Bath is one of the few whole cities on the UNESCO list, and it earns it twice over. Underneath lie the Roman baths of Aquae Sulis, built around the only natural hot springs in Britain, where water still comes up at around forty-six degrees and the great pool, with its later colonnade above, steams in the cold. On top sits the Georgian city that eighteenth-century society built when Bath became the place to see and be seen, in honey-coloured local limestone: the Circus, the sweep of the Royal Crescent, the shops on Pulteney Bridge over the Avon and the long elegant terraces climbing the hills.
Jane Austen lived here for a few years and used it in two of her novels, not always kindly, and the city still enjoys the connection. The abbey in the centre, with angels climbing ladders carved up its west front, is late Gothic and well worth a look inside for its fan vaulting.
As a riding destination, Bath is a city to walk, not to ride. It sits in a bowl of the Avon valley, and every road into it funnels traffic into a congested centre with one-way systems, buses and steep hills. Parking for motorbikes exists in town, but plan it before you arrive. The city introduced a clean air zone in 2021, aimed at commercial vehicles; private motorcycles are not charged, but check the current rules if you are on anything unusual. Arrive early or late and you will be happier.
The good news is everything around it. Within a few minutes you are into the southern Cotswolds, the Limpley Stoke valley with its canal and aqueducts, or out towards the Mendips, with lanes that twist through limestone villages and over steep wooded hills. Some are narrow and high-hedged, with gravel in the middle and tight blind corners, so take them gently. Fuel is easy on the main roads out of Bath; there are cafes on every corner in the city, a famous Sally Lunn bun if you want one, and the Thermae spa if you fancy floating in the hot water yourself.