Susie Bowers, from Visit Bristol, joins Daniel to talk about the largest city in the southwest of England. A city of 'five Bs', as she says... though, as the conversation develops the list of 'B's associated with Bristol grows and grows, which just goes to show how much there is to enjoy on a visit to Bristol.

An ideal city break for engineering buffs, cycling fans, hot air balloon adventurers and music lovers... not to forget the foodies and theatre darlings!

For more, check out Susie's book recommendation: An Opinionated Guide to Bristol

• Connect with our Guest, Susie Bowers
• More about the Destination Unlocked podcast

Welcome to Destination Unlocked with me, Daniel Edward.

Today on Destination Unlocked, we're going west, west of the UK today and it's

actually a place where I spent a summer.

I lived in today's location for a summer back in, I think it was 2016.

2016. Yeah.

Pretty sure of that.

It's a wonderful place and a lot of people don't think to go.

There's no reason that they shouldn't think to go.

There's a lot there.

It's just not London.

And this is the thing that I keep finding, when people talk to me

about visiting the uk, they tell me, oh, I'm gonna visit the UK.

I'm gonna go to London, and then I'm gonna go to Edinburgh.

Well, that's not the whole country.

There's so much more to see.

And so here on the Destination Unlocked Podcast, we're making a bit of an effort

to showcase some of the other parts of the UK that really ought to be on your list.

So whether you're an international traveller or indeed a fellow Brit

looking to explore more of your own country, please enjoy today's

episode of The Destination Unlocked Podcast with Suzy Bowers from

Visit West talking about Bristol.

So Susie, where are you unlocking for us today?

I am unlocking Bristol, which is the largest city

in the southwest of England, about an hour and a half west of London.

I actually enjoyed living in Bristol for a summer,

Did you?

uh, about 10 years ago now,

Amazing.

Oh, well, so you are already familiar

What would you say for somebody who really hasn't been at all

is the highlight package of Bristol?

Maybe they haven't even heard of Bristol, especially if they're international.

They might think London and Edinburgh, but what should they do in Bristol?

Yes, you are right.

A lot of people do think of the obvious places like London or Edinburgh, like

you say, Bath as well, which is only 12 minutes by train from Bristol.

For Bristol, it's got a very striking kind of independent character, there's

a rich maritime history in Bristol, which is explored through our museums.

There's a strong cultural offer.

There's year-round festivals, award-winning cycle tracks

and things like that.

Incredible Food and drink in lots of unexpected places as well.

Amazing cityscapes and also landscapes and coastline, not too far.

So there's quite a lot to uncover really.

And also you can fly into Bristol via Dublin from the US which is actually

a very convenient way to travel.

That's a really clever way to do it as an international trip

Yeah, it's very quick and once you've landed at Bristol

Airport, you really can be through the gates within 20 minutes and then

30 minutes into Bristol and you can start your adventure straight away.

I do welcome a lot of international press to the city, cause I'm PR Manager at

Visit West and I look after Bristol, and quite often I talk about the five Bs of

Bristol, so I can sort of start off with those and we can chat through some others.

tell me, what these five Bs are.

First of all, we talk about Brunel.

So Brunel is a Victorian engineer, very famous.

He was a pioneer, and still to this day there are engineering feats

that he designed that we still use.

Things like the screw propeller on the SS Great Britain, the ship that he

designed, and is now a museum in Bristol.

That ship was actually the first iron hulled ship as well.

People came to see it sail off from Bristol thinking it was going to sink.

That was what they thought was gonna happen.

So he's one of the sort of key characters synonymous with Bristol.

And we talk a lot about his engineering: as well as the SS Great Britain, the

train line connecting London to Bristol, the Great Western Railway is something

that Brunel designed along with London Paddington Station, Bristol Temple Mead

Station, Underfall Yard, which a shipping yard, on the Harborside, and of course

the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which is another hotspot to see in Bristol.

So that's Brunel.

Another character, very different though, but equally as pioneering, is

Banksy, the world famous street artist.

He's from Bristol.

He doesn't live here anymore, I believe.

though I dunno who he is.

He's kind of this anonymous.

who Is

he?

Who is he?

But he's world famous, obviously for his street art and there's many of his

pieces still up on the walls in Bristol.

