The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa

Bath’s Royal Crescent is more than just the hotel of the same name — it’s a collection of some thirty 18th-century houses joined together and spread out in a five-hundred-foot arc. This is one of the textbook specimens of Georgian architecture, one of this Roman spa town’s most famous landmarks, and its supernaturally perfect arc and immaculate lawns make for an imposing sight.

The Royal Crescent Hotel takes up houses 15 and 16 of the Crescent, and a (quite sensible) local ban on signage means it’s unmarked, though the presence of a doorman is enough of a giveaway. House number one of the Crescent may be given over to a museum decorated in authentic eighteenth-century style, but the hotel’s interiors are quite a bit more current, thanks to the work of designer Jane Clayton — think crisp contemporary-classic with a healthy smattering of antiques.

Aesthetics aside, the rooms and suites are as comfortable as can be, with rich four-poster beds and marble baths; though the in-room baths of course pale in comparison to the hotel’s airy, light-filled spa. Of course there’s no law that says when in Bath, you must do as the Romans did — other leisure options include the Library, the Pavilion Conservatory, the gardens, and Montagu’s Mews, the hotel’s flagship restaurant and bar. And in case that’s not enough, there’s plenty to do farther afield, with Bath suffering no shortage of restaurants, pubs, and sights to see.