bristol sights, attractions and itinerary

Welcome to the Drink in the Sights Bristol itinerary. Here you'll find all the information you'll need to plan your trip including all the best Bristol sights and attractions with just a bit of history thrown in for good measure.

Bridges, Boats, Banksy's, Darth Vader, and a Graveyard Fairies Live in.

There really are plenty of things to put on a Bristol itinerary, and it's a proper British working city. It was only when I decided to pay this wonderful city a visit that I realised it's also its own county, which as a guy from Lincoln, in Lincolnshire I can appreciate. Bristol will forever be synonymous with seafaring, at the time when Britannia ruled the waves Bristol was at the forefront. Bristol Port was the starting point of some of the great expeditions of the British Empire including the first ever trip to North America. The docks still remain the home of The SS Great Britain, which we'll get to later, and a replica of The Matthew which made that ground breaking North American trip. The whole docks area is one of the top Bristol attractions.

Unfortunately the by-product of Bristol's naval success was that it became a major part of the slave trade. Roughly 500,000 men, women and children were transported in slave ships from Bristol during the 18th century. This is arguably the greatest injustice ever carried out by humanity, which given that as a species we are also responsible for the holocaust,  dropping nuclear bombs, global warming and far too many other atrocities to list is quite a statement. It's estimated that around the world over 4 million people still exist as slaves, with 136,000 of them in the UK, so the battle is still far from over. 

Maybe we can have some hope that the battle can be won though. After the death of George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in America in 2020 the Black Lives Matter group has gained real momentum in the UK and abroad. This has resulted in the UK, led predominately by young people, examining its own dark past. In June 2020 Bristol became the symbol of this movement as protestors pulled down the statue of Edward Colston, an English merchant, Tory member of parliament and avid slave trader. His statue was thrown into Bristol docks, and now only the plinth remains.  At the time of writing this piece I have no idea if the movement will change the world, but I hope it does.

Fortunately there's much more to this city than dodgy historical figures. It's beyond any shadow of doubt the street art capital of the UK, and some of it is amazing. It's also the city of multi award winning band Massive Attack, the birthplace of Elizabeth Blackwell, who would become the first woman to receive a medical degree and become a doctor, and David Prowse who played the greatest villain of them all, Darth Vader. Well I say he played Darth Vader he was the man in the suit, James Earl Jones was the voice of the dark side, but he's not from Bristol so we don't need to talk about him. We do however have to talk about two other people.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Bristol's Favourite Son

Probably the most famous name in Bristol is Isambard Kingdom Brunel who was the engineer behind the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain, both of which we'll get to later, and the Great Western Railway. It's fair to say he could engineer anything he put his mind to, he was certainly way ahead of his time the nineteenth century.  Such was the genius and fame of Brunel that he got his face on the two pound coin in 2006, was a feature at the 2012 London Olympics open ceremony, and in 2001 he came second in a nationwide poll to find the 100 greatest Britons. Not surprisingly Churchill came first. What is it about Brits and liking guys with cigars? 

Go in Search of Banksy

Bristol is the capital of street art in the UK and Banksy is very much chief artist and activist. While the anonymous artists work covers the city his private work sells for millions, making him the most sought after artist of his generation. He doesn't seem to have forgotten his roots though, whatever they are, as he recently bought a boat which now traverses the English channel saving migrants making the perilous crossing. Maybe one day we'll know who Banksy is, but until then you'll just have to settle for walking the streets of Bristol spotting his work. No Bristol itinerary would be complete without talking about Banksy.

Bristol Sights

The SS Great Britain

At £18 each this is the most expensive Bristol attraction, but it's also probably the best. Plus if it makes you feel any better about paying the tickets are valid for a year so you can keep going back. Also as a nice touch if your lucky enough to be named Isambard you can get in for free, which I'm sure will make up for the years of bullying at school. When I was told it'd take 3 hours to do the SS Great Britain exhibition I was more than a little skeptical, it's just a famous boat after all, and my interest in naval history is minimal at best, so how could it take that long?  Well I was pleasantly surprised, and hopefully you will be too. 