There's obviously quite a number of tours and experiences related

to street art, which you can see and experience in Bristol too.

Boats is another one.

So obviously I talked a little about the maritime history and

Brunel's involvement within that too.

Bridges, obviously the Suspension Bridge I've mentioned.

And then the fifth B is balloons.

One of our most famous events is the Bristol International Balloon

Fiesta, which is held every August.

This is Europe's largest free hot air balloon festival.

And it runs say, over a weekend in August.

But it is usually like it's 6:00 AM.

You might have slept through it,

yeah.

I slept through that a hundred percent.

Yeah,

yeah, so 6:00 AM they normally have these mass ascents

of like a hundred hot air balloons, um, that fly over the city, and

then same again in the evening.

But, aside from the mass ascents, there's an awful lot that

happens, during that fiesta.

so There's a lot of entertainment and fair rides and music.

There's so much going on.

I think there are more Bs, but maybe we'll get onto those later.

Well, Bristol itself is a B. So anything with

the word Bristol ahead of it.

Bristol cathedral.

Yeah, Bristol Cathedral is a beautiful building,

as is St. Mary Redcliffe.

The city was bombed during the Second World War, obviously.

But I actually am really struck by the historic architecture and Georgian

architecture in Clifton in particular.

There's many different areas of Bristol that have some really incredible

historic buildings still standing today, and that are open for people

to visit, like you say, the cathedral there, which is on College Green.

Not all of them begin with B...

I've thought of one

Oh, go on.

Brandon Hill for a

bit of nature.

Yes.

I think it's the oldest park in Bristol.

And you're right.

For anyone who's not been to Bristol, there's a very

steep hill called Park Street.

I think it's the steepest independent High Street in the UK.

It is a climb, but it's definitely worth it.

So at the top you've got Brandon Hill, like you say, which

has got some stunning views.

I dunno whether you climbed up Cabot Tower, but there's this tower at the

top of the park and after the climb up Park Street and then climb up

Cabot, you definitely need a, a treat.

And there's lots of lovely cafes around to get some ice cream and

things to help you out after that.

It's a very quick journey back

Yes, exactly.

Get a skateboard and skate down.

I feel like Bristol a great city if you're a photographer.

Yes, it is.

You're right.

There's a number of places that are particularly photogenic and we have some

really talented local photographers.

I feel like Bristol really attracts a lot of creative people.

At Visit Bristol, we have a big Instagram account and we share a photo of the day.

But yeah, there's like the colourful houses along the

Harborside and Clifton Wood.

They're, they're stunning.

There's obviously the Clifton Suspension bridge is one of those

shots that you've gotta get.

But yeah, I would definitely say don't just take the shot.

There's a lot more to do in Bristol alongside getting those picture

perfect shots for the social media.

Can't do without it these days.

But there are places where you've gotta go in and you can go in.

One of them, you mentioned, which is a great example of

this, is the SS Great Britain.

It's not just one to look at, you go on board, you really see the historic ship.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think it is that kind of point of not just taking the shot but

actually going to experience it.

The SS Great Britain is one of our top visitor attractions in Bristol.

It's also known as the Smelliest Attraction or the

Smelliest Museum in the world.

'cause what they do is try and make it really immersive.

So those kind of have injected these weird and wonderful smells.

So you feel like you are on a Victorian ship, whether you are

in steerage or whether you are one of the first class passengers.

It is a stunning museum and a great way to experience what life on a Victorian

luxury liner would've been like.

Or you can do something very different and you could go to Clifton Observatory, which

is on the kind of raised hill, next to the bridge, along on one side of the gorge.

You can climb up to the top of their camera obscura and actually

see a working camera of the bridge from that perspective.

Or indeed, you can walk down through the cave, so through the gorge itself,

and you come out on this side and you're kind of looking up at the bridge.

They even run hard hat tours of the vaults, which are underneath the

towers that suspend the bridge itself.

And apparently they didn't even know these vaults existed till

about 15 years ago or something.

They were doing some routine maintenance work on the bridge and discovered these

huge vaults underneath the towers.

Just kind of nods back to Brunel's ingenuity that, a hundred or so years

later, we still couldn't have guessed what was in his mind at that time

and how he designed and built these

things.

He.

designed with 21st century tourism in mind,

Exactly.

