am a tourist. These are places I’ve read about for years, but despite many visits to England, I have never visited them (except Oxford briefly more than 50 years ago).
BTW - the Vanguard is my favorite place to take visitors to NYC.
Nigel too cynical. Yes both are tourist traps and why not with such a heritage!
All the museums in Oxford are really good, especially the Pitt Rivers. Yes there are lots of students, inevitable, but in fact the the University goes to great lengths to attract people from all walks of life. Nigel’s comment is his not very subtle way of flouting the no politics rule!
Bath Abbey is beautiful to.
Enjoy your trip.
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I’m sure you’ll have fun, just watch your shoes when a hen party goes by. And you can always push upper class inbreds into the river.
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So what gets your goat the most Nigel, chavs honking up in Bath or the inbreds at Oxford. You are a cynical old sod!
As The Smiths wrote, neither one particularly appeals to me.
Yeah, I thought so, your musical taste is debatable, and as for Morrissey’s politics!
We don’t talk about Morrissey any more, but the Smiths’ canon is peerless. A line for every occasion. And it’s your, not you’re.
Bath is delightful and all the places mentioned are great.
The Theatre Royal does some good stuff in its smaller theatres.
Never had a problem with any form of party group.
Personally love Bath having lived close by for 7 years. Parking can be difficult but Park & Rides are good.
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Funnily enough I’m just watching Fred Dibnah at the Roman Baths in Bath. I’ve always had a soft-spot for Fred after watching his first Chimney fell on a sick day decades ago.
G
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You’re right!
I grant you the Smiths had a good bass player. Sorry to the OP for the thread deviation!
But they used to be real. Hence the baths, the university, the things worth seeing, etc.
The fact that the accoutrements are undesirable is just a side effect of being popular.
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I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve said “to paraphrase Morrisey, some [ ] are bigger than others”
I know, places are tourist traps for a reason. These days we have more holidays in France than the UK. We recently visited Cassis and La Rochelle. Both bloody awful. I’m sure they are fine in the winter when nobody is there, but in mid or high season, no. It’s the dilemma of mass tourism, it ruins places.
Probably just bitter and twisted because his kids couldn’t get into Oxbridge.
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I grew up in Bath, so maybe I can help.
The Roman Baths and the Abbey are a must. Pulteney Bridge and Parade Gardens are interesting.
Then walk up through the city cetre to the Crescents. The Royal Crescent and the Circus are not to be missed, but some of the other Crescents are not to be missed either. Lansdown Crescent, and the nearby Somerset place are cool too. Catch the view from Camden Crescent. These last ones are off the usual tourist drag.
If you have a car and are staying in Bath, then climb up Solsbury hill, and understand the lyrics to the Peter Gabriel song. It is an old Iron Age fort.
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
Maybe a walk along the Kennet and Avon Canal that runs out of Bath.
Bath has lots to offer outside of the Bucket list locations.
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