Bathing and Cursing Like a Roman in Bath, England, Bath, England

It’s a well-known fact that the Romans liked their baths. They built elaborate bath houses with multiple rooms for hot, cold, and warm soaking. Many remnants of these buildings can be found around Europe and one of them is in Bath, England - a town named for its Roman Baths.

On our recent trip to Bath, we felt very Roman as we walked through the honey colored stone of the old town center. Although the Romans are long gone, we were able to replicate their bathing experience in a modern way at Thermae Bath Spa. We were in a thoroughly up-to-date facility, but we had pretty much the same experience as the Romans of old must have had.

Modern Thermae Bath Spa. The exterior looks traditional, but you can see the glass around the roof pool to the right.

At the Thermae Bath Spa, there is an assortment of massages and other treatments for pampering yourself. Or you can just step into the pool that’s filled with warm mineral water. This water bubbles up from the very same spring the Romans bathed in. The Romans considered these waters sacred and healing - I don’t know about that, but they certainly are relaxing.

There are actually two pools: one is inside and the other is an open-air roof pool where you can look out over the city of Bath. When you tire of lounging in the pools, you can go into the infrared sauna, an aroma-infused steam room, or an ice room where you can scoop up handfuls of ice to rub on your skin. I guess the ice room is the equivalent of the Roman cold plunge pools. Brrr! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).