As Christmas approaches, the already picturesque city of Bath transforms into pretty much a holiday movie set with the Bath Christmas Market popping up, ice skating in Royal Victoria Park, candlelit carol services, and a genuine Victorian merry-go-round to light up the city centre.
Whether you’re looking for festive shopping, family-friendly Christmas events in Bath or just the cosiest Holiday cottage-style winter break, this is the Always Sunday guide to the best Christmas activities in Bath for 2024 with the best places to stay in Bath, where to shop to get the best Christmas gifts and where to find the best mulled wine to warm your Christmas cockles.
Get ready to explore this beautiful city and create holiday memories that Hallmark would pay good money to make into a movie in one of the UK’s most picturesque wintertime destinations.
Our Top Ten Christmas Activites in Bath
-
Stay in The Holiday Cottage
If you’ve ever wanted to stay in the cottage from The Holiday, our Always Sunday Boltholes are the closest you’re going to get to that Jude Law fantasy in real life! Book one of our city centre cottages, each is perfectly situated to just be a walk away from the Bath Christmas market, the prettiest tourist spots and ideally distanced between the Always Sunday Store (excellent Christmas shopping) and the Always Sunday pub (post-shopping cocktail coming up!).
Pull on that tasteful cream argyle sweater, put on your Killers CD, and snuggle into the cosiest luxury accommodation in Bath complete with a signature colour, Divine Savages wallpaper and handpicked homewares from Always Sunday Store.
How to choose where to stay in Bath
If your stay in Bath will be centred around browsing independent shops and the Bath Christmas Market, choose the perfectly pink Primrose Cottage just around the corner from the artisan quarter and a short ten minute walk from the Roman Baths and all the best Bridgerton filming locations. Pick up a mince pie from Landrace, detour to Always Sunday Store for all of your Christmas shopping needs before enjoying a nighttime stroll around the market with your hands around a deliciiously spiced mulled wine.
Alternatively, if you like your Christmas getaways to have a Hallmark flourish, our green-themed Daylily Cottage is close to all the Christmas activities you could possibly want to fulfill your festive dreams. It is as close to the ice rink as you can possibly get - so close you can pop back for a change of clothes when you get too chilly, just in time for a Christmas pantomime at the Theatre Royal which is just a few minutes walk away!
-
Go window shopping (and then go Christmas shopping) at the best Christmas window in Bath
You don’t have to go to London to see the best Christmas windows to make you feel like you’ve stepped into a magical wonderland and get you really into the festive mood. If you’re visiting Bath this Winter do not miss a chance to see our new Christmas window display. Our theme this year is “A Midnight Meet-Cute with Mr Tumnus” - think a magical winter wonderland in Bath with a woodland of bristle-tailed animals, fluffy clouds that actually light up, a man in the moon and actual working lampposts so you can schedule that ‘accidentally bumped into you’ romantic meet cute.
Once you’ve browsed, follow your nose and come inside to browse our magical wonderland and tick off everyone on your Christmas list - from luxury foodie gifts and cocktail accessories for the stressed-out hostess to big gifts for little ones and useful presents for new mums. Everything in our store is handpicked by our team so that you won’t find these anywhere else!
3. Sing some Christmas carols
Pretty much a local’s secret, did you know that every year there’s a very wholesome carol concert that takes place in the acoustically sound architecture of the Circus?
This year Carols in the Circus partners with the Salvation Army providing the music and soloist Nicole Medin to lead two of the carols. We recommend either joining in to really appreciate the effect of carols reverberating around Georgian architecture or simply pick up a mulled wine on the way and just watch and listen.
Carols in the Circus: Friday, December 15, 2023 | 7-8pm | https://carabath.com/events
4. Go ice skating in the park
Sure, it’s not quite the Rockefeller center of New York but if you want that cold reminder that you aren’t British Olympian Jeannette Altwegg then pick up your skates and get ready to fall on your bum with Bath On Ice complete with fairy lights and even an alpine bar for when you need to trade in the bruises for a mulled wine or rich hot chocolate to warm you up. If you can keep your butt off the ground long enough you’ll look adorable swanning around with your chosen loved one.
November 15th 2024 - January 5th 2025 | https://bathonice.co.uk/
5. Enjoy Christmas dinner like your momma makes it
There’s one thing about the winter season that we love and that’s a really good Sunday roast and the only place in Bath that makes it as well as we remember it growing up is Town+House pub in Bath where the potatoes are extra crispy, the yorkshire puddings are giant and there’s no Bisto gravy in sight! Book yourself a table for your stay and reserve the new and delicious Spatchcock Chicken option - a family-style sharing dish for 4-6 people complete with weekly changing sides, yorkies, roasties, bread board, purees, braised bits, bread sauce and all the other delights of a roast dinner that tastes like home.
With only five per Sunday make sure to get your booking well ahead of your stay in Bath!
6. Stroll around a traditional Christmas market in England
If you want the magic of a German Christmas market (and the extra boozy mulled wine to match) you can’t miss a stroll around the Christmas market.
Despite the addition of the local’s preview night, you actually won’t catch any Bath locals here but the Bath Christmas Market was absolutely designed for visitors from the cladded wooden huts to the real life smell of chestnuts roasting, you couldn’t design this to be any more like a movie set.
We tend to walk on by the wooden ties and sheep-shaped soaps that you see every year, in favour of the local makers we love the new addition of the small makers stalls on Green Street just a short walk from the Always Sunday Store.
Can’t make it in time for the Bath Christmas Market? We designed the Christmas Market Stroll luxury scented candle to capture that cosy festive feeling right at home.
7. Eat the best mince pie you’ve ever had
We’ve tried a few mince pies in our time but every year we’re drawn in to Landrace Bakery by the scent of cinnamon, cloves and freshly baked pastry. Instead of breakfast during your stay in Bath, pick up a warm mince pie first thing on your way into town to fuel you for your Christmas shopping.
8. Drink a Snowball cocktail like you're in the 80's
Or any festive cocktail for that matter! Step inside Town+House pub (it’s the one with the big bow on it) and ask the team to mix you up the Christmas tipple of your choice whether it’s a Bailey’s on ice, a boozy hot chocolate or the iconic Snowball.
9. Write a letter to Santa at Always Sunday Store
Be in with a chance to win something from your Christmas wish list with our in-store giveaway. All you need to do is write your letter to Santa, telling us which item you’ve got at the top of your wish list and why you think you deserve it!
We’ve installed an actual postbox at the front of the store so either pop a stamp on it and the Always Sunday store address and we’ll post it for you or come visit the store and post it yourself! Our founder Lexi will announce the winner on December 18th 2024 via Instagram and we’ll be posting about our favourites over there too so follow us @always_sunday_store
10. Do some Christmas crafts
From make-your-own ornaments and handmade wreaths to personalising gift tags and holiday cards, there’s something about the festive season that brings out the holiday D-I-Yer in everyone and while we like to think we’re the Martha Stewart’s of the world (minus the prison sentence and Snoop Dogg friendship), we know we need to have a grownup to show us the best way to use a glue gun.
If you’re looking for Christmas craft activities in Bath throughout this season, Town+House pub is hosting a DIY-ers dream of crafting classes led by professional artists. Choose from a watercolour workshop to learn how to paint, a make-your-own clay Christmas bauble with the talented team at Pottymouth Workshop who will then fire your creation for you or if you’re looking for something with a little less commitment then join the Love Makers Craft Cafe with its creative menu of self-led, open-minded activities so you can let your imagination run free!
If you're visiting Bath this Christmas, make sure to make it's an Always Sunday Christmas!