How did he know?

foresight of that man.

mentioned Clifton a couple of times.

why don't we do a quick neighbourhood tour because, each neighbourhood does

have a different, vibe going for it and people might wanna stay in one

part of the city or another part depending on what connects with them.

Yeah, you're right.

A lot of people would think of Clifton Village as being the more affluent area.

There's a lot of Georgian architecture there that I said.

You've got the Suspension Bridge.

There's lots of independent restaurants there.

Some nice bougie places to eat and drink, but also some great charity shops.

It is a really lovely village.

And it definitely has that village vibe.

You feel like you are out of the city.

There's a lot of green space around.

You've got the Downs not far away.

If you want a bit of a slower pace, if you like people watching and you

like a bit of fine dining as well.

But if you want something a bit different, you could stay down

in Stokes Croft for instance.

So a lot of the street art that we talk about in the graffiti scene, a lot of

that has come out from Stokes Croft.

It's very close to city centre.

There's some brilliant places to stay.

There's Moxie Hotel and there's also Artist Residence there.

And you can do sort of street art walking tours.

You can do some spray art stencilling, and lots of food and drink there,

but more relaxed neighbourhood wine bars and really cosy spots,

but with incredible food still.

There's lots of live music venues there too.

You could also stay in city centre, 'cause there is just so much going on there.

Obviously there's the theatres.

Again, lots of music venues.

And lots of our festivals and events take place in Bristol City Centre

as well, and around the Harborside.

And there's a tiny little, kind of district called Whopping Wharf, which

is right on the Harborside as well.

And there's these converted shipping containers, which are made into

places to eat and shop and drink.

talking of the theatre.

It's a great theatre.

'cause you are, you are one of the A

venues on the national tours.

Yes.

We're really fortunate.

And we've got different theatres to cater for different shows and

therefore different audiences as well.

So you have got Bristol Hippodrome.

Carrie Grant, the famous actor, who was born in Bristol but became

famous over in Hollywood, he performed at Bristol Hippodrome.

But then you've got other historic theatres like Bristol Old Vic

Theatre, which is turning 260 in 2026.

And then you've got some smaller ones as well, like, Tobacco Factory

Theatres, which is in Bedminster.

That's another neighbourhood actually, which has got a really cool identity too.

Again, quite strong in the street art.

Also another B

B.

Yes, exactly.

Another B.

And then there's even like a hidden theatre called the Wardrobe Theatre in

another very cool area called Old Market.

So that's kind of, tiny bit east of the city, but still very close to City Centre.

It is one of our L-G-B-T-Q-I-A friendly areas and there's a brilliant

venue called Old Market Assembly and they hold incredible like

drag nights and things like that.

But also a brilliant restaurant.

And then if you wander through to the back, there's this kind of secret

little passageway and you end up in what is known as the Wardrobe Theatre.

It's a tiny little theatre and they do some incredible stuff, like they've got,

I think it's every other week they have a performance called Closer Each Day,

which is like an improvised soap opera.

And then other random things like a kind of mashup they do every

Christmas, taking two well-known productions and mashing them up

together and it's usually hilarious.

And random.

But brilliant.

Oh, that's a reason to get there for Christmas.

Exactly.

you've

mentioned with a few of these neighbourhoods about really good food.

So why don't we talk a bit about the food scene I can think of a drink very

Yes.

Is that cider

you were

gonna

say?

Yes.

Bristol, I think has been declared as the world capital of cider.

We had our first cider festival in August 2025.

Yeah, exactly.

What's that all about?

It's all about Bristol.

In fact, that would probably be one of my other Bs is like beers and burgers,

you know, that food and drink scene.

And as well as cider, there's a thriving beer scene in Bristol, a number of

independent micro breweries here.

But you've got Thatcher Cider, which is obviously a world famous brand, but it's

a family company and they run from a cider farm, which is only about half an hour

south of Bristol in the Mendip Hills.

In 2019, we were voted the best culinary destination in the

world by Food Trekking awards.

And that was the same year that Chef's Pencil did a survey, encountered Bristol

as the vegan capital of the world.

So there's a lot going for it and very recently too.

There's things like street food and Michelin star restaurants.

There's food markets, lots of new wine bars popping up.

So if we were to put out a, a few.

Examples.

