The Best Day Trips from Bath: A Short-Let Guest's Guide to Somerset
The Best Day Trips from Bath: A Short-Let Guest's Guide to Somerset
- Wells, Glastonbury and Cheddar Gorge are all within 30 minutes of Bath by car
- Bristol is 12 minutes by train — a full city day with world-class food, culture and waterfront
- Castle Combe and Lacock are among England's most beautiful villages — both under 40 minutes
- Stonehenge and Avebury offer two very different ways to experience Britain's prehistoric past
- Bradford on Avon is the perfect short escape — 15 minutes by train, far quieter than Bath
- Frome's independent market scene has made it one of England's most talked-about small towns
Bath rewards slow exploration — the Royal Crescent at dusk, the Thermae Spa at midday, a long lunch in the Circus. But the city is also one of the finest bases in England for day trips. Somerset stretches out to the south and west; Wiltshire opens up to the east; Bristol is practically a suburb. This guide covers ten destinations worth your time, with honest notes on getting there, what to expect, and when to go.
"Every guest who stays in Bath tells us they wish they'd come for longer. The city draws you in — but it's what's around it that keeps surprising."
The Day Trips
Wells — England's Smallest City
22 miles · ~30 min driveWells has no business being this good. England's smallest city — technically a city by virtue of its cathedral — sits quietly at the foot of the Mendip Hills, seemingly unbothered by its own magnificence. The west front of Wells Cathedral is one of the great medieval facades in Europe: 300 sculpted figures arranged across an expanse of golden stone that stops you short the moment you round the corner into the Cathedral Green.
The Cathedral itself dates from the 12th century and rewards at least an hour inside. Don't miss the scissor arches — added in the 14th century to stabilise the tower and now regarded as one of the most elegant structural solutions in English architecture. The Cathedral Close and Bishop's Palace (with its moat and famously trained swans who ring a bell for food) complete the picture.
Beyond the Cathedral, Wells is a genuinely pleasant market town with good independent cafés, a covered market, and Vicar's Close — said to be the oldest continually inhabited residential street in Europe. Arrive mid-morning, take the Cathedral at your own pace, have lunch on the market square, and you'll fill a day with ease.
Glastonbury — Tor, Abbey and Myth
24 miles · ~35 min driveGlastonbury operates on its own frequency. The town is famous for its music festival, but the site itself — the Tor rising above the Somerset Levels, the ruined Abbey below, the persistent legends connecting this flat-topped hill to Arthurian myth and early Christian pilgrimage — is worth experiencing regardless of where you stand on ley lines and healing crystals.
The Tor is a 20-minute walk from the town centre, steep but manageable, and the views from the top on a clear day take in the Somerset Levels, the Mendip Hills and — on exceptional days — as far as the Welsh coast. The roofless tower of St Michael's church at the summit is a striking silhouette against any sky. Go early if you can; the path gets busy by mid-morning in summer.
Glastonbury Abbey, in the town below, is one of England's great ruined monasteries — once one of the wealthiest in the country, destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The grounds are beautiful and the exhibition inside provides good context for the site's extraordinary history.
Cheddar Gorge — Somerset's Natural Wonder
21 miles · ~30 min driveBritain's largest gorge is more dramatic than its association with mild cheese might suggest. The B3135 road runs through the base of the gorge, with limestone cliffs rising up to 137 metres on either side — an extraordinary piece of landscape that feels genuinely out of scale with the gentle Somerset countryside around it.
The caves are the main ticketed attraction: Gough's Cave contains some of the most impressive cave formations in the country, and the archaeological finds here include Cheddar Man — Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, discovered in 1903 and dated to around 7150 BC. The Jacob's Ladder climb (274 steps) takes you to a clifftop lookout tower with views across the gorge and the Levels beyond.
Walk the clifftop path above the gorge for a perspective that most visitors miss entirely. Pack a picnic rather than relying on the cafés inside the gorge complex.
Bristol — A Full City Day Trip
13 miles · 12 min by trainBristol is Bath's larger, louder, considerably more irreverent neighbour. The train from Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads takes 12 minutes — making it the most accessible day trip from Bath and arguably the most rewarding for variety. This is a proper city: one of the best food scenes in England, world-class museums, a historic waterfront and a street art culture that is entirely serious about itself.
The Harbourside is the natural starting point. SS Great Britain — Brunel's iron steamship, now restored and in dry dock at the Great Western Dockyard — is one of the finest museum ships in the world. The M Shed, a free museum of Bristol's history, sits alongside it on the water. For food, Wapping Wharf's Cargo development has some of the city's best independents. Clifton Village — a 20-minute walk from the centre — offers the Clifton Suspension Bridge, boutique shops and excellent coffee.
Castle Combe — England's Most Photographed Village
13 miles · ~25 min driveCastle Combe has been voted England's prettiest village so many times that the label has become almost redundant — but it earns the designation. The main street, leading down to the Market Cross and the stream beyond, is an uninterrupted run of honey-coloured Cotswold stone cottages that has barely changed in 200 years. You'll recognise it from Downton Abbey, Doctor Dolittle and War Horse.
