Blog & Guides

Welcome to the Visit Bristol blog, your one-stop shop for ideas, inspiration and handy tips to make your time in Bristol that bit better!  

From suggested itineraries to festival round-ups and unmissable things to do, our guides aim to showcase the best of the city, whatever the time of year. We publish new blogs every week and keep our blog posts up-to-date with the latest information, so you can trust that you’re getting the most accurate and useful tips for your trip. 

Planning a trip with the family? Check out our guides on Places to stay with kids in and around Bristol and Things to do with teenagers. We’ve also got a list of 60 free things to do to keep costs down. 

Coming  here to sample as much of the food scene as you can? Have a read through our list of Bristol’s Michelin-starred restaurants, top cocktail bars and pub gardens, or find the best places to go for vegan food while you’re here. We’re sure you’ll also want to try a tasty Sunday roast while you’re here – we've rounded up a few of the best of those too! 

If you’re local to Bristol, or here for a few days, we’ve also got plenty of suggestions for day trips to the north, south, east and west of the city so that you can experience as much of the region as possible. Maybe you want to tick off all of the World Heritage Sites near Bristol, or discover our most accessible outdoor attractions

We’ll also have seasonal guides to help you get the most out of Summer in Bristol, from rooftop bars to scenic cycle routes, or find out what’s on for Christmas in and around the city. 

Keep checking back for more brilliant Bristol inspiration! 

5 accessible outdoor attractions in Bristol

The detailed access guides on AccessAble make planning days out quick and easy, whatever your access needs. Here the team recommends some of the most accessible outdoor attractions in Bristol. From city farms to botanic gardens, we’re lucky to have a wealth of outdoor attractions across Bristol. But…

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Inclusive family attractions in Bristol

Local blogger and mum-of-two Jade from The Autism Page has kindly penned this guest post for us, sharing her top recommendations for inclusive family-friendly attractions in Bristol. Over to Jade… Bristol is full of fantastic inclusive family attractions. Knowing that an attraction is disability…

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The story of Glenside Hospital Museum

Explore the fascinating and often surprising history of mental health care over time with Glenside Hospital Museum - a museum based within the grounds of what opened in 1861 as Bristol Asylum, continuing to support mental health in the area as Bristol Mental Hospital (1948-58) and then Glenside…

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The local's guide: Brislington

We asked local stand up comedian Mark Olver for his recommendations on where to go in this leafy suburb of south east Bristol... Image - Beeses Riverside Bar I have lived in Brislington all of my life (apart from university and a few years "at sea" in Cotham, Clifton and Redland). Many parts of…

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The Outlaws bring Bristol back to your screens

Stephen Merchant’s comedy thriller, The Outlaws, returns to UK TV screens on BBC One on Sunday 5 June 2022 and will also be available on BBC iPlayer. Originally created by Merchant and Elgin James (co-creator of US series Mayans M.C.) The series follows seven strangers from different walks of life…

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The story of the RWA: Bristol's first gallery

The Royal West of England Academy has been bringing world-class visual art to Bristol since 1844. Located in a spectacular Grade II* listed building in the heart of the city, the RWA is the UK’s only regional Academy of Art housed in its own, purpose-built gallery. With the building having recently…

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Itinerary: A guide to Bristol's historic cemeteries

Bristol-based author Charlie Revelle-Smith offers an insight into the unusual inspiration that led him to write the first installment of his Bristol Mysteries series. A graveyard may not be the first place to come to mind when imagining a perfect day out in the city, in fact, admitting that you’d…

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The story of The Matthew of Bristol

The team at The Matthew delve into the story behind this piece of maritime Bristol history for us... The Matthew you see in Bristol today is a modern reconstruction of the original Matthew that John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland in 1497. Built between 1994 and 1996 on Redcliffe Quay, in May 1997 the…

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The local's guide: Redland

Frankie Wallington tells us the best bits about this leafy area of North Bristol... OK, so I haven't strictly stuck to one area, but I live at the very top of Redland (practically on the Downs) and it’s a bit of an unknown area at times, unless you live here and then you know it’s awesome. So, I’m…

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The story of the SS Great Britain's passengers

Did you know that Brunel's SS Great Britain travelled to five different continents during her working life? In doing so she circumnavigated the globe 32 times, was the birthplace to at least 55 babies and carried passengers and crew of at least 51 different nationalities. In this article, Mollie…

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