Bath by public transport from London

Travelling independently by train (or bus) between Bath & London

Planning a day trip to Bath from London is quite straightforward—and a great choice to make.

Just hop on a train at London’s Paddington Station. Departing roughly every 30 minutes and the journey takes about 90 minutes. This is at least 30 minutes quicker than traveling by car or bus for the same route.

Bath offers a wealth of activities, and many visitors feel that they need at least one or more full days to truly appreciate the World Heritage Site.

If you’re seeking a budget-friendly option for an overnight stay or longer in Bath (and who wouldn’t?), consider booking a one-day tour that includes Stonehenge, see details below.

London to Bath by train

Frequent trains run from London’s Paddington Station taking approximately 90 minutes to do the journey. There are normally two trains an hour operating up until very late evening.

The station at Bath is formally called Bath Spa. It is very central, only 5-10 minutes’ walk from the Roman Baths.

By leaving London after 9.30am during weekdays you can purchase day return tickets much cheaper than prior. At weekends, cheap fares are available at all times.

Keep in mind that taking a guided tour from London to Bath will cost about the same as traveling on your own. Plus, these tours often include stops at either Stonehenge or Windsor. However, a drawback is that none of the tours spend more than 3 hours in Bath, and many offer even less time.

Travelling on your own with trains operating late into the evening allows you to enjoy more time in Bath than what a standard tour offers, plus you have the freedom to explore at your own pace and focus on what interests you most.

Visit our British Rail fares and timetables to/from London page for more information.

Make your own 3-day mini-break of popular English towns by train

It is quite an attractive proposition to take a 3 or 4 day tour of the main English attractions in Southern England. There are frequent trains connecting Salisbury, Bath and Oxford.

Salisbury is a good base for visiting Stonehenge in addition to its own charms. Oxford is a few miles from Blenheim Palace, Cotswolds and Stratford Upon Avon.

There are good minibus tours from both Bath and Oxford that explore the Cotswold villages where public transport for visitors is not viable.

Purchasing train tickets

The three types of tickets are broadly:

• Advance purchase: Buy in advance, sold in limited numbers and subject to availability. These tickets will have restrictions specified when purchasing.
• Off peak: Buy any time, travel off-peak. The definition of off peak can vary from ticket to ticket. These tickets may require you to travel at specific times of day, days of the week or on a specific route. Where there is more than one Off-Peak fare for a journey, the cheaper fare with more restrictions will be called Super Off-Peak.
• Anytime: Buy any time, travel any time. (The standard ticket.) Anytime fares are fully flexible tickets, with no time restrictions on when you can travel.

Getting the cheapest fares

For longer distance trains, travelling by rail can be very expensive purchasing standard fares, often more expensive than flying. Advance purchase tickets on these longer distances on the other hand can be bargains.

The cheap tickets are normally released 3 months prior to your departure date and the best deals often sell out quickly.

For the overseas visitor this can present problems as there are with few exceptions no true e tickets delivered by email at present. Tickets can be sent to UK addresses by UK post and also internationally for a fee.

You can however order tickets on-line and pick up the tickets from machines at key mainline stations. Although most central London stations have these machines, Luton and Stansted Airports do not, but Heathrow and Gatwick Airport have.

At train stations there are manned ticket offices and also ticket machines. All major credit cards are taken as well as cash.

For fares and timetables use ‘The Trainline’ website where you can also order tickets for delivery to your home address.

Train Tickets

Book in advance and save money on your journey

• UK buses
• Eurostar
• Virgin trains

National Express coaches London to/from Bath

The bus service between London and Bath is in comfortable touring coaches complete within on board washroom facilities. Travelling by coach is normally much cheaper than by rail, but for a day trip the 3-4 hour journey makes it a long, long day.

Coaches broadly run every 90 minutes. Most schedules call in on London Heathrow Airport on the way.

Tickets bought online are true e tickets, visitors from overseas can pay by credit card and have their tickets delivered by email in a couple of minutes. On National Express, a return ticket can be not much more than a single ticket at standard fare rates.

The London Terminus is located at Victoria Coach Station. Typically, passengers are allowed to check in 2 pieces of luggage, with each piece not exceeding 20kg.

Drivers handle the loading of bags, and they usually don’t weigh them. Most drivers are quite accommodating, as long as you’re not trying to take undue advantage of the policy.

Visit our National Express, FlixBus & Megabus coach services to/from London page for more information.

Create your own 2-day tour of Bath from London

A very economical way to spend 2 days in Bath is to take a regular day tour that also stops at Stonehenge for an hour on the way to Bath on the outward leg.

By taking this day tour from London below, you can leave the tour at Bath and get the train/coach back to London one or two days later, finding your own accommodation and train ticket back to London.

The tour’s affordable price, which covers admission fees, makes it financially sensible to disembark in Bath rather than taking the coach back to London.

This option is unique to this particular tour, as other tours do not ensure that Bath will be the final destination.

In the winter months (November to March) the tour doesn’t run daily.

Luggage is carried; departure is from Victoria Coach Station, London.

Stonehenge & Bath Tour from London