Um, Given that it is such a key part of the food scene, uh, vegans must time

travelling to certain places, but, uh, it, it sounds have the opposite problem

when they where should they even go

It's kind of in tune or in line with that progressive

character that we have in Bristol.

We've got this huge choice of restaurants and places to eat if you are vegan.

They might not be exclusively vegan, but they have a very good offering on

their menu for people who are vegan.

So you've got Bristol born company called Pie Minister.

While you may have seen their restaurants around the country, perhaps in the uk, it

is a Bristol born company and you can go to their original place, which is in St.

Luke's market, which is another foodie hotspot I would definitely recommend.

but yeah, They've got a number of vegan options there, like they've

got the Mooless Moo, which is a jackfruit steak and ale pie.

They've got one called Mother Earth, which is a vegan pie and

a bed of mash and green peas.

And then for desserts you can have a pecan pie sundae and things like that.

Core is another incredible restaurant.

So that is in Bedminster again, which I mentioned earlier, is

one of those key neighbourhoods.

And they've got a lot of vegan options on their menu.

Their canellini beans are just incredible.

If you go there, you must, must try that.

The Canteen, which is in Stokes Craft.

It's got mild, mild west, one of the Banksy murals on the side of The Canteen.

And there they have an entirely vegetarian and vegan menu, so

they're really championing the kind of slow food movement.

Or if you're sort of city centre, I'd say try The Granary, they've got a

lot of dips and flatbreads and small plates, spinach salads and things

like that, which a lot of them are plant-based and cooked over fire.

So that is a great one.

There's just so many options to be honest.

I could go on and on.

I would definitely recommend if you are vegan or vegetarian, look it

up on our Visit Bristol website and we've got a lot of options there for

you to check out while you're here.

And on the fine dining to Bristol, setting up their

own restaurants, which means that Bristol actually benefits from being

at the cutting edge of the scene.

A little bit more experimental, might surprise you.

Uh, not so old

Man, there are a lot of fine dining restaurants in and around Bristol.

Not all of them are currently in the Michelin guide.

But there are quite a few that are in there at the moment.

So for like Michelin plates, I went to One York Place, by Freddie and Nessa Bird.

So Freddie Bird is a local chef.

You quite often see him on chef shows in the UK on Saturday

Kitchen and things like that.

I would definitely recommend them.

Lido is also in the Michelin guide.

This is a restored Victorian Lido, so a swimming pool, but with this

stunning restaurant, so you've got these views of the swimmers while

you're eating your fine dining.

It is a really special place.

That's different from my imagining of up restaurant

That would be a new take on it though, wouldn't it?

They do, do a swim and dine option where you can swim first and then go

and have the amazing restaurant meal.

I've done that several times.

That is in Clifton area.

You've got Box E, which is in Whopping Wharf.

I would definitely recommend that, I've been there before.

That's in that one of those shipping containers.

And that's also in the Michelin Guide.

Other, which is a new restaurant in Bedminster, only opened in 2024.

That's also included.

And then in terms of Michelin Stars, you've got places like

Bull Rush, which is in Kingsdown.

Wilson's, which is in Redlands, also very close by.

I think they got a green star.

There's quite a few further afield as well.

Quite a few in Bath, which we would recommend actually using it as a base

to perhaps explore the area and Bath, I could say it's only 12 minutes by train.

And there's a number of fantastic restaurants there too.

talk more about Yeah, I think we'll we'll talk about some

day trips from Bristol in a bit.

Before we talk about getting out Bristol itself?

you've set yourself up in a hotel.

Is it an easy city to just walk around or

Well, I've already mentioned Park Street, the very steep hill.

A lot of people say that yes, Bristol is walkable, but it is quite spread out.

We've got a very easy bus system here, so you can just tap on and tap off using

Apple Pay or your card on your phone.

Very similar to London Underground, for instance.

The buses are really good to use in Bristol.

But there's also things like e-bikes to hire, e scooters to hire.

We are a cycling city despite all the hills , and there's a number

of cycle lanes and things that are quite obvious when you are in

the city that you can use safely.

One of the other nice things, uh, that I like

about Bristol, and you can sort of turn this into an impromptu tour,

Yes.

How could I forget the ferry boat?

Thank you.

