Famous for its seafaring history, Bristol can offer the experienced tourist numerous attractions, a wide variety of hotels, bars and cultural events, because it is not for nothing that it ranks fourth in the parade of the most visited places in England!The best time to visit Bristol is summer, when city life is in full swing with all kinds of carnivals and festivals.
Bristol, due to its location in the south of the country, is one of the warmest cities in Great Britain.The Atlantic has a strong influence on Bristol's weather, setting the average annual temperature above freezing, although the cold winter often brings frost.Snow can fall at any time from November to April, but it is quite rare.In summer, the weather is usually dry and warm with changeable cloudiness.
You can get to Bristol by train, bus and even plane.
On the plane
Bristol International Airport is located 12 km northwest of the city.Most of the arriving flights are seasonal charters, but there are also regular flights from some European cities.
The airport also has regular domestic flights from Newquay, Plymouth and Jersey, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle, Inverness and Belfast.
On the bus
Bristol can be reached by bus from Birmingham (travel time 2 hours), London (9-15 GBP, 2 hours 40 minutes), Cardiff (1 hour 5 minutes).There are also direct daily flights from Nottingham (4 hours 10 minutes) and Oxford (2 hours 45 minutes).
There are daily flights from Bristol to Bath (journey time 50 minutes), Wales (journey time 1 hour), with easy access to many cities in Somerset and Wiltshire.
On the train
Bristol is an important rail hub and has regular services to London (cost 44-62 GBP, journey time 2 hours) and South West England including Plymouth and Penzance.
The company Virgin Trains provides connections with the north of England - Glasgow (5 hours 45 minutes) with a stop in Birmingham.Most trains from major destinations arrive in Bristol at Temple Meads station.
An excellent way to travel around the city is the Bristol ferry, which departs from the center of Bristol in two directions.The first goes to Temple Meads station (about 1 hour on the way, 6-10 times a day, the ferry runs from April to October), making stops at Bristol Bridge and Castle Park.The second goes to one of the Hotwells areas of Bristol Port (journey time about 40 minutes, 12-16 sailings a day, the ferry runs all year round), making a stop at one of Bristol's main attractions, Brunel's ss Great Britain steam passenger liner museum.
Banks are usually open from 09:30 to 15:30, some branches work until 17:30, and some of them even on Saturday morning.At banks, machines that dispense cash by card are available 24 hours a day.However, it is worth considering that some machines do not serve customers for several hours at night.
Clifton suspension bridge over the deep gorge of Avon, designed in 1836-1964. Isambard Brunel is considered one of the main attractions of the city and the country. Although the bridge offers stunning views of the Bristol countryside, it has gained the infamous nickname of 'Suicide Bridge'. Nearby, in the Clifton observatory, there is a so-called "camera obscura", a curved mirror that displays a panoramic image of the observatory's surroundings on a special screen. Near the bridge are the Bristol Caves, the most famous of which is the Giant's Cave, which can be accessed via a tunnel from the Clifton Observatory.
Interesting Steam passenger liner-museum Brunel's ss Great Britain, built by the same Brunel in 1843. The museum is open to visitors every day from 10:00.Blaise Castle, which is a manor of the 18th century.and immortalized in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey as "the finest place in England".
Castle Park, located on the side of Bristol Port, was once the center of bustling streets and shops until it was bombed during the Second World War.And the ruined church of St. Peter and the ruins of Bristol Castle.
Finally, it is worth visiting the Ashton Court estate, which is the venue for many cultural events.Both the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery are open to visitors from 10:30am to 5:00pm daily.Kids will love Bristol Zoo.
Church of St. St. Stephen's in Bristol was founded in the 12th century.as a place of worship for sailors going across the Atlantic.It housed the ancient society of bell ringers.During the reconstruction of the altar in 2011 a stained glass window appeared in the church, which is a reminder that the church was involved in the local business of the slave trade.
St Paul's Carnival, an annual Caribbean-style carnival in the Bristol suburb of St Paul's.The annual Bristol Harbor Festival, which takes place in the Port of Bristol and in 2011 celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Mayfest is an annual theater arts festival.Another annual festival is the Bristol Festival of ideas.
The Bristol International Kite Festival and the Bristol International Balloon Fiestal, one of the largest festivals of its kind in Europe, take place at Ashton Court.
Bristol's two biggest shopping centers are Cabot Circus and Broadmead, located in the central part of the city.Other shopping malls, The Mall Cribbs Causeway and Avonmeads, are on the outskirts of the city.The main shopping streets are Park Street, Queens Road and The Triangle with trendy shops and restaurants.Designer boutiques, small cozy restaurants and cafes can be found in Clifton, a suburb of Bristol.
Shops are usually open 6 or 7 days a week from 09:00 to 17:30, shopping centers are often open until 20:00.Sunday hours: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Large supermarkets are open 24 hours a day, excluding Sundays.
Most of Bristol's restaurants are concentrated around the harbor and on the West End's Park Street and Whiteladies Road.Takeaway restaurants are very popular in Bristol.St Nicholas Market, next to Corn Street, has a whole street of restaurants where you can taste Italian, Indian, Moroccan and Portuguese cuisine.
