Bristol

Introduction

Bristol Cathedral

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Bristol is a city in South West England, about 170 kilometres west of London and 70 kilometres east of Cardiff. The city itself has well over 400,000 inhabitants while the total urban area has about 550,000 inhabitants.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

• SS Great Britain
• Red Lodge
• Museum of Bristol
• @Bristol
• St. Mary Redcliffe Church
• Brandon Hill & The Cabot Tower
• Bristol Cathedral
• Corn Exchange & The Nails
• St. Nicholas Market
• Castle Park & St Peters Church
• King Street
• Bristol Zoo
• Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
• Clifton Suspension Bridge
• Clifton Downs and Observatory
• Georgian House

Events and Festivals

Weather

Bristol has a maritime climate with warm and relatvely dry summers from June to August and mild but wetter winters from December to February. Average daytime temperatures in summer are mostly between 20 and 23 °C while nights are around 12-14 °C. Winters are mostly around 7 or 8 °C during the day and a few degrees above zero at night. Precipitation is quite evenly distributed throughout the year though summers tend to be drier. October to December is the wettest time of the year with over 100mm a month.

Getting There

By Plane

Bristol Airport (BRS) serves the city. Easyjet has flights to/from Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bastia, Belfast, Berlin, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Corfu, Edinburgh, Faro, Funchal, Geneva, Glasgow, Grenoble, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Inverness, Krakow, La Rochelle, Lisbon, Madrid, Marseille, Málaga, Milan, Minorca, Murcia, Newcastle, Nice, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Pisa, Prague, Rome, Split, Toulouse, Valencia and Venice.
Ryanair has flights to/from Alicante, Belfast, Beziers, Bratislava, Budapest, Cagliari, Dublin, Girona, Knock, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Málaga, Malta, Marrakech, Milan, Poznan, Reus, Rzeszów, Seville, Shannon, Tenerife-South and Wroclaw.

Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways have many seasonal (April - October) flights to destinations in southern Europe.

To/from the airport
The airport is located along the A38, 8 miles (13 kilometres) south of Bristol city centre. The airport is signposted from the M5. Take junction 22 when approaching from the south and junction 18 when approaching from the north.
The Bristol International Flyer coach services A1 & A2 operate to and from Bristol stopping en route in Bedminster, Bristol Temple Meads railway station, and Bristol Bus station. Some services continue to Clifton. The service takes 30 minutes from the city centre. A bus service to and from Weston-super-Mare operates every two hours, service number 121. This service is operated by Wessex Connect and Bakers Coaches on behalf of North Somerset Council.

By Train

Bristol is has regular connections to London (1¼ hours) and the southwest, including Exeter (1¼ hours), Plymouth (2½ hours) and Penzance (four hours). Virgin Trains travel north to Glasgow (5¾ hours, five direct daily) via Birmingham (1½ hours, eight direct daily). Most main line trains arrive at Bristol Temple Meads. Bath makes an easy day trip (11 minutes, four per hour).

By Car

By Bus

National Express has buses to Birmingham (two hours, eight daily), London (2½ hours, at least hourly), Cardiff (1¼ hours, two daily) and Exeter (two hours, four daily). There’s also a direct daily bus to Nottingham (4¾ hours) and Oxford (three hours).

Bus X39 (one hour, several per hour) and 332 (50 minutes, hourly, seven on Sunday) run to Bath. Bus 375/376 goes to Wells (one hour) and Glastonbury (1¼ hours) every half-hour during the week and hourly on Sunday. There are buses to most destinations around Somerset and Wiltshire from Bath and Wells.

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

First Bristol operates most buses in the city.

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Work

Learn

• University of Bristol

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Post

The Royal Mail provides postal services in the United Kingdom. The Royal Mail's store fronts are called Post Office and offer services ranging from sending letters and packages to foreign currency exchange. Use the branch locator to find the nearest Post Office branch. An alternative includes TNT Post.
It's common for a post office to be incorporated into a grocery store, where there will be a small counter located at the back of the store for dealing with post related matters. All post offices are marked with signs that say 'post office' in red lettering. Post boxes can be found at any post office and standalone large red post boxes on the streets or red boxes in the sides of public buildings.