Travel: 24 Hours in Bristol
Whether you're after refined, frictionless experience or want to get some dirt under your fingernails, Bristol has it covered
8am Breakfast
Hart’s Bakery is tucked away under the railway arches near Temple Meads station, and do extraordinary sourdough toast as well as a vast array of pastries. Bakers & Co does Latin-accented breakfasts – torrijas, huevos rancheros and the like – until 4pm.
10am Visit
See the Bristol Museum and Gallery or head to Brunel’s SS Great Britain and the other city museum, M Shed, before walking up the Avon Trail to Clifton Suspension Bridge and toward the open parkland of Clifton Down.
1pm Lunch
Independent businesses are key to Bristol’s aesthetic and ethos, and the coffee shop scene is particularly vibrant: try Small Street Espresso or the stark, stylish Full Court Press for starters. There are loads of world food stalls at the award-winning
St Nicholas Market in the city centre.
3pm Unwind
Plunge into the extremely handsome Clifton Lido before heading to ‘The Sliding Rock’, famous for having been worn into a smooth slide by generations of Bristolian buttocks. Gloucester Road, stuffed full of independent shops, bars and restaurants, can cater to all tastes.
7pm Eat
Stokes Croft’s Flour and Ash take great pains over their authentic Neapolitan sourdough pizzas. Small plates-led newcomer No Man’s Grace has earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand, while The Pump House and the Michelin-starred Casamia duke it out for the title of the city’s best restaurant.
9pm Chill
Up Whiteladies Road there’s a conglomeration of lively, upscale, Manhattan-flavoured bars like Alterego and Bar 135, or stick around Stokes Croft for drinks and DJs at the ultra-hip The Love Inn. The caves under Redcliffe Hill have hosted theatre events and immersive film screenings of late too.
12am Sleep
In Clifton, 9 Prince’s Buildings feels like a well-to-do friend’s comfortable, lived-in townhouse, and the West Loft Suite at the upmarket Number Thirty Eight updates Regency élan – antiques and maritime paraphernalia mix with contemporary styling.
