Francis Hotel Bath MGallery by Sofitel

Set across seven Georgian townhouses on Queen Square, The Francis Hotel gathers three centuries of separate histories under one roof. The buildings once housed surgeons, architects and musicians; one, Townhouse No. 11, was home to a widow named Sarah Kitson before the group was joined in 1884 as the Francis Private Hotel. That layered past now holds 98 rooms, from compact Snug doubles to the John Wood Suite, named for the architect who designed the square and lived in the building himself. Rooms carry Egyptian cotton sheets, GAIA toiletries made in the South West, and a Roberts radio by the bed. Some look straight across Queen Square toward the honey-stone run to the Royal Crescent. Below ground, a spa holds three treatment rooms and a private thermal suite, said to be the only one of its kind in Bath, alongside a garden lounge for sitting quietly before or after. Emberwood, the ground-floor brasserie, cooks over an open charcoal hearth and was picked up by Michelin within three months of opening. You can walk to the Roman Baths or Bath Abbey in minutes, then come back to a slower pace: breakfast that runs long, a chair by the window, a dog underfoot if you have brought one. Check-in and check-out times follow standard hotel practice.