The Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain and Banksy’s famous street art are just a few of the outstanding landmarks in Bristol that you should seek out when you visit.
Bristol has a rich history, as one of the great ports of Britain, and there are a wealth of things to see. It’s also home to two superb medieval churches, several relics from its seafaring past and one of the most beautiful city suburbs in Europe, Clifton.
I’m lucky to have called Bristol home for over six months, and got to know the city intimately during this time, and over many more visits down the years.
In this guide to the city’s landmarks, I describe each site in detail, and give you information on how to get there, opening hours where applicable and ticket costs. Seeing these Bristol sights is a great introduction to the city, and I hope you enjoy it.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s stunning suspension bridge over the Avon Gorge is the most famous of Bristol landmarks, as powerful a symbol of the city as the Georgian crescents of near-neighbour Bath.
It’s one of the most amazing bridges in Europe, spanning over 700 feet (214 metres) across the Gorge, and the road is 245 feet (75 metres) above the high-water level of the River Avon.
The bridge had to pass high above the river to allow for shipping with tall masts to pass beneath. Planning and raising finances for the bridge were beset with problems – after the two towers were completed in the 1830s, the project was on hold until 1860, by which time Brunel had died. Some materials – the chains from Brunel’s demolished Hungerford Bridge in London – were obtained that year.
The Bridge was finally completed in 1864, built to a revised design by William Henry Barlow and Sir John Hawkshaw, who included additional chains to provide extra support.
If there’s one must-see in Bristol, it’s the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I lived a short walk from there in the late 1980s, and would often walk up to the Bridge to admire the view. In those days pedestrians had to pay a 2p fare, which has long since been abolished. Cars crossing the bridge pay a £1 toll each way.
SS Great Britain
Another of the best-known landmarks in Bristol is the SS Great Britain museum ship, which is moored next to Bristol Marina. Built between 1839 and 1845, and designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time, and made numerous transatlantic voyages, which each took around two weeks.
Later in its history it carried thousands of British emigrants to Australia, and was eventually used as an offshore warehouse in the Falkland Islands. It was salvaged and brought back to Bristol in 1970.
The ship has since been beautifully restored, and you can now explore it above and below deck. At opposite ends of the scale, the cramped quarters where migrants slept for two months en route to Australia contrast with the luxury of the First Class Dining Saloon. The voices of passengers, whose words were written down in diaries, are brought back to life by actors, adding to the atmosphere and realism of your visit.
Tickets also include a visit to the dry dock to see the underside of the ship up close, and the Being Brunel exhibition, which takes you back to the lifetime of one of the world’s great engineers. A fascinating half a day out.
Tickets cost £22 online for adults, £14.50 for children, and £64 for a family of four.
Cabot Tower
The Cabot Tower is one of the most popular landmarks in Bristol, built in the 1890s to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the explorer’s voyage across the Atlantic, where he is believed to have travelled along the coast of Newfoundland (in modern Canada), and possibly as far south as Maine (in the northeastern United States).
Giovanni Caboto was an Italian seafarer, born in Genoa around 1450, who later gained Venetian citizenship. He later fled Venice having become insolvent, and sought funding for an expedition from \Spain and Portugal before arriving in England. He visited Bristol because other voyages had departed the port, and also likely visited London to gain backing and approval from King Henry VII.
The tower is in a beautiful hillside park on Brandon Hill, and is open daily from 8.00 am, closing as early as 5.15 pm in the winter months, and 9.15 pm from May to August. Entry is free.
Another Cabot Tower was also built in 1897, at St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada.
St Mary Redcliffe Church
In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I described St Mary Redcliffe, “the goodliest, fairest and most famous parish church in England,” and over 450 years later, her words still hold true. Indeed, St Mary Redcliffe is as impressive as many English cathedrals, and as it’s on the way from Bristol’s main station, Temple Meads, to the city centre, I’ve seen many people mistakenly assume that it’s Bristol’s Cathedral.
The church was founded in the mid-12th century, and was possibly named after a red cliff overlooking the nearby port harbour – the surrounding area also bears the same name. Most of the church was built in the 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style, and in the 15th century in the uniquely British Perpendicular Gothic style. Merchants and sailors were among the main worshippers at the church.
Until 2020, the spire of St Mary Redcliffe was the tallest building in Bristol, 274 feet (83.5 metres) high. The original spire, which was destroyed by lightning in 1445 or 1446, was only rebuilt in the 19th century, completed in 1872.
