Bath walking tour

[Mrs f.]

I saw a free walking tour I think from the town,  in BATH.     Anybody familiar with this?

[John Bull]

This tour is truly free - no gratuities

https://www.bathguides.org.uk/

 

There are others by googling "Bath UK  free city walking tour", but it is normal to tip the guide - usually history students earning pocket-money.

We've done free walking tours elsewhere, not in Bath or even in the UK - quality and group sizes vary from excellent to slow, limited & boring..

For a good 2 - 3 hr guided walking tour in Bath we'd tip about £10 per couple - that's below the US normal, but the tipping culture in the USA is very different to most of the world.

 

But Bath is very easy to visit without a guide - there are sights like the Roman Baths which charge admission (I'll presume the guide would briefly stop outside to tell you about it and you'd go back under your own steam later), and of course you're committed to moving at the pace of the group, whereas we prefer a more-flexible pace.

 

The centre of Bath is small, easy to walk for those with half-decent mobility

 

BTW, we're great fans of ho-ho buses, but Bath is an example of places where they're not worthwhile. They're not permitted in the centre, so they have a route which circumnavigates the centre - quite pointless.

 

JB 🙂

 

[matamanoa]

If anyone is ever in Bath over an evening, check out the Bizarre Bath walk.  It was very entertaining!

 

Barb

[Mrs f.]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

This tour is truly free - no gratuities

https://www.bathguides.org.uk/

 

There are others by googling "Bath UK  free city walking tour", but it is normal to tip the guide - usually history students earning pocket-money.

We've done free walking tours elsewhere, not in Bath or even in the UK - quality and group sizes vary from excellent to slow, limited & boring..

For a good 2 - 3 hr guided walking tour in Bath we'd tip about £10 per couple - that's below the US normal, but the tipping culture in the USA is very different to most of the world.

 

But Bath is very easy to visit without a guide - there are sights like the Roman Baths which charge admission (I'll presume the guide would briefly stop outside to tell you about it and you'd go back under your own steam later), and of course you're committed to moving at the pace of the group, whereas we prefer a more-flexible pace.

 

The centre of Bath is small, easy to walk for those with half-decent mobility

 

BTW, we're great fans of ho-ho buses, but Bath is an example of places where they're not worthwhile. They're not permitted in the centre, so they have a route which circumnavigates the centre - quite pointless.

 

JB 🙂

 

I figured you would know the answer!

[Mrs f.]

John Bull.....thinking of HOHO BUS in Dublin,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow.   Worth doing???

[John Bull]

52 minutes ago, Mrs f. said:

John Bull.....thinking of HOHO BUS in Dublin,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow.   Worth doing???

 

I think we did the Dublin ho-ho, it was worthwhile - but that was over a long weekend, and I don't recall whether it was time-efficient.

 

Can't help with Glasgow, but at a guess I'd think Glasgow more worthwhile than Edinburgh.

The centre of Edinburgh - the castle, the Royal Mile, Princes Street, even the ugly modernist Scottish Assembly building - is pretty compact & walkable.

But hopefully someone who's actually ridden one will answer.

 

JB 🙂

[fruitmachine]

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

I think we did the Dublin ho-ho, it was worthwhile - but that was over a long weekend, and I don't recall whether it was time-efficient.

 

Can't help with Glasgow, but at a guess I'd think Glasgow more worthwhile than Edinburgh.

The centre of Edinburgh - the castle, the Royal Mile, Princes Street, even the ugly modernist Scottish Assembly building - is pretty compact & walkable.

But hopefully someone who's actually ridden one will answer.

 

JB 🙂

The benefit of the HoHo bus in Edinburgh is that you get a very good overview of the city in just over an hour.  I'd recommend the live guide Edinburgh Tour route over the other options, as you get a slightly different commentary from each guide and usually a bit of humour and some wry local remarks.  It's run by the same company, but is a slightly quieter route than the City Sightseeing one, which means that, on the busiest days, you're less likely to find the next bus is full.  Both routes are near identical.  If you're arriving at Newhaven or Leith, their Majestic route connects those locations with the main city centre routes and is only a £6 (£5 senior) upgrade which takes in The Royal Yacht Britannia and The Royal Botanic Gardens.

In the city centre, do a full circuit, then either stay on the bus until the first place you want to visit, or get off and walk there if quicker.

[Cruisen Elf]

We did the free walking tour in Bath a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It gives you an overall picture of Bath and where various sites are located.  You do have to walk a couple of miles and some of it is uphill.  The website says that no tips are accepted, so I don't think we tipped anything, even though we're American.  😉