So it's basically a water taxi that runs all the way from, near

to Temple Meads train station, all the way down into the Harbour side.

I always think exploring a city by boat is a lovely way to experience it., And that's

a very reasonable way to do it as well.

But there are other sort of dedicated excursions that you do on a Bristol ferry,

whether that's a gin ferry evening, or a Bristol packet boat tour and they do a bit

more of a guided tour where you can find out a little bit more about the history of

Bristol whilst also seeing it the water.

I love to be out on the water.

I think that

Exactly,

So you West.

Um, tell, about that, because people who, who aren't so familiar with West

of England, might not be familiar

Yes.

Visit West is our business to business brand.

And underneath that we have Visit Bristol as the consumer channel.

We cover the West region, so we do kind of spill out across to north Somerset,

which is actually south of Bristol, and then South Gloucestershire, which

is north of Bristol, just to confuse things, as well as Northeast Somerset.

We do work with a number of people who have incredible

attractions and places to visit.

We've got the visitbristol.co.uk website.

And there are inquiries you can make and a real human us,

we do answer those ourselves.

and you've also, uh, got quite a good presence

on social media as well.

So depending on which platform

VisitBristol on Instagram, you've got @Visit_Bristol

on TikTok, which is growing at the moment and @VisitBristol on Facebook.

So yeah, we are across a number of the platforms, and all the links to our

social media is on the website as well.

We put lots of special offers and competitions so it is worth giving

us a follow, and seeing what we're up

to and what's happening in the

city.

What sort of are on the cards for

So much.

It's one of these things that I love about this job, its such a momentum

for Bristol, that it is hard to keep up with some of it, to be honest sometimes.

We've actually just won Best in Travel for Lonely Planet.

They do a guide every year called Best in Travel 2026, this one.

And Bristol is the only UK city to be included as a destination.

All thanks to our street art.

So we're really thrilled about that.

We are gonna be seeing a lot of people come to the city off the back of that.

There's things like Upfest, which is Europe's largest urban Painting

festival or street art festival.

The Feast on Festival, which is in July.

You've got Love Saves the Day, which is music.

So music is another part of Bristol, which is pretty iconic I would say.

The music scene.

Love Saves The Day is kind of a electronic music festival, which

is happening on the Downs in May.

We've got Forwards Festival, which is again a music

festival happening, in August.

Bristol Sounds, which is happening in June.

Lots going on in terms of events and festivals as well as, like

Harbour Festival, which is July.

August, you've got the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

There's a number of new things coming.

Bristol Zoo Project, they're opening their African forest, so they've

got some gorillas and it's all with a strong conservation story.

So that is opening in springtime.

There's an awful lot going on, which is great.

definitely does, which is

no bad thing.

I absolutely love

it.

We've not really talked about film , but Bristol actually is a UNESCO city of film.

And obviously the animators behind Wallace and Grommit and Sean the

Sheep, Aardman is part of that.

We actually had a grommet trail in summer 2025, which was hugely

successful and had driven hundreds of thousands of people to the city

'cause it's a huge international story.

Actually, their studio is very close to SS Great Britain.

So if you're on the Harborside, while it's not open to the public,

they have got a little window with an animated plasticine morph, that's

a key part of Bristol's story.

But Bottle Yard Studios is located probably about 15

minutes south of Bristol.

Some incredible filming has taken place there.

In 2026 we're really excited about Rivals , which was on Disney Plus.

The late Dame Jilly Coopers novels, Rivals have been made for Disney Plus, and

series two is coming out in 2026, so we're excited to see Bristol on screen again.

But yeah, there's actually a lot of filming that's taken place in

Bristol, but Aardman, it's their 50th anniversary in 2026, and

there'll be a celebratory exhibition at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

So that'll be a big one to look out for in summer 2026

too

Usually at this point , at this point, if if I'm talking about a

place which isn't an English speaking about, uh, the language and how you'll

get by in English and some local phrases.

Uh, obviously in Bristol, uh, the language is English, so you get the

same phrases as as most other English speaking places, but there are a few

Yes.

Do you remember any from when you

were here?

Yes.

That's probably the most famous one, gert lush which just means

really great or really cool.

And I think you and I are doing a disservice 'cause we have not got

the West Country accent, but it is more like, it's more like, gurt lush.

It's more like that.

You've

Thanks.

