What to do in Bath and Portsmouth

missile

We are spending a few days in Bath, then Portsmouth. We would appreciate your suggestions for things to see and do, places to eat or things to avoid.

lisyloo

If you like spas then the new Bath spa is worth going to.
I think it's £20 for 2 hours.
One of the pools is on the top of the building so you get a view of the city.
Has a couple of pools, 4 large steam rooms with different scents.
Treatments are very good there but on the pricey side.

Traffic is a good thing to avoid.
It's a goergian city with one way streets and is a bit of a nightmare for that point of view.
Where are you staying? I can probably advise on parking.
Are you in a car or going by bike?

missile

Thanks lisyloo, we are staying here> http://www.hilton.co.uk/bathcity

Going by car, my wife hates motorcycles.

catmandomoney

In Bath, I would say try and avoid the tourists but you've no chance of doing that. Jamie Oliver's Italian place was very good. Not unreasonable as a treat. In Portsmouth go to Gunwharf Quay and up Spinnaker Tower. Great views out to sea and around.

lisyloo

hmm.....Bath is really not good for parking.
The most convenient is the Hilton but it's not cheap at £21 per day.
There are two public car parks next to that but they are both short stay (max 4 hours).

The nearest long stay is Charlotte street which is £8
(P1 top left hand corner).
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/transportandstreets/Parking/carparkscouncil/Bath+Car+Parks.htm
It's more than 5 minutes but less than 10 minutes walk from the Hilton so you can do it with wheelie cases. I believe it has CCTV.

The other option is that you could park in my office car park for free which is about 2-3 minutes walk from the hilton (no-one working at weekends usually).
However there are a few complications to be negotiated, like Ted the Rottweilier (not I'm not kidding it's a reclamation yard with lots of stock outdoors).
Let me know if you want more details but it is a bit complex with numbers for the dog handler and the gate code.

What kind of food do you like?
One of the best restaurants is called the Olive Tree at the Queensbury hotel on The Circus (Nicholas Cage bought a house there for £4million in 2007 and has just sold it), but it really depends on what sort of thing you like to eat.
Bath has pretty much everything.
Don't go to La Tasco for tapas. They seem to only have one oven, so if you order tapas you have to wait a while and then some of it is cold. Would second the recommendation for Jammie Olivers. Rustic rather then posh, but very nice and quite reasonable. Only downside is you can't book so you might have to queue. It's quite popular so ask how long the queue is because once the bar is full you jsut have to stand outside and queue.

I've heard this place is good for Italian and nice location, but not eaten there.
http://www.iltocco.co.uk/

Go to have a look at the Circus and the Royal cresecent both within about 10 minutes walking distance of the hotel.

It's worth checking out the theatre just to see if there is anything on when you're going.

missile

We will be arriving Monday leaving Thursday, so I guess it would not be possible to use your car park? I did not anticipate parking would be such an issue, guess we shall have to pay £21 a night (yikes).

We prefer Italian, Indian to French. We have been rather spoiled with very good tapas bars lately, so we will give that a miss.

tanith

I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, OH and I spent the day just this week, parking is closeby and we booked the Dockyard with Tesco Clubcard deals but what a great day we spent.. We visited The Mary Rose and the Museum, had a guided tour around HMS Victory and then also visited HMS Warrior, there is also the Royal Navy Museum and a boat trip around the Port to see any Royal Navy Ships that are in Port.. it was an excellent day out we arrived early and had a splendid FRY UP in the Bus Depot Cafe across the road which kept us going most of the day... enjoy your break...

sooz

missile wrote: »

I did not anticipate parking would be such an issue, guess we shall have to pay £21 a night (yikes).

Park at the long stay as lisyloo suggests. It's 'only' £8 per day, which is a bargain in comparison, & it's really not a long walk. Why not drop your wife & the luggage off infront of the hotel, & you go & park?

Can anyone suggest other things to do in Bath with children? They've recently been to the baths, so we don't want to go again so soon.

froddington

Ideas for Portsmouth

As already mentioned: Gunwharf Quays and the Spinnaker Tower; Historic Dockyard with Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, Action Stations and loads more; boat trip around the harbour

Also - Southsea Castle, Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum, D-Day Museum, City Museum, some of the local forts, Blue Reef Aquarium ...........

You can do a City Sightseeing bus tour to get your bearings and find out more about the city.

Great place for a meal and the most amazing array of scrumptious cakes (over 30 choices last time I went!) is The 10th Hole.

Feel free to PM me if you want any more info - I've lived here for over 30 years!!

MoaningMyrtle

froddington wrote: »

Ideas for Portsmouth

As already mentioned: Gunwharf Quays and the Spinnaker Tower; Historic Dockyard with Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, Action Stations and loads more; boat trip around the harbour


Great place for a meal and the most amazing array of scrumptious cakes (over 30 choices last time I went!) is The 10th Hole.

We recently went to the 10th Hole, amazing cafe.

You could also go to the Isle of Wight for the day on the Hovercraft easily from Southsea.

missile

sooz wrote: »

Park at the long stay as lisyloo suggests. It's 'only' £8 per day, which is a bargain in comparison, & it's really not a long walk. Why not drop your wife & the luggage off infront of the hotel, & you go & park? .

The site quotes £8 for up to 11 hours. I would need 24 hour parking can you confirm?