Despite many bombs landing and detonating close by, St Mary Redcliffe suffered relatively minor damage in World War Two. Many of the church’s treasures were stored beneath the building, and magnificent works, including the tomb of wealthy Bristolian merchant William Canynges, survived.
Bristol Cathedral
Originally a 12th-century Augustinian Abbey, Bristol’s other great church gained Cathedral status in 1542 after Henry VIII’s Dissolution (destruction) of the Monasteries.
At first it doesn’t make as strong as an impression as Wells or Exeter Cathedrals, but look closer and you’ll find several unique, remarkable features, and realise it’s one of the great underrated cathedrals of England.
The earliest part of the complex is the 12th-century Norman (Romanesque) chapter house, the finest of era in the country. The east end of the church is unique in Britain in that its aisles are of equal height to the chancel. This is common in Germany, where such buildings are called hall churches, but this is otherwise unheard of in the British Isles.
There are also some stunning vaulted ceilings, particularly in the nave aisles, with a ‘bridge’ supporting each vault.
The Cathedral’s 19th-century west front is also unusual in Britain for bearing quite a strong resemblance to French Gothic architecture, including the much taller west front of Notre Dame de Paris.
Entry to the Cathedral is free, with a suggested voluntary donation of £5. I strongly recommend it – it’s well worth an hour or more of your time.
Royal York Crescent and Clifton Georgian Terraces
The village of Clifton – at the time a separate entity from the city of Bristol – grew significantly during the 18th century. It was highly affluent, with many Georgian terraces – comparable to the most beautiful streets in Bath – built at the time.
The most famous of these is Royal York Crescent, which, according to English Heritage, is the longest crescent (390 metres) in Europe. Most of the houses were divided into flats (apartments) back when I was living there in the late 1980s. The pavement outside the houses is raised several metres, and covers cellar vaults connected to each house.
Much of Clifton Village was built during the same period, and there are many more beautiful streets. Two of the most elegant streets are Caledonia Place and West Mall, which run parallel to each other either side of a leafy park.
Cliftonwood Houses
There are plenty more landmark houses of a different kind just down the hill from Clifton. Cliftonwood is a tiny area comprising a few streets overlooking the Harbour between Hotwells (at river level) and Clifton, on the hill above.
Cliftonwood Terrace, Ambrose Road and Ambra Vale East are Victorian terraced streets with houses as brightly, vividly painted as the fishermen’s cottages on the Venetian island of Burano.
The colourful houses are visible from the Harbour, and most of the facades you see are actually the backs of houses. I used to live in a hall of residence backing onto one of the streets, and we often used to take the scenic route along these streets to the harbour and beyond. Enough to brighten up even the drabbest of days.
Wills Memorial Building
The Wills Tower at the top of steep Park Street is one of the main buildings of the University of Bristol. It’s where graduation ceremonies are held, and it also houses the Geology Library, the Department of Earth Sciences and the School of Law.
A famous Bristol landmark, the Wills Building was funded by the family of Henry Overton Wills III, one of the university’s principal donors. The Wills family made their fortune from the tobacco trade, with possible links to slavery. It was built in the English Perpendicular Gothic style, completed in 1925, and is one of the great Gothic Revival buildings of Britain.
There has been controversy regarding the former Colston Hall, named after slave trader Edward Colston – it was eventually renamed the Bristol Beacon in 2020. The statue of Colston in the city centre was also removed and dumped in the River Avon. There have been protests from university students regarding the name of the building, and it may well be that its name is changed in the future.
Banksy Wall Art
Bristol is the home city of world-renowned street artist Banksy. His identity is a secret to all but a close circle of friends, but he grew up in Bristol in the 1980s, at an immensely exciting time culturally, when the city was home to a great reggae scene, and what was to become Massive Attack, pioneers of what has been called ‘trip hop’, along with the likes of Tricky and Portishead soon afterwards.
Banksy’s works are far too numerous to be listed here, but some of his original works in Bristol have been preserved. These include the famous Well Hung Lover, an image of a naked man dangling from a window ledge, unsighted by a couple looking out of the window. It’s on the side of a building on Frogmore Street, but best seen from the lower end of Park Street, which runs above the other street.
The mural is also very close to Bristol Cathedral, a short walk away across College Green. For more Banksy artwork and Bristol knowledge, I strongly recommend the Blackbeard to Banksy Guided Walking Tour.
