Bristol, Bath, and Beyond!

We loved the neighboring UK cities of Bristol and Bath. Here is why you might like them too.

Bath’s famous Abbey, left, and Roman Baths, right.

When we were looking for a place to hunker for a few months in the UK, several friends suggested Bristol in southwest England. At the time, we didn’t realize how close the city of Bath was to Bristol — a mere ten-minute train ride.

We ended up loving both cities. Here are all the reasons why:

---

BRISTOL

---

The city is young, sophisticated, and edgy.

Bristol is home to just under 500,000 people and is compact and manageable. But it also includes two major universities (and dozens of other private schools and colleges).

It’s a hip and happening place.

Not surprisingly, Bristol has a great music scene. In the 90s, it was home to Massive Attack and Portishead. These days, it’s better known for “Budapest”’s George Ezra and the punk band Idles, which topped the UK charts this year with their album Tangk.

Fun Fact: Bristol is frequently voted Britain’s most livable city and has also been dubbed the country’s first “cycling city,” with dedicated bike paths along almost every road.

• Bristol Tip #1: Near the University of Bristol is something called the Christmas Steps — a bit like Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. Don’t miss Ahh Toots, a cake shop at the bottom of the steps, especially its plentiful vegan choices.

  

  The Christmas Steps and a delicious cake at Ah Toots.

---

Bristol is home to a cool bridge and a very famous ship.

When the SS Great Britain was launched in 1843, it was the world’s largest ship and a massive technological leap forward: the first ship made entirely of iron and the first screw-propelled, ocean-going vessel.

It’s now on display at the Great Western Dockyard in Bristol’s floating harbor.

The city is also home to another technological marvel, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, now the symbol of the city. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the bridge’s wildly influential engineer, used wrought iron chains instead of cables, and this bridge inspired the construction of many other suspension bridges.

The bridge was also the site of the world’s first bungee jump back in 1979.

Fun Fact: The bridge’s two towers were originally supposed to be of Egyptian design, both with sphinxes on top! But that turned out to be too ambitious and expensive. As it is, they look identical, but a close inspection reveals big differences.

• Bristol Tip #2: One interesting place to view the bridge is from inside a cave in the side of Avon Gorge. It can be accessed via a narrow tunnel under the Clifton Observatory, located on Clifton Down. The observatory also houses a fascinating camera obscura that dates back to 1828.

---

Bristol was the birthplace of the street artist Banksy — and his work and influence are all over the city.

Banksy, the street artist who first appeared in the 1990s and became a celebrity in the mid-2000s, might be Bristol’s most famous son. His popularity and success have encouraged other artists and, more importantly, made street art acceptable and even celebrated in cities around the world.

But “Banksy” is also a pseudonym, and the artist’s true identity is still unknown (although there are strong suspicions about who he might be).

A few of Banksy’s Bristol artworks

Fun Fact: The Bristol City Council feuded with Banksy for many years, removing his murals as fast as they went up. Today, those destroyed murals would be worth millions of dollars.