Bath in winter

Getty Images/Flickr RM

Royal Crescent

Top choice in Bath


Bath is famous for its glorious Georgian architecture, and it doesn't get any grander than this semicircular terrace of majestic town houses overlooking the green sweep of Royal Victoria Park. Designed by John Wood the Younger (1728–82) and built between 1767 and 1775, the houses appear perfectly symmetrical from the outside, but the owners were allowed to tweak the interiors, so no two houses are quite the same. No 1 Royal Crescent offers you an intriguing insight into life inside.

A walk east along Brock St from the Royal Crescent leads to the Circus, a ring of 33 houses divided into three semicircular terraces. Plaques on the houses commemorate famous residents such as Thomas Gainsborough, Clive of India and David Livingstone. The terrace was designed by John Wood the Elder, but he died in 1754, and the terrace was completed by his son in 1768.

To the south along Gravel Walk is the Georgian Garden, restored to resemble a typical 18th-century town-house garden.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Bath attractions

1. No 1 Royal Crescent

0.07 MILES

For a glimpse into the splendour and razzle-dazzle of Georgian life, head for the beautifully restored house at No 1 Royal Crescent, given to the city by…

2. The Circus

0.21 MILES

The Circus is a Georgian masterpiece. Built to John Wood the Elder's design and completed in 1768, it's said to have been inspired by the Colosseum in…

3. Georgian Garden

0.21 MILES

These tiny, walled gardens feature period plants and gravel walkways. They've been carefully restored and provide an intriguing insight into what would…

4. Bath Assembly Rooms

0.25 MILES

When they opened in 1771, the city's stately Assembly Rooms were where fashionable Bath socialites gathered to waltz, play cards and listen to the latest…

5. Fashion Museum

0.26 MILES

The world-class collections on display in this museum, within the basement of the city's Georgian Assembly Rooms, include costumes from the 17th to late…

6. Jane Austen Centre

0.32 MILES

Bath is known to many as a location in Jane Austen's novels, including Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Although Austen lived in Bath for only five years,…

7. Museum of Bath Architecture

0.35 MILES

The stories behind the building of Bath's most striking structures are explored here, using antique tools, displays on Georgian construction methods and a…

8. Herschel Museum of Astronomy

0.35 MILES

In 1781 astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus from the garden of his home, now converted into a museum. Herschel shared the house with his wife,…