Replica of John Cabot’s Matthew Ship
When Italian explorer John Cabot sailed along the North American coast, he did so in the surprisingly small caravel Matthew. The ship was only 78 feet (24 metres) long, and had a small crew of around 20 men, carrying enough food and provisions for seven or eight months at sea. The only known area in which he landed was the island of Newfoundland, although we’re not exactly sure where this was. He claimed the land for England’s King Henry VII, before sailing southwards.
As there are two Cabot Towers, one either side of the Atlantic, so there are two replicas of the Matthew, both of which were built in the 1990s to mark the 500th anniversary of Cabot’s transatlantic voyage. The Bristol replica sailed across the Atlantic in 1997, and was greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at the end of its voyage in Newfoundland.
The Matthew replica normally stands at the city end of the south side Bristol Harbour, on Museum Street, a short walk along the harbour from the MV Balmoral paddle steamer’s berth. It occasionally sails away on journeys, but you’ll find it in situ the vast majority of the time.
Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station
Temple Meads, Bristol’s historic main railway station, is another major Bristol landmark. It’s located in the Redcliffe area of the city, half a mile from St Mary Redcliffe Church.
The station is the western terminus of the Great Western Railway, and, like the Railway itself, was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The station was completed in 1840, and the Engine Sheds on the north side of Station Approach were where trains originally stopped. Trains no longer stop in this part of the station.
The most striking part of the station is the Gothic Revival clock tower and façade of the station, which was added in 1870 as part of an expansion of the complex. It was extended again in the 1930s.
Where To Stay In Bristol
Bristol has some fantastic hotels, in the city centre, around the Harbour and up on the hill in Clifton. Here are my recommendations:
**** – The Bristol Hotel – great location next to the Floating Harbour, and just around the corner from lovely Queen Square
**** – Avon Gorge by Hotel du Vin – my favourite hotel in Bristol, with many rooms overlooking the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Avon Gorge. The terrace also has a superb view of the Bridge
**** – Clayton Hotel Bristol City – highly-rated hotel, excellent central location a 5-minute walk from the Harbour
*** – ibis Bristol Centre – ever-reliable mid-range chain hotel, ideal central location close to the Harbour
Landmarks in Bristol – Final Thoughts
I hope you have enjoyed my guide to Bristol’s landmarks, and that it helps you get an overview of the city when you visit.
Bristol isn’t as popular as nearby Bath with visitors, but also makes a great base for exploring the West Country and beyond. Check out my guide to the best places to visit near Bath and Bristol for an introduction to the region.
Take a look at some of these articles about Southwest England and across the border in South Wales for more detail on some of these destinations:
12 Best Things To Do In Exeter
10 Best Things To Do In Wells Somerset
One Day In Bath – how to spend 24 hours in the stunning Georgian city
12 Most Beautiful Streets In Bath – a photo guide to the terraces and townscape of the World Heritage city
12 Most Famous Landmarks In Bath – the Abbey, Roman Baths and much more
Visiting Westminster Abbey – how to visit London’s great royal church
25 Most Beautiful Churches In London – from Westminster Abbey to some of Sir Christopher Wren’s hidden gems
Things To Do In Hereford – one of the least-known cities in England, with a superb Cathedral
20 Best Places To Visit In The Welsh Borders – complete guide from the Bristol Channel to the Irish Sea
21 Best Things To Do In Chester – one of the most beautiful cities in northern England
One Day In Cardiff– 24 hours in the capital of Wales
35 Best Castles In South Wales To Visit – from Cardiff and Caerphilly to the wild romantic ruin of Carreg Cennen – and many more
And if you enjoy guides to landmarks around Britain and Europe, try some of these:
12 Most Famous Landmarks In Bath – the Abbey, Roman Baths and much more
50 Famous London Landmarks for the sights to seek out in the UK’s capital
11 Best Landmarks in Birmingham UK – Selfridges, the Cathedral and one of the loveliest libraries in Europe
UK Landmarks – the most famous sights in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
58 Famous Landmarks In Wales – some of the best Castles, and most beautiful mountains and beaches in Europe
20 Famous Landmarks in Cardiff – Castles, Edwardian elegance and a wondrous Cathedral hidden in the suburbs
32 Famous Landmarks In France – from Paris to Provence, Albi to the Alps, and many more
Berlin Landmarks – the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate and much more
Dresden Landmarks – 19 stunning sights on the Florence of the Elbe
David Angel is a British photographer, writer, and historian with over 30 years of experience as a European travel expert. He holds a degree in History from Manchester University, and his work is regularly featured in global media, including the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, and Condé Nast Traveler. David is fluent in French and Welsh, and can also converse in Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech, and Polish.