48 hours in Bristol
Day 1
We took a Megabus coach from London Victoria coach station. The ticket was £6.53 (single, per person). Our bus left promptly at 10AM and we arrived in Bristol city centre just before 1PM.
Our hotel was Hampton by Hilton which happened to be just right opposite the Megabus stop. We checked in early, dropped our bigger bags, had a cup of tea in the room and headed back outside.
Bristol is a small and walkable city with an incomprehensible (for tourists) bus system, but as we wanted to see the Clifton suspension bridge, we decided to buy a bus pass. A single bus journey cost £2.50, a day ticket can also be bought from a driver for £5 or for £4 from First ticket shop, machine at a selected bus stop or using an app.
We took a No. 8 bus to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery to see a couple of Banksy pieces. But first, we had lunch at Eat a Pitta which was right opposite the museum. Whilst their freshly made falafels could not have quite joined our falafel hall of fame, they were tasty with creamy and delicious hummus. Service was really friendly and they threw a generous amount of salads, couscous etc into our falafel sandwich/box. A £5 small sized falafel in a box was so filling and plenty for me.
Bristol Museum is free entry apart from special exhibitions.
After the museum, we hopped back on No. 8 bus towards Clifton suspension bridge. We got off the bus at ‘Clifton village’ and walked through the park to Clifton observatory (about 5 minutes walk from the bus stop.)
When you come to this end of Bristol, a visit to The Coronation Tap ciderhouse is a must. We tried Exhibition (£2.50 half pint, 8.4%) and Old Rosie (£2.10 half pint, 7.3%) and they were both fantastic. Clear, natural and refreshing taste with the right amount of complexity. If all cider tasted like this, we would be drinking it a lot more often. The Cori Tap is located just between the observatory and the bus stop. Just be mindful of their opening hours, 5:30PM weekdays and 7PM on weekends.
We then took the No. 8 bus back to the city centre. Had I planned it with a bit more care, or had a smart phone/internet connection, or the city of Bristol had a tourist friendly bus map, I would have taken m2 metrobus from the city centre to SS Great Britain where we could’ve seen Banksy’s Girl with the Pierced Eardrum street artwork, obviously SS Great Britain and had cider at The Orchard Inn. Instead, we were sort of aimlessly trying to get to somewhere whilst not knowing what buses go where… We kind of wasted about an hour on these slightly pointless bus rides.
Eventually we ended up in The Apple, another well known ciderhouse. We tried two different kind of cider (£1.90 half pint) and were disappointed by both.
We were glad that we had managed The Cori Tap earlier and have the opportunity to learn how good cider can really be in this region. The local person sat next to us said that the quality of The Apple kind of went down as they became more popular. It’s funny their cider tasted like that too; no passion, no flavour, no character.
Day 2
We enjoyed a clean, modern and specious room at Hampton. Complementary breakfast was a lot of fun with a large selection of both hot and cold foods. Our double room was £53 with a small point discount with Expedia.
Although we didn’t have any big luggage, we took full advantage of the hotel’s convenient location (opposite our coach stop) and left our bigger bag at the hotel after checking out.
Then it was time for the main event – Where The Wall’s street art walking tour. From Hampton, it was about 15minutes walk to the tour’s meeting point, College Green. The tour was exactly how we hoped it would be: fun, exciting, educational and inspirational.
Our guide was full of knowledge and passion and taught us so much about techniques involved in each art piece as well as social/historical backgrounds. 2 hours passed so quickly. The tour ended at 1PM in Stokes Croft area just behind our hotel. This fantastic tour is only under £10 and online booking is easy and straightforward. Unsurprisingly, tickets tend to get sold out, so I wouldn’t recommend waiting till last minute.
We then headed back to the centre and went to see the Corn Exchange Dual-Time Clock. The clock was originally installed in 1822 and has two minute hands. The minute hands are about 10 minutes apart with one hand showing Greenwich Mean Time and the other hand Bristol local time.
Only around the corner from the clock is Full Court Press, a coffee specialist. We had filter coffee (Colombia, £3.30) and cold brew (Brazil, £3.10). A little pricey, but really worth it as people here really seem to know what they are doing. Make sure you have a little more time than just ‘wash down and go’ – sit back and really enjoy how your coffee changes and develops after each sip.
St Nicholas market is literally a few steps away. We were expecting to see many food stalls there, but the covered market was closed and the whole place just looked deserted (it was around 3:30PM on Friday). This is when we discovered Matina and their Middle Eastern naan wrap. Sometimes you can just instantly ‘vibe’ a good place to eat and this was one of those moments. The place immediately caught our attention with such buzz. C had a marinated lamb wrap and I had a halumi wrap. The fillings, the sauce, the freshly made naan bread… it was pure happiness! £5 is completely reasonable given how tasty and enjoyable it was, and a good portion size.
On our way out, we visited Bristol Dry Gin shop, a microdistellery who creates and sells beautiful gin. I don’t claim to know anything about gin, but I don’t think I’ve ever tasted gin with so much warmth, character and attitude that just makes you smile.
We went to have a look at Christmas steps before walking slowly back to our hotel to retrieve our bags. After a short break in the hotel lobby, we crossed the road to catch our 5:55PM bus back to London (this journey was £4.75).
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