The Best Car Parks in Bath + DIsabled Parking & EV Charging Locations

If you are planning a visit to Bath, England, you may be wondering how easy it is to park in the city. Bath is a popular tourist destination, and can get busy so finding a place to park can be challenging especially in the summer and Christmas period!

But there is a good selection of car parks available including private car parks, council car parks and on-street parking. Most parking in Bath isn’t free, even for blue-badge holders. So make sure to budget about £10-20 a day for parking. Alternatively, as Bath is a city that is best explored on foot I recommend staying at a hotel that includes free parking and enjoy walking around the city.

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Car Parks in Bath

The Bath and North East Somerset Council has several car parks in the city, which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These car parks have disabled parking available for Blue Badge Holders and usually have electric parking available.

There’s also a few private car parks available, but these can get expensive.

Long stay Car Parks in Bath

• Avon Street Car Park: Located near to the River Avon, The Forum and The Mission Theatre. There’s 140 spaces, motorcycle parking and 11 disabled parking spaces. Although during peak times the disabled spots are most likely taken. This car park also has long stay parking spots, so you can choose to stay here over night. There’s no limit on how long you can stay and it’s open 24 hours a day. This car park takes coins or payment using the MiPermit app.
• Charlotte Street Car Park: This car park is located near the Royal Victoria Park, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy and Queen Square. The car park has over 1000 spaces, with 24 disabled spots and electric vehicle parking. The car park is open 24 hours a day, and you can pay for up to 7 days parking at a time. There’s also no restriction on how you can stay so you could stay here for your entire stay in Bath. Charlotte Street only accepts payment through the MiPermit app, you cannot pay with cash.
• Manvers Street Car Park: This car park is near Bath Spa train station, just off South Parade. It’s also near some great hotels such as Hotel Indigo Bath. The car park has 159 spaces, including 5 disabled spaces + motorcycle parking. You can only pay for this car park using the MiPermit App, cash is not accepted.
• SouthGate Shopping Centre: This is a private car park that offers up to 24 hours parking. This is centrally located, and is near to many of Bath’s most popular retail stores. There’s also a good selection of disabled parking + parent and child parking. Parking here for 24 hours would cost you £18. The car park is secure, with disabled park spots available. You can pay using credit/debit card or the car parks own mobile app. Motorbikes in desginated spots park for free.

All the above car parks are well located, open 24 hours, and are suitable for long stay. But if you need to pay using cash then you’ll need to park in Avon Street Car Park. This is the only long stay car park in Bath that accepts cash!

Short Stay Car Parks iN bath

• Broad Street Car Park: This short stay only car park is located in Bath city centre, within walking distance of many of Bath’s best shopping areas such as Milsom Street. The car park only has 48 parking spots, and only 4 disabled parking spots available so it is quite small. The car park only lets you stay for up to 4 hours + there’s no height restrictions. This car park only accepts payment using the MiPermit App.
• Cattle Market Car Park: This car park is located near to the River Avon, and is only 5 minutes walk from Pulteney Bridge. The car park has 40 spaces, but only 1 disabled spot so I don’t recommend trying here if you need disabled parking. The car park is open 24 hours a day but there’s a 4 hour maximum stay + there’s no height restrictions. You can pay here using coins, or with the MiPermit App.
• Kingsmead Square Car Park: This car park is located by Kingsmead Square, and you’ll be 2 minutes away from the Theatre Royal and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy. It’s also located near one of Bath’s best microbreweries – The Bath Brew House. The car park has 91 spaces, including 4 disabled spaces. There’s also electric vehicle charging + no height restrictiosn. You can stay for up to 4 hours. Payment can be made using MiPermit or coins.
• Green Park Road Car Park: This car park is located near Green Park and Green Park Road making it a great spot to park if you’d like to some of Bath’s best markets. The car park has 104 parking spots, including 5 disabled spaces. There’s no height restrictions, plus free parking for motorcycles but you can only park for up to 4 hours. Green Park only accepts payment via MiPermit.
• Claverton Street Car Park: Just across the River Avon, and slightly outside the city centre you’ll find Claverton Street Car Park. Parking here gives easy access to the Tempo Escape Room Bath, the Bath Spa Florists and a walk along the Kennet & Avon Canal that passes by the Avon Towpath. The car park has a max stay of 2 hours, and is quite small with only 11 spots including 1 disabled parking spot. You can pay here using MiPermit or coins.
• Larkhall Square Car Park: Located further out of Bath, this is a small car park that offers 2 hours free parking to those shoppin nearby in Larkhall. Larkhall is a little area of Bath that has a butcher shop, farm shop, florist, hardware shop and an ironworkers. There’s also a pottery painting cafe called Crockadoodledo that is well worth visiting. This car park is free of charge but EV charging may incurr a fee.

Parking Charges in Council-owned Car Parks

The majority of car parks will charge you to park in them, even if you have a disabled parking badge. Since Spetmeber 2023 the way you’re charged for parking in Bath has changed! This is a new system that uses vehicle emissions to charge you, and is used at all council-owned car parks.

This system has been implemented to improve air quality in the city. The price of parking will depend on your vehicle’s emissions, in line with the bands used for DVLA vehicle excise duty.

