Visitors to Bath Christmas Market are urged to plan journeys and to use public transport during the event which attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the city.

The warning comes from Bath and North East Somerset Council after a busy opening weekend for the market which runs until Sunday, December 15.

The market always bring a large number of people to the city centre, with last year’s event attracting around 451,000 visitors.

To avoid delays to journeys, the council is advising visitors to consider all modes of transport for their visit, especially on weekends. Bath is served by three park and ride sites, has a central train station and several bus operators providing services in and around the city.

Bath’s park and ride sites are situated in Lansdown, Newbridge and Odd Down. They have a combined total of 2,806 car parking spaces with additional overflow parking available at Lansdown. Bath's park and ride will be running longer into the evenings with additional services for the Christmas market during the following times:

The Christmas market is a short walk from Bath Spa train station, with regular train services from London Paddington, London Waterloo and Bristol Temple Meads. A train will serve Bath Spa station every six minutes on the three Saturdays of the Christmas market, with Great Western Railway running additional services for the event.

Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for highways, said: “After a busy first weekend we’re excited to welcome even more visitors to our Christmas market, which we’re pleased to say was recently named as being among eight of the UK’s best Christmas markets by Which? Magazine.

“As always, we're encouraging everyone to think ahead, plan their journeys and consider walking, cycling, taking the bus, the train or one of our three park & ride sites whenever possible.”

For visitors planning to drive into the city, parking locations can be seen on the council’s website.

Marshals will be in place at Avon Street car park helping drivers find spaces and deploying closed signage when full, keeping traffic flowing and preventing queuing on the surrounding road network.

To help ease traffic congestion the council has placed an embargo on all non-emergency highway works on key routes in and out of the city. Radio Bath will be sharing live traffic updates throughout the event.