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!

Latest blogs

Tag: Spooky

A view of Christmas Steps in central Bristol at night

11 of the most haunted places in Bristol

Oct. 23, 2023

As Halloween is fast-approaching, it’s got us in the mood for goose bump-inducing tales of supernatural, mystical goings-on. We asked Bristol ghost Pundit John, of Haunted and Hidden Walking Tours, to reveal his top 11 most haunted places in Bristol, visited on his excursions around the city. From a…

Fear enterance sign at at Avon Valley Country Park - Credit Avon Valley Country Park

Spotlight on: FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park

Oct. 06, 2023

The UK's Best Scream Park is back! This October, the multi-award-winning FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park is back with five returning scare attractions: VITA NOVA, Malefica, X4, The Core House of Clowns. Image: Fire show at FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park Not just for the scare fans, this is a…

Graves at Arnos Vale Cemetery in Brislington, Bristol

Itinerary: A guide to Bristol's historic cemeteries

May 11, 2022

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…

Grave of Raja Rammohun Roy at Arnos Vale Cemetery in Brislington, Bristol - credit Visit West

The story of Arnos Vale Cemetery

Feb. 14, 2022

A cemetery is just a place where people are buried, right? Not Arnos Vale Cemetery. Set across 45 leafy acres just outside the city centre, it is so much more than ‘just’ a cemetery, with plenty of activities to get involved in and stories to discover. Here are 10 facts you might not know about the…

Exterior of The Llandoger Trow on King Street, Bristol

The Weird Bristol Pub Crawl

Feb. 02, 2022

Bristol is famed for its varied and popular pub scene, but locals and visitors alike are often unaware of the stories behind some of our most historic drinking establishments. Local author Charlie Revelle-Smith (Weird Bristol) has put together a pub crawl featuring five of our oldest pubs, each with…

Mysterious figure on St Nicholas Street - credit Charlie Revelle-Smith

Itinerary: Take a dark tour of Bristol

Oct. 12, 2021

Local author of the Weird Bristol history books, Charlie Revelle-Smith, takes us on his personal tour of some of Bristol’s macabre and gruesome history. From haunted pubs to bloody murder, wrap up warm and retrace the steps of our city’s darkest days… The Tour Map The route is approximately two…

An aerial view of Castle Park and St Peter's Church in central Bristol

Itinerary: The secrets behind Bristol's oldest churches

Mar. 09, 2021

It's easy to walk past Bristol's many magnificant churches and appreciate them just for their beauty, but these historic buildings have also built up centuries of stories and secrets. Bristol-based author Charlie Revelle-Smith has curated the popular @WeirdBristol books and Instagram feed in which…

Haunt Bristol: Discovering local legends with Haunted and Hidden Tour

Feb. 02, 2020

Bristol is buzzing with hidden histories, local legends and strange stories just below the surface. Here to reveal all things spooky and secretive about the area is John Hughes, who has been running Bristol’s Haunted and Hidden Tour for an impressive 15 years. The walk typically takes place every…

Itinerary: 4 spooky places to discover in Bristol

Jan. 23, 2020

Bristol is a city bustling with strange stories and mysterious tales – built on a history stemming back to Iron Age forts and Roman villas by the rivers Frome and Avon as early as the 11th century. There’s even a story behind the name. ‘Bristol’ is thought to derive from the Old English ‘Brycgstow’…