This really is an excellent place to spend a morning, or afternoon, and even if like me you don't know your port from your starboard you'll still enjoy it. The SS Great Britain ​is one of the most fascinating museums I've ever visited. We'll start with the ship itself. It was the first large iron ship to have a screw propeller, there's lots of information about why that's important for those of you that are interested, but lets just say it made it faster, so fast in fact that it did the transatlantic run from Bristol to New York in only 14 days. This was just her first run though and she'd eventually make it all the way to Australia in 1852.

You can spend a lot of time wondering around the ship visiting the kitchen, the cramped lower class quarters, the engine room, the opulent first class areas, and so much more. Every room is laid out as it was in the 19th century, with sound affects and pretty lifelike mannequins making it as close as you're going to get to a time machine.  There's information boards galore telling you about every voyage and adventure the SS Great Britain had, plus plenty of cool interactive bits to play with. Meanwhile enthusiastic volunteers are always on hand to give you extra crumbs of information, which is nice.

Once you've disembarked the ship you can head to the Being Brunel part of the exhibition where among other things you can practice drawing a perfect circle. I know it sounds dull, but it's surprisingly addictive, my top score was 86% which I was quite happy with. You'll also be greeted by an absolutely massive Brunel head protruding from a wall. Here you'll learn all about the second greatest Briton who ever lived, his massive contributions to science and industry, and a few of his vices. Honestly this really is an absolute must see when you visit Bristol. 

​Bristol Street Art

There's so much more to Bristol's street art scene than Banksy, and I personally prefer a lot of the other stuff, but that's probably why I'm writing a semi successful Bristol itinerary rather than making a fortune buying and selling art. The Stokes Croft area of Bristol in particular is just covered in so much incredible art work it kind of makes paying to go to a gallery seem like a laughable expense. Really I don't need to be talking too much about this though so I'll just put a bunch of pictures up and let you see for yourself. It's definitely a bonus that one of the top Bristol attractions is free.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

That's right folks we're back to discussing the work of our old friend Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Clifton Suspension Bridge has become the symbol of Bristol, it's a remarkable feat of 19th century engineering in a beautiful area. The bridge crosses the River Avon, and is 412 meters long. You may think Avon is a good name for a river, but while talking to a Bristolian friend of mine I discovered that Avon is simply river in Celtic, so technically this is the River River. This works in much the same way as the name Stephen means crown, or king, making Stephen King King King. Language is a funny old thing.

Bristol Attractions

Clifton Observatory

By far the best way to view the Clifton Suspension bridge and the River River is to visit the Clifton Observatory. Firstly it's a very pretty building sat on top of a hill like a mini castle near the bridge, secondly it has a camera obscura inside. Camera obscura literally translates as dark chamber, but it would eventually lead to the camera inside your smartphone. Please don't ask me how the camera works, what I can tell you though is that you go into a dark room, play around with a lever and it'll project an image from outside. In this case we have the Clifton Suspension Bridge. When in Bristol and all that.

The other feature of the observatory is that you can head down to The Giants Cave. Now I'm 6'4 which caused some issues as several of the tunnels are pretty low, and I'm really not very flexible, but nevertheless I'd recommend heading down the chasm. When you emerge on the other side of the tunnel  you'll be greeted by a cardboard cut out of our friend Isambard and probably the most iconic views of his iconic bridge. It's a great place to drink in the Bristol sights. The whole observatory visit only costs £5 and is well worth the price, plus if you don't do it you'll have literally spent 20 minutes walking to see a bridge, and then 20 minutes walking back to the centre of Bristol again which doesn't feel like a good use of your time.

The M Shed

I love the M Shed, there I said it, it's just great. It's basically a museum to all things Bristol, it's bright, it's informative, and it's free. There's a section all about different areas of Bristol with pictures and stories showing how each part of the city is unique. There's even a double decker bus down there. You'll also find no end of bright model hot air balloons flying around as a homage to the annual Bristol Balloon Fiesta, which I imagine is a lot of fun. There's information about famous people from Bristol, which is how I found out the great Lord Vader was from this great county. It's quite a career change for the actor Dave Prowse who was previously best known as The Green Cross Code Man.

