London vs Bath
The short answer
Bath is the cheaper trip, by roughly 22% a day — $140–220 against $180–280 mid-range per person. Both are at their best in May–Sep, so one trip can take in both.
Side by side
Mid-range, per person, in US dollars. Both guides were costed the same way — see how we work these out.
| 🇬🇧 London | 🏴 Bath | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily budgetmid-range, per person | $180–280 | $140–220cheaper |
| Cheap meallocal staple | $10–18 | $9–16 |
| Mid-range hotelper night | $190–320 | $150–260cheaper |
| Transit ridesingle trip | $3.70 | $2.50cheaper |
| Avg. monthly salarylocal, for context | ≈ $3,700 | ≈ $2,900 |
When to go
Filled months are the ones each guide recommends; hollow ones it warns off.
What you'd actually do
A few of each guide's picks, one per category before seconds — the full lists are on the guides themselves.
🇬🇧 London
Two thousand years of city stacked on itself — Roman walls under glass towers, world-class museums that cost nothing, and a pub on every corner that's older than your country.
- British Museum$Museums & galleries
- Shakespeare's Globe$Theater & shows
- Borough Market$$Markets & food
- Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese$Nightlife
- Tate Modern$Museums & galleries
🏴 Bath
A whole city built from the same honey-colored stone, wrapped around Roman baths that still steam. Small enough to walk end to end, grand enough to be a UNESCO site twice over — and 80 minutes from London by train.
- Roman Baths$$Sights
- Sally Lunn's$Food & tearooms
- The Raven$Pubs
- Thermae Bath Spa$$$Sights
- The Pump Room$$$Food & tearooms
Practicalities
| London | Bath | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | English — though a quarter of a million Londoners speak something else at home first. | English, with a soft West Country burr |
| Power | Type G plugs, 230V — the big three-pin ones; nothing else fits | Type G plugs, 230V |
| Tap water | Safe everywhere — restaurants must give you free tap water if you ask | Safe — the famous spa water is for bathing in, not drinking (though the Pump Room will sell you a glass to regret) |
The same in both:
- Currency
- Pound sterling (£). US$1 ≈ £0.79
- Time zone
- GMT (UTC+0, UTC+1 in summer)
- Emergency
- 999 or 112 · 111 for non-emergency medical advice