You can read more about these parking charges on the council website.

On-Street Parking

Bath has quite a lot of on-street parking, with over 1000 spots available throughout the city. However, the parking is rarely free. From 8am to 7pm you’ll always need to pay for parking.

When you choose to park on the street, you’ll need to pay for your parking using the MiPermit App. You need to register your vehicle in the app to pay, so I recommend doing this before you head off.

If you can’t use the app, you can choose to pay using your phone by sending an SMS message. You have to first register for the service, and then you can use it whenever needed. Go here to find instructions on how to use the phone payment option.

Before you park on the street, make sure to check the signposts to see if there are any restrictions or time limits. Always make sure you’re not parking in a residental permit holder only area. If you park illegally, you may receive a parking fine or parking charge notice. These can be quite expensive (£70-100, sometimes more) and can result in court action if ignored.

When it comes to paying for parking in Bath, there are several options available to you. Here are some of the most common payment methods:

Coins and Correct Change

Only a few car parks accept coins as annoyingly most have moved over to a cashless system. When paying with coins you’ll always need the correct change. Otherwise if you don’t have the correct change, you’ll have to pay more than the parking fee.

Car parks that still accept coins are:

• Avon Street Car Park,
• Claverton Street Car Park,
• Kingsmead Square Car Park,
• Cattle Market Car Park

MiPermit App at the Council Car Parks

The MiPermit app is a convenient way to pay for parking in Bath. You can download the app to your smartphone and use it to pay for parking at participating pay and display car parks. You can also use the app to add more time to your parking, as long as you’re within the overall parking limits (normally 2 hours or 4 hours for short stays).

SMS Text Message

Another option for paying for parking in Bath is by sending an SMS text message. You can send a message to the number provided on the pay and display machines, and include the location number and duration of your stay. You’ll then receive a confirmation message and your parking session will begin. You have to sign up for this service by SMS text, and you can find out how to do that here.

Credit or Debit Card

If you’d like to pay using your credit or debit card, you will need to park at SouthGate Shopping Centre car park. As this is one of the only car parks in Bath that still let you pay at a machine using your card.

Disabled Parking

There are a lot of disabled parking spots located throughout Bath, and many are located near some of the best sights. Some of the easiest ones to find are in the car parks, but there’s also some on-street spots available.

Disabled parking isn’t always free and I always advise expecting to have to pay for disabled parking in Bath.

Whenever you park in a disabled parking spot in Bath, always use your parking clock. You need to show the time you arrived or you may get a ticket for incorrectly using the badge.

If you’re not from the UK, EU or an EEA country, you’ll need to check with the council whether they’ll recognise your countries parking badge. Those from the EU and EEA get automatic recognition for their disabled parking badges in the UK. Just make sure to always show the timer.

If you’re from the UK but you don’t currently have a blue badge, you can contact your local council to check whether you’re eligible for one. The badge is normally issued to people with mobility problems, or those who are registered blind but it’s also available for people with hidden disabilities such as mental health conditions that cause anxiety.

It is important to note that parking in a designated bay without a blue badge is not permitted and could result in a fine. Additionally, not all disabled spaces are designated bays, so be sure to check the signage before parking.

Motorcycle Parking

If you’re riding a motorcycle, you’ll be happy to know that Bath has designated parking bays for motorcycles and scooters. You can park in most car parks for free as long as you are in the desginated spots.

There’s also some free motorcycle parking on over 50 streets in Bath. You can see these on their site here. Always make sure to check the parking signs for rules, time limits etc and confirm you’re in a desginated motorcycle spot or you could get a ticket.

Electric Vehicle Parking

There are two main electric vehicle charging companies in Bath; Pod Point and Revive. They charge different rates and cover both council + private car parks. They have a range of connectors available, but you should check whether the right type of charger is available for your car.

The easiest way to find EV charging points in Bath, Bristol and Somerset is to use Zap-Map. Themap works through your browser, and is also available as an app for iOS and Android. The app will show you how many charging points there are, their types and let you pay through the app.

You could also find EV Parking spots with Chargefinder. This site is completely free to use, and lists the type of chargers available plus the company that is operating them.

Whenever you’re parking in an EV charging spot, I always recommend confirming that you are allowed to park. For example, some supermarket car parks have EV charging spots available but they require you are a customer of the store. You should also check for any time limits, or you could be sent a parking charge notice.

Park & RIde in Bath

A really convenient way to explore Bath is to use the Park and Ride service. Park and Rides are where you park your car just outside the city, and then ride a bus that travels between the car park and the city centre.

The Park & Ride service can be a lot cheaper than parking within Bath and has many more spaces available. It’s also much more relaxing than driving through the busy city centre, especially during the summer or at Christmas when the Bath Christmas Market is taking place.

There’s three different Park & Pride services available for Bath. Each covers a different side of the city so you’ll be able to find one that is easy access from whichever destination you’re coming from.

The buses run between the car park and the city, every 12-15 minutes. So you won’t have to hang around for long. Once in the city, you could get a ticket for the hop-on hop-off bus which takes you to many of Bath’s best attractions and includes commentary.

Find out more about the Bath Park & Ride service here.