Things to do in Bristol

Landmark · Clifton, west

Brunel's 1864 bridge spanning a limestone gorge 75 metres above the Avon, with the Downs on one side and woodland on the other.

Local tip: Walk across and up onto Observatory Hill for the view most photographs are taken from, then go down into the Avon Gorge nature reserve — a genuinely wild limestone habitat inside the city that almost no visitor descends into.

Culture · City centre

The old floating harbour ringed by galleries, the Arnolfini and the M Shed museum of Bristol's own history, including the honest version of its slave-trading past.

Local tip: The M Shed is free and its Bristol People gallery is the best single explanation of how the city got rich and what that meant. The working cranes and steam railway outside run on some weekends.

Food · Old City

A Georgian covered market of food stalls, record shops and traders, running since 1743 and still the best lunch in the centre.

Local tip: The lunch queues at the best stalls start before noon and it is worth arriving early. The Glass Arcade section is where the food is; the outer arcades are books, vinyl and vintage.

Nature · Runs north-east out of the city

A traffic-free walking and cycling route along a dismantled railway, running fifteen miles from central Bristol all the way to Bath.

Local tip: You can cycle to Bath, spend the afternoon there and take the train back with the bike. It is flat the entire way — a rare thing in Bristol — and it is the single best amenity the city has.

Nature · South-west, over the bridge

850 acres of deer park, ancient oaks and grassland directly across the Suspension Bridge, and the launch site of the Balloon Fiesta.

Local tip: The mountain bike trails on the estate are free, properly built and genuinely good. Walk up to the top of the estate for the best view back over the city and the gorge.

Neighborhood · North of the centre

The city's street art heartland running into an unexpected pocket of city farm, allotments and self-built houses.

Local tip: Most people photograph the Stokes Croft murals and stop. Carry on into St Werburghs for the city farm, the Mina Road tunnel and a cluster of hand-built houses on The Yard that look like nothing else in England.