Sights in Bristol
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SS Great Britain
In 1843 Brunel designed the mighty SS Great Britain, the first transatlantic steamship to be driven by a screw propeller. For 43 years the ship served as a luxury ocean-going liner and cargo vessel, but huge running costs and mounting debts meant she was eventually sold off to serve as a troopship and coal hulk, a sorry fate for such an important vessel. By 1937 she was no longer watertight and was abandoned near Port Stanley in the Falklands, before finally being towed back to Bristol in 1970.
Since then a massive 30-year restoration program has brought SS Great Britain back to stunning life. The ship's rooms have been refurbished in impeccable detail, including the galle…
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British Empire & Commonwealth Museum
Bristol's slave-trading past is thoughtfully explored at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum. Dealing with the history and consequences of British colonial conquest, the 16 galleries range over 500 years of British trade, exploration and exploitation, and while there's a conscious attempt at perspective, it's hard not to be moved by the stories of subjugation that underpinned Britain's imperial rise.
Highlights include sepia-toned films from the Empire's heyday and a collection of outfits worn by colonial administrators, Indian viceroys and tribal chiefs. Breaking the Chains, marking the bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1807, interweaves film, music and…
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Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton's most famous (and photographed) landmark is another Brunel masterpiece, the 76m-high Clifton Suspension Bridge, which spans the Avon Gorge from Clifton over to Leigh Woods in northern Somerset. Construction began in 1836, but sadly Brunel died before the bridge's completion in 1864. It was mainly designed to carry light horse-drawn traffic and foot passengers, but these days around 12,000 cars cross it every day – testament to the quality of the construction and the vision of Brunel's design.
It's free to walk or cycle across the bridge; car drivers pay a 50p toll. There's a visitor information point near the tower on the Leigh Woods side. Free guided tours of t…
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Blaise Castle House Museum
In the northern suburb of Henbury is this late-18th-century house and social-history museum. Displays include vintage toys, costumes and other Victorian ephemera. Bus 43 (45 minutes, every 15 minutes) passes the castle from Colston Ave; bus 1 (20 minutes, every 10 minutes) from St Augustine's Pde doesn't stop quite as close, but is quicker and more frequent.
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Georgian House
This 18th-century house provides an atmospheric illustration of aristocratic life in Bristol during the Georgian era – and the city's links to the slave trade. The six-storeyed house was home to West India merchant John Pinney, along with his slave Pero (after whom Pero's Bridge across the harbour is named). It's decorated throughout in period style, typified by the huge kitchen (complete with cast-iron roasting spit) and the grand drawing rooms.
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St Mary Redcliffe
Described as 'the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England' by Queen Elizabeth I, St Mary Redcliffe is a stunning piece of perpendicular architecture with a soaring 89m-high spire, a grand hexagonal porch that easily outdoes Bristol cathedral in splendour, and a vaulted ceiling decorated with fine gilt bosses. The 14th-century south porch is carved with intricate birds and animals.
At the entrance to the America Chapel there is a whale rib presented to the church by John Cabot as a souvenir of his pioneering trip to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in 1497.
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Bristol Cathedral
Originally founded as the church of an Augustinian monastery in 1140, Bristol Cathedral was remodelled during the 19th century. It's one of Britain's best examples of a 'Hall Church' (meaning the nave, chapels and choir are the same height). Although the nave and the west towers are largely 19th century, the medieval choir has some fascinating misericords depicting apes in hell, quarrelling couples and dancing bears, and the south transept shelters a rare Saxon carving of the Harrowing of Hell, discovered under the chapter-house floor after a 19th-century fire.
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Red Lodge
Built in 1590 but much remodelled in 1730, this red-brick house reflects the architecture of both periods. The highlight is the Elizabethan Oak Room, which still features its original oak panelling, plasterwork ceiling and carved chimneypiece.
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City Museum & Art Gallery
Housed in a stunning Edwardian building near the university. There's a collection of British and French art on the 1st floor, along with galleries dedicated to ceramics and decorative arts. Look out for the 'Bristol Boxkite' above reception, a pioneering canvas aeroplane built in Bristol and made famous in the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. On the ground floor is the archaeological, geological and natural history wings, as well as the refurbished Egyptian Gallery.