I try and whip it out when I need

to.

Exactly.

Another one, and this actually is probably very useful for people visiting the city,

is when you get off a bus it's almost mandatory that you say, cheers drive.

It's cheers drive.

Like, thanks driver.

But you don't have to do any accent.

But that's a nice, polite, very Bristol way of saying thank you for the lift to

your bus

driver.

That's a really nice one, and it's nice that that is custom

that people in London it's like half, half, actually maybe less than half now.

But you do still see people say thank you to the driver, but so many

Yeah.

Making no eye contact.

You don't get that.

We're a very welcoming city.

I think we voted the smiliest city at one point or the friendliest.

You definitely see people smiling and

generally being

helpful and

happy.

What are the tipping customs in

Yeah, that's a good question.

It's not always added to the bill, but it is definitely something

to, to look for on your bill.

Sometimes it'll say service charge included, and it will say like 12.5%

or 10% and therefore, you know, it's already already included on the bill.

Sometimes it won't say it, and in which case assume that it's not included.

And, i'd recommend, minimum 10% if you've had some good service.

And then you can tip upwards of that, as you would like to.

But it's definitely worth checking on your bill.

And if not, 10 to 15% would be a good starting

point.

Great.

into some.

Insider tips for, for Bristol before some trips to, to You've is there

anything, 'cause you've moved Bristol from Southampton, so is there anything that

has either particularly excited when you?

moved there

I obviously grew up on the south coast of England,

and really loved being by the sea.

And whilst Bristol is actually very close to places like Clevedon,

it is close to the coastline.

It is actually the Severn Estuary, so it's a very different kind of coast.

It's not, you know, blue sea with rambling waves and things like that.

So having missed that a little bit, I was really chuffed when, I think

it was in 2019 that The Wave opened.

It's basically like an inland surfing lake in the middle of the

countryside, just north of Bristol.

And it is incredible.

It's got perfect waves throughout the year.

So if you're a keen surfer, you know that usually you are waiting on tide times and

checking what the weather's like, but for year-round waves, that is the place to go.

And it's brilliant if you are pro surf or if you're really experienced

or if you've never done it before.

They cater their waves to all ages, levels and abilities.

So I love that kind of little slice of the ocean, which I've got just on my doorstep.

And it has that kind of a bit of a Cornwall vibe about it.

It's very laid back.

It's got a lovely cafe restaurant there, a nice bar.

And on a hot day, for me it's just one of the best places to go.

It's a little out of the way, so not everyone may have heard of it.

Hmm.

Yeah, I had not heard of that one.

fun.

Uh, let's, let's go on some some day trips from Bristol, because Bristol is

really well located for Easy And, this is why I, I recommend thinking of Bristol

as at least a week because you can then take day trips or even an overnight

trip in certain cases without feeling

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm glad you say a week.

Yes.

'cause, I think you could easily spend that and there's so much to see and do.

And we do talk a lot about using Bristol's base and exploring

different places from here.

So like un under an hour from Bristol, there's Cheddar Gorge,

which is just south of Bristol.

And that's been a filming location on 28 Years Later, the Danny Boyle film.

And that is

absolutely stunning

scenery

and obviously the

home of cheddar cheese.

I was gonna say it has a

slight

whiff

of cheese about It

It has, its, yes, exactly.

And that's not actually far from Wookey Hole, which also has caves.

So there's caves at Cheddar Gorge.

There's caves at Wookey Hole, that's sort of in Somerset, not far from the Mendips.

You could visit there for a day, you can stay over there.

There's a new place called Mad Swans, which is like a member's country club,

but without that exclusive member fee, you can go and play golf or you can play

paddle, you can stay overnight in these eco cabins are absolutely stunning.

That's only about half an hour south of Bristol.

You go to Longleat, which isn't far either.

It's just over an hour.

There's places like Stonehenge, which you can visit from

Bristol that's not far either.

Glastonbury, there's the Wye Valley, if you go north.

There's Cardiff, if you go over to Wales, that's only about an hour

away by train, just under an hour.

Bath, like I say, 12 minutes by train and they run every 15 minutes from

Temple Mead, so it is really accessible.

When you talk to people who are visiting here from say the States.

And imagine they're going to London and you could spend 15

minutes on a tube, and you're still in london, you're not far away

from where you started off.

