What to do in Bath with tween / teenagers for a few days in half term

[redbluegreenyellowbrown]

I'm thinking of taking my 2 children to Bath for a few days in October half term.
2 girls age 11 and 13 who enjoy exploring, visiting new places and are interested in most things.
They both have Blue Peter Badges, and we are NT members.

I think we will visit the Roman Baths and also the Jane Austen Centre, perhaps including Mr Darcys afternoon tea.

Can anyone recommend anything else that we should try and plan in to the about 3 days? (Probably 2 whole days and 1 afternoon and 1 morning.)

Is the American museum worth visiting?

Or maybe somewhere else of interest slightly further away, in the vague direction of Birmingham on our journey home.

We enjoyed looking round the Abbey , for us it was better than the baths . We also enjoyed the hop on / hop off bus

The Abbey is lovely, see if there's any recitals (often free). There is a few places with art but not really child oriented. You could take the train to Bristol for the day and go on the SS Great Britain or go to We the Curious. For food we all love the Coconut Tree

Get on the train to Bristol for a day, it's really close and lots to do if you've run out of steam in Bath. If you're driving Dyrham NT is nice enough, but not in Bath itself, but en route to the M4.

The architecture in Bath is lovely, and it's nice for a general wander, lots of little shops, usually some street performers, but I'm not sure it's three days worth.

herschelmuseum.org.uk

This is really interesting if they have any interest in astronomy

Thank you, this is really helpful

Maybe 2 days in Bath and day in Bristol sounds like a good idea.

Will check out that NT place too, thank you

Glastonbury is a fun day out with that age. Lots of hippy witchy shops and you can climb the Tor with fab views. The ruined Abbey is fun too.

The hop-on hop-off bus tour is really fun. We went round once without getting off because we were all a bit tired, then went again and did hop off

Also if they are readers or like books at all, Toppings is a fabulous bookshop

Longleat?

Definitely agree with Toppings, and the covered market too. There's enough in Bath for a day of pottering. Sally Lunns is great for a Bath bun. The American Museum is good, but wouldn't necessarily choose it over a day in Bristol. We the Curious is great in Bristol, and again, lots of nice places to potter and explore.

When I took DD to Bath for half term a few years ago we took the train to Salisbury and then the bus to Stonehenge, it was a great day out.

Just to add: we did a day in Bristol, a day in Bath and a day in Stonehenge/Salisbury.

As Well as the Roman Baths to look round there is also the Therme Bath Spa https://www.thermaebathspa.com . From memory the 2 hour evening session was a good deal.

Thermae spa is 16 plus and they are extremely strict on that they chrck Id and will turn you away

This is a nice place for a walk...

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/bath-bristol/prior-park-landscape-garden

Book a tour to climb up to the top of the abbey.

There is loads to do in Bath. My kids/teens enjoy or have enjoyed the Roman Baths, the Abbey, Bath Park, the costume museum (not sure if open), the American museum, Dyreham Park NT (if you have a car), Prior Park NT, crazy golf by Bath pavilion, Bath city farm (probably more for young et kids), the cinema at Kingsmead square, the art gallery (can remember its name), walk to Bathampton, and their favourite thing, mooching around the shops and going for lunch (we go to a pizza place) followed by the fudge shop.

This is a nice stop on the hop on/off bus.

https://no1royalcrescent.org.uk/

I didn’t know that. Sorry @redbluegreenyellowbrown

The museum at I think 1a The Crescent is informative and brought to life. There is also the Holbein Museum that’s pretty. Around Bath there are some boat trips and maybe paddle boarding ( if sunny) from Bradford on Avon. You could drive over to Lacock - which has Harry Potter associations. There’s a lovely choc shop there and the whole of Lacock is a film set.

Bristol has loads to do and the S S Great Britain is great as is a trip up to Clifton and the Suspension Bridge.

We go to Bath a lot to visit family.

My kids' favourite activities are:
Crazy golf in Victoria Park (an enjoyably pretty course with lots of streams!)
The roman baths. Bill Bryson does the audio tour.
The Holburne museum often has half term activities on and has a lovely cafe leading into Sidney gardens
The ponte vecchio restaurant next to pulteney bridge overlooks the weir and does lovely Italian food
Mr B's bookshop- the staff are lovely and will give great book recommendations
You can get a boat along the river or there's paddle boarding etc near the boathouse pub (nr weston)
Shopping! There's a good Zara opposite their favourite boba cafe
Cycling the two tunnels greenway

Avebury is much more fun than Stonehenge

I thought the American museum was very interesting! And the Roman baths. And I'm easily bored in museum type places.

You’re probably right
DD was doing a school topic on Stonehenge at the time and I thought it would be fun to go - and it was, she filmed a whole documentary for her class will add Avebury to my future “to visit” list.