Perhaps inevitably you'll also find a Banksy in here, in this case we have Banksy's Death. Not his actual death obviously, to the best of my knowledge he's still alive and kicking, just his depiction of the Grim Reaper. You'll also find the death mask of Alfred the star of Bristol Zoo which is a suitably macabre find. Finally there's Bristol Jack in the Green, he's an odd leafy fellow who is paraded around Bristol every May. The other bit of the M Shed which deserves some special attention is the section devoted to exposing the damage done to countless lives by the slave trade. It's a sobering end to an otherwise very upbeat experience. If I was just doing a list of the top free Bristol attractions this would be number 1.

Arnos Vale Cemetery 

Yay it's time for the Drink in the Sights random, off the beaten track, ideally slightly macabre selection for the Bristol itinerary. Arnos Vale cemetery is a bit of a trek from the center, and to be honest it's a rubbish walk so maybe consider getting the bus. Beyond any doubt though it's worth the effort, and it's another freebie. The cemetery is one of the best I've been to, there's some lovely monuments and grave stones across a pretty impressive plot of land. At the back there's a gorgeous wooded area you can spend a significant amount of time walking around. One of the nicest touches though is the tiny wooden doors at the bottom of some of the trees which transforms this land of the dead into a mystical place where fairies live. So there it is my off the beaten track Bristol sight.

Bristol Cathedral

This predominantly 13th century, but a little bit 19th century, mainly Gothic, but partly Norman cathedral is really quite pretty.  It's also free to get in, which is how it should be. There's a classic vaulted roof, and some nice stained glass windows. It reminds me a little bit of a mini Lincoln Cathedral and it's very well positioned on College Green next to Bristol City Hall. If like me you enjoy a good cathedral or church you'll enjoy this one. It's not spectacular but it's worth a visit and still one of the top attractions in Bristol.

Battered Churches

Not all the churches in Bristol have faired as well as the cathedral. Temple Church for example looks quite nice from some angles, but once you get close you realise the roof was destroyed in World War II. The tower was also damaged and now has a greater lean than the one in Pisa, if only Bristol's church had as good marketing as that one does it'd be a real Bristol attraction. St Peter's Church is another gorgeous church façade in Castle Park which close up is literally a hollow shell of its old self.

Bristol Itinerary Extras

The Arnolfini

Another Bristol freebie is The Arnolfini Centre for Contemporary Arts. It's an exhibition centre so I wont bang on about it too much because what I saw probably wont be there when you visit. What I will say though is that it's an impressive space. The two exhibitions on show were Chantelle Joffe's 'For Esme' which was about as far from my taste as you could get and Hassan Hajjaj's excellent 'My Rock Stars,' which features nine screens of her musical icons playing one after another. After each artist performs they all shuffle around so it always looks like they are watching the performer. The piece is excellent, and the music is even better.

Cabot Tower

John Cabot was an Italian navigator who sailed from Bristol to Canada, the Cabot Tower was built in a pretty park 400 years later and provides the best views over Bristol. I'm not really sure there's a great deal more to say about it really except that it's free to go in so why wouldn't you? Well in my case I didn't because it was in covid 19 lockdown at the time, but other than that why wouldn't you? I'm sure it's a great place to view the Bristol sights.

John Wesley's Chapel

The last thing for me to plug on this Bristol itinerary is the Small Attraction of the South West nominated John Wesley's Chapel. This is the oldest Methodist building in the world, and the preaching pulpit of John Wesley who was one of the original leaders of the Methodist movement. He was also less than popular with none Methodist clergymen who he saw as corrupt. It's probably easiest to think of him as a lesser known Martin Luther of Protestant fame. But anyway the chapel is a nice piece of Christian history, it's worth checking out if you have a spare half hour. It really is one of the best Bristol attractions so I guess it deserved its award nomination.

Day Trip to Bath

Bath is beyond any doubt one of the must see cities in the UK. The whole centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it's one of the prettiest places you'll ever visit. It's a truly unique place absolutely covered in glorious Georgian buildings the like of which you wont find anywhere else. The Roman Baths are the only ones of their kind in the UK, the abbey is gorgeous, and the whole place just feels like the perfect quaint English city. Best of all though it's only 11 minutes away from Bristol on the train, making it the perfect day trip. This really is the ideal place to go once you've done all the Bristol Itinerary.

Please also check out my guide to the Best Bars in Bristol

I hope you enjoyed my Bristol itinerary. Now that I've introduced you to the top Bristol sights and attractions it's time for you to go see them yourself. Search Expedia for your Bristol trip using the search box below.