You've gone two

You've gone two stops on the tube and that's it.

Whereas if you spend, you know, 12 minutes of the train, you go from Bristol

to Bath and you've got these two very different but very complimentary cities.

Bath being a wellbeing city and the, and the unesco world Heritage site that

it is and steeped in Roman history.

It really is gorgeous.

And then you've got Bristol, which is completely different, but so

close by, and so easy to access.

If you had to pick one day trip as your.

best one for somebody on a first time visit.

'cause if you've come back, you can obviously, you can step by step, go

through them all, but which would you say is ideal one for a first time?

For the first time, it probably would be

Bath because it is famous.

But if you have already done Bath, I'd say Thornbury is a really cute little

town on the outskirts of Bristol.

It's probably only about half an hour, it's not far from The Wave that I

mentioned, and Bristol Zoo Project.

There's kind of a cluster of things happening near to Thornbury.

So Thornbury is this market town.

But nearby, you've got all these attractions that are kind of on

that northern edge of Bristol.

There's also Aerospace Bristol, which is the museum that holds

the last Concorde to fly.

So as well as Brunel's side of engineering, Bristol's got a lot

of aerospace engineering history.

And that is all documented within Aerospace Bristol.

And you can step on board that last Concorde to Fly, which is

a really amazing experience.

Thornbury Castle, which is where Henry VIII once stayed.

And that's got a stunning restaurant as well.

There's six o'clock Gin, which is a Bristol based gin company,

but is known globally now.

That is based in Thornbury, so yeah, you could have a tour of that.

And there's lots going on and not least is a hugely anticipated YTL arena,

which will hopefully open in a few years time and that is gonna be like

the fourth largest arena in the UK.

So we're really excited about some of the music and the arts and live entertainment

that we'll see in Bristol

as a

result of that.

mean, that's not just putting Bristol on the map.

That is really elevating the whole west region.

Absolutely.

And yeah, we're really excited about seeing how that's going to impact,

you know, the amount of visitors that come in to see Bristol on centre

stage as it were, through the arena.

It's incredibly exciting to see some of it take shape even now.

'Cause they're already building it obviously.

can't wait.

What would you say your top thing to see or do in Bristol

? Susie Bowers: Okay.

I reckon maybe do a street art tour.

I think to get under the skin of Bristol and find out about sort of contemporary

art scene, the contemporary culture.

And you can also do a spray art session afterwards and take home your very

own piece of artwork would be fun.

Yeah, that is fun and good to hear.

You can take it home.

It means it's not going on a wall.

exactly.

Exactly.

Take it home, put it on your own wall in your own home.

How does Bristol Town Council balance the street

art, which clearly it likes and it brings in a lot of attention and

excitement and tagging, which is a very different form of graffiti.

Yeah, absolutely.

When we talk about street art, all we are talking about exclusively is this form

of artwork, which is permission based.

So you have the permission of the person who owns the wall and that you

are attempting to do your artwork for.

And they're usually so in demand, the artists themselves, they charge

for commissions quite rightfully.

That's the kind of street art scene that we're talking about rather

than tagging and things like that.

But if you are a budding street artist, I would definitely recommend

some of the workshops that are run by companies like Graft and Wear the Wall,

'cause those people are street artists themselves and can give expert advice

as to where to best hone your skills and to how to do that legally, obviously.

That would be my recommendation if you want to get your hands

on the cans, and have a go.

next one might be hard, I there a tourist trap

that you would suggest to avoid?

So I would.

I think you can't come to Bristol and not see some of those iconic

places that I've mentioned.

But I think the trap to avoid is just taking the shot and actually

you have to get under the skin.

You have to experience it and do some of those things rather than take a picture

of, you know, the SS Great Britain for sure, but to go and actually visit it,

to go and learn about the ship, find out about the engineering history.

Don't just take a picture of the bridge but actually go to the museum.

So walk across the bridge to Lee Woods.

As you mentioned earlier, there is the Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum.

Those are the people that run the tours as well as the vaults.

So go and experience these places rather than just going to see them.

I think that would be the trap to avoid.

And then the other one I was thinking, but we've kind of already talked about

it, is avoid thinking of visiting Bristol for just a day or just a weekend

and actually take a week and take your time to really mooch and wonder.