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Explore-At-Bristol
On Bristol's revived harbourside is one of the country's leading science centres, Explore-At-Bristol. It's crammed with hundreds of hands-on exhibits demonstrating the everyday applications of science, with zones spanning ingenious inventions, optical illusions, outer-space technology and the human brain. Strum on a virtual harp, freeze your shadow, become a virtual sperm or journey across the solar system in the amazing domed Planetarium.
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Bristol Zoo
The city's award-winning zoo occupies a huge site on the north side of Clifton. Highlights include gorilla and gibbon islands, a reptile and bug house, a butterfly forest, a lion enclosure, a monkey jungle and the new Zooropia , a treetop adventure park strung with net ramps, rope bridges, hanging logs and a zip-line.
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Cabot Tower
Built in 1897 to commemorate four hundred years since Cabot's voyage to Newfoundland, the 150m-high Cabot Tower stands in the small park on Brandon Hill and can be seen from across the city. Built in red sandstone and pale-cream Bath stone, the tower offers wonderful views from the top of its spiral staircase, but be warned - it's a long, puff-powered climb to the top.
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Maritime Heritage Centre
The Maritime Heritage Centre houses various exhibits relating to the SS Great Britain and her illustrious history. East along the river is Prince's Wharf, formerly the site of Bristol's main dock and the city's Industrial Museum (currently being redeveloped into a new Museum of Bristol).
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Pero's Bridge
Look out for Pero's Bridge, which spans the river across to the Arnolfini Arts Centre, and was named after the African-born slave who served the Bristolian merchant John Pinney. On nearby Millennium Sq is a statue to Cary Grant, aka Brizzle boy Archibald Leach.
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Camera Obscura
The grassy parks of Clifton Down and Durdham Down (locally known as The Downs) make a fine picnic spot. Nearby, a scruffy observatory houses England's only Camera Obscura , which offers incredible views of the suspension bridge.
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Arnolfini Arts Centre
The city's avant-garde art gallery occupies a hulking redbrick warehouse by the river, and remains the top venue in town for modern art, as well as occasional exhibitions of dance, film and photography.
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Spike Island
Culture vultures can visit Spike Island, a centre for contemporary visual arts that's recently reopened after an around £3 million revamp, with artists' studios, a light-drenched gallery and a great café.
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Ashton Court Estate
Two miles from the city centre, this huge estate is Bristol's 'green lung', with 850 sprawling acres of oak woodland, trails and public park. It hosts many of Bristol's keynote events, including the Balloon and Kite festivals, and also contains the Avon Timberland Trail, the UK's only urban mountain bike trail.
Free estate maps are available from the visitor centre.
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The Downs
Near the bridge, the grassy parks of Clifton Down and Durdham Down (often referred to as just the Downs) make a fine spot for a picnic. Nearby, a well-worn observatory houses a camera obscura and a tunnel leading down to the Giant's Cave, a natural cavern that emerges halfway down the cliff with dizzying views across the Avon Gorge.
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Clifton
During the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy Bristol merchants transformed the former spa resort of Clifton into an elegant hilltop suburb packed with porticoed mansions – especially around Cornwallis Cres and Royal York Cres. These days, Clifton is still the poshest postcode in Bristol, with a wealth of streetside cafes and designer shops, and a villagey atmosphere that's far removed from the rest of the city.
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City Museum & Art Gallery
Housed in a stunning Edwardian baroque building, the City Museum & Art Gallery has an excellent collection of British and French art; galleries dedicated to ceramics and decorative arts; and archaeological, geological and natural-history wings.
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Bristol Lido
Bristol's public hot tub dates back to 1849, but it's been through its fair share of trials and tribulations over the last century. Having closed in 1990, it's now been completely renovated, and the original outdoor heated pool is back to its sparkling best. Elsewhere you'll find a sauna, bar and a rather good restaurant, and needless to say there are plenty of spa treatments on offer to help you unwind after a long day's sightseeing.
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Blue Reef Aquarium
Across the square is Bristol's brand-new aquarium, with tanks recreating 40 underwater environments from tropical seas to mangrove forests and coral reefs, complete with underwater viewing tunnel. The 3D IMAX cinema shows marine-themed films.
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At-Bristol
Bristol's interactive science museum has several zones spanning space, technology and the human brain. In the Curiosity Zone you get to walk through a tornado, spin on a human gyroscope and strum the strings of a virtual harp. It's fun, imaginative and highly interactive, and should keep kids enthralled for a few hours.
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