Temple of Sulis Minerva

The Roman baths at Bath are a genuine showstopper - you're standing in a 2,000-year-old complex where people actually soaked themselves in naturally heated water. The Temple of Sulis Minerva sits right at the heart of it, and what strikes you immediately is how much of it still stands. The Great Bath is the obvious draw, that green-tinted rectangular pool ringed by columns, but the real fascination is wandering through the hypocaust system underneath - basically Roman central heating - and seeing how methodically they engineered everything.

It's worth allowing a good two hours minimum, though you could easily spend half a day picking through the finds and reading the inscriptions. The museum section contains thousands of artifacts: coins, jewellery, curse tablets people threw into the water hoping Sulis Minerva would sort out their enemies. History types will be absolutely absorbed. Families with younger kids might find it heavy going after an hour - there's a lot of reading involved and not much to actively do.

Bath's city centre location means you're walking distance from everything else, so it pairs nicely with other attractions. If you're staying at Bath Mill Lodge Retreat or CAMPWELL FARM, both within a few miles, you could easily make this a day trip alongside exploring the Georgian terraces and Sally Lunn's tearoom. The site itself is run by the National Trust and tends to be busy in summer - aim for mid-morning on a weekday if you can. It's not cheap, but for anyone interested in Roman Britain, it's absolutely essential.