If you have the luxury of being able to enjoy slow travel as a concept and kind

of really wonder, I promise you that every street corner, there'll be another

surprise, whether it's another piece of art, whether it's a quirky little

cafe that used to be a public toilet.

That's a thing.

Look it up.

There's surprises all around in Bristol, and if you take the time

to really explore, then I would

definitely recommend

spending longer

here.

What

is your favourite time of year for someone to visit Bristol?

It's a very good question.

One of my favourite festivals for Bristol is the Bristol Light

Festival, which happens in winter.

But I do have to say spring summer is just unmissable for Bristol.

It's a whole vibe.

There's a variety of events and festivals.

There's balloons flying in the evenings.

People just gather at the Harborside and enjoy drinks after work.

There's live music in the air.

This just has an energy about it that really comes to the fore when it comes to

spring and summer, I would

say.

Is

there a book or a film that you'd recommend about Bristol to somebody who's

looking forward to their visit and wants to get into the mood ahead of arriving?

There's a few sort of smaller guidebooks

that I've really enjoyed.

So there's one called an Opinionated Guide to Bristol.

It's a really small, like pocket and it's obviously a series of books.

But that highlights a lot of under the radar places to explore.

It's obviously a beautiful little coffee table book as well.

Another kind of series of books, that I like, which feature

Bristol are run by Sunday Press.

They've got a mini adventures one and they've got a brunch guide as well.

Again, kind of, on a theme that's sort of highlighting lesson known places that

I think are really fun to look at and read up on in advance of visiting Bristol

and obviously our own website, which has

all the information you could

need.

would you say is the top.

Or drink to try in Bristol.

Well, we've already talked about cider and we've talked

about beer and the micro breweries.

But I think one of my favourite restaurants and things to eat,

there's a restaurant called Nadu, which is in Stokes Croft.

It's opposite The Canteen that I mentioned earlier.

And it's a Sri Lankan restaurant and they've got a few, it is like

a micro chain of restaurants in Bristol and Nadu is one of them.

But their sharing dosa is incredible.

So one of those dosa pancakes that's rolled up with all the dips, that

is stunning and a really lovely one in terms of atmosphere and menu.

I just love Nadi.

One journalist went there and described their dosas as leg sized, and now

I can't get that out of my head.

It really does it like just a leg that's on your table.

But yeah, they, they're not wrong.

It is, it is.

That was a

great one.

Wow.

my final question is if somebody's visiting and they want to take home

a souvenir from Bristol, but they don't want to go for something which

is so generic and mass produced, and probably from China, what

could they pick up from Bristol?

That's actually an authentic souvenir.

I think there's a couple of things.

So I talked about Bedminster as one of the neighbourhoods.

There's a number of street art murals around Bedminster from the Up Fest

Festival and the Upfest team actually have their own gallery shop, which

is on North Street in Bedminster.

And inside there you've got just incredible pieces of art,

street art prints and the like.

For something that feels distinctively Bristol, and something that you can

enjoy in your own home afterwards, rather than just something

that's gathering dust somewhere.

I would say a piece of art from a Bristol local artist, from

Upfest Gallery would be great.

Either that or something from the Bristol Blue Glass Shop.

I think that would be really great.

We've got this very distinctive blue glass that originated in Bristol.

There's a workshop a little bit further south, kind of near

Arnos Vale part of Bristol.

But the company itself has its shop in the centre of town.

And I would say taking home something like a Bristol blue glass bauble

for your Christmas tree or something would be a nice memento that

feels very

authentically Bristol.

Susie from Visit West.

Thank you so much for unlocking Bristol for us today.

Thanks Daniel.

Well, thank you once again to Susie from Visit West.

As she mentioned, they look after the whole area, the west of England, so

you can look up on Google or wherever.

Visit Bath, Visit Bristol, and you'll find all of their websites, which give

you the details of the places that you might want to visit in that part

of the country, which is well worth a visit if you've not done it yet.

Spread out further in the uk.

There's really a lot to enjoy here.

And if you haven't yet done so, please don't make sure that you are following

this podcast wherever you're currently listening so that the next time

you want to go travelling somewhere in the comfort of your own ears,

you'll be able to find us quickly.

Thanks again.

I'll see you then.

Bye-bye.