Flight time
No flight needed from most of the UK
Best season
Year-round
Budget
Mid-range
Best for
Street art, food, suspension bridge, independent culture
Overview
Why Bristol for a city break?
Bristol is one of Britain's most distinctive cities — fiercely independent in character, disproportionately creative for its size, and home to the most vibrant street art scene in the country (Banksy was born and started here). The Clifton Suspension Bridge, spanning the Avon Gorge on the city's western edge, is one of the great feats of Victorian engineering. The harbourside has been transformed into an excellent cultural and food district. The food scene — from the St Nicholas Market to the restaurants of Wapping Wharf — is genuinely excellent.
From London Paddington it's 100 minutes by GWR; from Birmingham 90 minutes; from Manchester around 2.5 hours. Bristol is well-connected and reasonably priced by southern English standards. The city is entirely accessible without a car — the harbourside, Clifton, Stokes Croft and the city centre are all walkable or well-served by bus. The Cotswolds begin 30 minutes east; the Somerset coast is 45 minutes south. Glastonbury is an hour away. Bristol rewards those who explore beyond the obvious tourist trail.
Where to stay & explore
Bristol's best neighbourhoods
Harbourside & Wapping Wharf
The converted Victorian docks — the M Shed museum, the SS Great Britain, Wapping Wharf's shipping container restaurants and the best waterfront walk in the city.
Clifton
The elegant Georgian suburb on the gorge — the Suspension Bridge, the Clifton Arcade, excellent independent shops and cafés, and the Clifton Observatory with its camera obscura.
Stokes Croft & Montpelier
Bristol's most counter-cultural neighbourhood — the Banksy murals, the People's Republic of Stokes Croft, independent record shops, the best street food and the most characterful pubs.
Things to do
What to see in Bristol
1
Clifton Suspension Bridge & the Gorge
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's masterpiece — a 214-metre suspension bridge spanning the 75-metre Avon Gorge, completed in 1864, two years after his death. Walk across it (free, pedestrian access always open) and look down at the gorge. The Clifton Observatory on the Clifton side has a camera obscura and a tunnel to a cave in the gorge face. The best view of the bridge is from the opposite side — the Leigh Woods path gives the classic photograph.
2
SS Great Britain
The world's first ocean-going propeller-driven iron ship, designed by Brunel in 1843, restored in the dry dock where she was built and now one of the finest maritime museums in the world. The "glass sea" installation under the hull — the ship sits above a glass plate that reflects the keel, giving a complete view of the hull — is one of the most striking museum installations in Britain. Book online.
3
Street art & Banksy trail
Bristol has the finest street art scene in Britain — and Banksy's work is scattered across the city in unexpected places. The Visit Bristol website publishes an up-to-date map of confirmed Banksy locations. The most reliable concentrations are around Stokes Croft, Clifton and the harbourside. The Upfest festival every summer (Europe's largest street art festival) adds new work across the Bedminster neighbourhood. Do the walking tour yourself with the map; guided tours are also available.
4
M Shed & the Harbourside
The M Shed museum on the harbourside (free) covers Bristol's extraordinary history — the slave trade and its legacies, Brunel, the industrial history, the social movements — with unusual honesty and depth. The museum's cranes and railway wagons on the quayside can be seen from outside. Wapping Wharf's shipping container food and drink complex is directly adjacent. The Arnolfini (free, contemporary arts centre) and Watershed cinema are also on the harbourside.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Bristol
Bells Diner
Modern British / Montpelier
The finest restaurant in Bristol — in a converted grocery shop in Montpelier, Bells Diner has been serving exceptional modern British cooking since 1976 and remains genuinely brilliant. The menu changes seasonally; the wine list is outstanding. Book well ahead.
Wapping Wharf
Street food / shipping containers
A cluster of independent restaurants and food vendors in repurposed shipping containers on the harbourside — Cargo 1 and Cargo 2 house a changing roster of Bristol's best independent food businesses. Gambas (prawns and sherry), BOX-E (seasonal British), Root (vegetable-forward, one Michelin star) and several others. The best casual eating on the waterfront.
St Nicholas Market
Covered food market / city centre
Bristol's covered market has operated since 1745 — the Covered Market has a brilliant lunchtime street food offer (sourdough toasties at Grillstock, Ethiopian injera at Kream, Himalayan dumplings at Eat a Pitta). The surrounding Glass Arcade and Corn Street are excellent for independent retail. Open weekday lunchtimes and Saturdays.
Itinerary
3 days in Bristol — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Harbourside, SS Great Britain, Wapping Wharf evening
Bristol Temple Meads station is a 15-minute walk or short bus ride to the city centre. Head directly to the harbourside — the M Shed (free, allow 90 minutes for the slavery and Brunel sections) and the SS Great Britain (book online, allow two hours). Lunch at Wapping Wharf — Root or Gambas if you can get a table, or one of the other container vendors. Walk along the harbourside to the Arnolfini for whatever's showing. The Clifton Suspension Bridge at dusk: bus 8 from the city centre to Clifton Village, walk to the bridge, cross it and look down at the gorge in the evening light. Dinner back in Clifton or at one of the Harbourside restaurants.
Day 2
Stokes Croft street art, St Nick's Market, Clifton afternoon
Stokes Croft in the morning — the Banksy map from Visit Bristol's website, the murals along Stokes Croft and Jamaica Street, the People's Republic of Stokes Croft shop. St Nicholas Market for lunch — the covered market's street food stalls at their weekday lunchtime best. The Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (free) in the afternoon — the Egyptian mummies, the Bristol School of painting, the surprisingly good natural history collection. Clifton for the late afternoon: the Clifton Arcade (a beautiful Victorian arcade of independent shops), the Observatory camera obscura (book ahead, brilliant), Clifton Village's independent cafés. Bells Diner for dinner (booked ahead).
Day 3
Brunel's Temple Meads, a Cotswolds run, one last flat white
Brunel's original Temple Meads station (the 1840 building behind the current station) is occasionally open for tours — check ahead. The Bristol Old Vic (the oldest continuously operating theatre in the English-speaking world, 1766) is worth seeing even from the outside; guided tours run on select days. For the final day, a drive or bus to the Cotswolds is 30-40 minutes: Chipping Campden, Bourton-on-the-Water or Lacock are all accessible. Alternatively, the SS Great Britain if you haven't been, or a walk across the Clifton Suspension Bridge for the last time. One last coffee at one of Clifton's excellent independent cafés — Better Food Company or Reg the Veg for provisions — before the train.
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