Visit on a weekday morning or out of season to have it largely to yourself. The By Brook valley walk, continuing from the village through woodland to the hamlet of Ford, adds a pleasant hour and gives the visit a proper shape.
Lacock — The National Trust Village
11 miles · ~20 min driveLacock is owned almost entirely by the National Trust, which accounts for the extraordinary state of preservation — no modern shop fronts, no anachronistic street furniture, no satellite dishes. The village appears regularly in period dramas: Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey, Wolf Hall and several Harry Potter films have all used its streets and abbey as locations.
Lacock Abbey is worth the entry fee. It began as an Augustinian nunnery in 1232 and is most famous as the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, the pioneer of photography who made some of the world's earliest photographic images here in the 1830s and 40s. The Fox Talbot Museum of the History of Photography is unexpectedly fascinating.
Bradford on Avon — Bath's Quieter Sibling
8 miles · 15 min by trainBradford on Avon is close enough to Bath that locals treat it as an extension of the city, but it has a very different character — quieter, less visited, built on a hillside above the Avon with a satisfying tangle of narrow stone lanes. The Saxon church of St Laurence (built around 705 AD) is one of the best-preserved Saxon churches in England and completely free to visit. The 14th-century tithe barn, managed by English Heritage, sits a short walk away.
The Kennet and Avon Canal runs through the town. The train from Bath Spa takes 15 minutes, making this the easiest half-day escape from Bath without a car.
Stonehenge & Avebury — Prehistoric Wiltshire
Stonehenge 38 miles · Avebury 25 milesBoth are within reach of Bath and offer surprisingly different experiences. Stonehenge is managed with a visitor centre and timed entry; you view the stones from a respectful distance, but their scale — sarsen stones dragged here from Marlborough Downs over 4,000 years ago — is genuinely imposing. Avebury, 25 miles from Bath, is the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world, and one where you can walk freely among the stones, which sit directly within an active village. The Red Lion pub is famously inside the stone circle.
If you have to choose: Stonehenge for spectacle and iconic weight; Avebury for atmosphere and freedom. Use Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Long Barrow (both within two miles of Avebury) to complete a half-day circuit.
Frome — England's Most Interesting Market Town
13 miles · ~25 min driveFrome (pronounced "Froome") has quietly become one of the most talked-about small towns in England, with an elected mayor, a well-documented commitment to independent enterprise, and a market — the Frome Independent, held on the first Sunday of each month — that draws visitors from across the South West. The medieval street plan, running up from the River Frome through Cheap Street (with its central water channel) to Catherine Hill, is genuinely distinctive.
The independent food and drink offer is impressive for a town of 27,000 people. Rye Bakery, the Cheese and Grain (a converted grain store operating as a music venue, market hall and café), and the shops on Catherine Hill and Cheap Street make it a rewarding half-day in any weather.
Longleat — Safari Park & Elizabethan Stately Home
20 miles · ~30 min driveLongleat is an odd combination that somehow works: one of England's finest Elizabethan stately homes, surrounded by 900 acres of Capability Brown landscape — and a drive-through safari park where lions and tigers are a short distance from your car window. The house itself, built in 1580, contains impressive state rooms, a remarkable library and a celebrated collection of Flemish tapestries.
Arrive when the park opens to maximise time in the drive-through sections and reduce queues. The grounds include boat trips, a maze, an adventure playground and a narrow-gauge railway. Book online in advance, particularly in school holidays.
Getting Around: Practical Notes
A car makes most of these destinations significantly easier. Bath's location at the junction of the A4, A36 and A367 puts the majority of Somerset within 40 minutes and Wiltshire within an hour.
By Train
Bristol Temple Meads (12 min from Bath Spa) and Bradford on Avon (15 min) are the most useful rail connections. Wells, Glastonbury, Castle Combe, Frome and Cheddar Gorge are not practical by public transport from Bath without significant time commitment.
Quick Reference
| Destination | Distance | Drive | By Train | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 13 miles | 30 min | 12 min ✓ | City day, food, culture |
| Bradford on Avon | 8 miles | 20 min | 15 min ✓ | Half-day, Saxon history |
| Lacock | 11 miles | 20 min | — | Village, filming locations |
| Castle Combe | 13 miles | 25 min | — | Prettiest village, walking |
| Frome | 13 miles | 25 min | — | Markets, independents |
| Wells | 22 miles | 30 min | — | Cathedral, history |
| Cheddar Gorge | 21 miles | 30 min | — | Gorge, caves, scenery |
| Glastonbury | 24 miles | 35 min | — | The Tor, Abbey, atmosphere |
| Longleat | 20 miles | 30 min | — | Safari, stately home |
| Avebury | 25 miles | 40 min | — | Prehistoric stones, open access |
| Stonehenge | 38 miles | 50 min | — | Iconic prehistoric monument |
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