A Literary Walk Through Jane Austen’s Bath—With a Few Modern Detours

The train from London to Bath takes less than 90 minutes—and whisks you 300 years back in time. The UNESCO World Heritage city’s honey-hued crescents and colonnades immediately make you feel as if you’ve stepped onto a period drama set. (Indeed, Bridgerton , three adaptations of Persuasion , and The Duchess were all filmed here.)

Jane Austen lived in Bath from 1801 to 1806, when the town was already losing its sheen as a fashionable spa resort. She didn’t write much during her years there, but the city became her muse: all six novels reference Bath, and two— Northanger Abbey and Persuasion —are set amid its social whirl.

“She definitely was inspired by Bath,” says Gabrielle Malcom , PhD, creative director of events at Strictly Jane Austen Tours and the author of two boo