The Circuit

All nineteen stops.

Harbour to hilltop, cathedral to Cabot Circus. Click any stop for its full essay, nearby stops and practical info.

Boats moored at Broad Quay in the Bristol Floating Harbour, with the Arnolfini in the background
Stop 01

Broad Quay and Princes Street

Where the circuit begins. A wide cobbled quay at the inland head of the harbour, backed by the Arnolfini and the Watersh...

The curved silver roof of We The Curious science museum at Millennium Square
Stop 02

We The Curious

The science museum on the harbour edge. Hands-on, genuinely good for kids, quietly clever for adults, and with the best ...

Hotwell Road along the Bristol Floating Harbour with Georgian terraces climbing up to Clifton
Stop 03

Hotwell Road

The long curve along the north bank of the Floating Harbour, under the shadow of Clifton and on the way to the ss Great ...

Spike Island peninsula in Bristol, with the Harbourside and boatyards
Stop 04

Spike Island

Not an island, technically, but a narrow strip of working harbourside between the Floating Harbour and the New Cut - gal...

The historic ss Great Britain ship in her Bristol dry dock at twilight
Stop 05

ss Great Britain

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's groundbreaking iron ship, a marvel of Victorian engineering that changed the world, now restin...

Wide grassy enclosures at the Bristol Zoo Project site near Cribbs Causeway
Stop 06

Bristol Zoo Project and the old Clifton gardens

The zoo Bristolians grew up with closed in 2022. Its successor, the Bristol Zoo Project on the outskirts of the city, ha...

Pale Georgian crescents of Clifton Village above the Avon Gorge in Bristol
Stop 07

Clifton Village

The handsome Georgian hilltop where Bristol's eighteenth-century merchants built their pale-stone crescents. Independent...

Victoria Square Clifton Bristol with Regency terraces around a green lawn
Stop 08

Victoria Square

A quiet Clifton green ringed by pale Regency terraces. If Bristol has a stately living room, this is it - more of a deto...

The neoclassical Victoria Rooms at the top of Park Street in Bristol
Stop 09

Victoria Rooms

The imposing neoclassical concert hall at the top of Park Street, now home to the University of Bristol music faculty - ...

The grand Edwardian facade of Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery on Queens Road
Stop 10

City Museum and Art Gallery

The free civic museum at the top of Park Street - Egyptian mummies, Bristol glass, dinosaur bones, and the best wet-weat...

College Green in front of Bristol Cathedral with the curved City Hall facade
Stop 11

College Green and Park Street

The civic lawn between the Cathedral and City Hall, and the steep shopping street that drops from Clifton back down to t...

The ornate facade of Bristol Hippodrome theatre on St Augustines Parade
Stop 12

Bristol Hippodrome

The city's 1912 variety theatre - West End tours, a peerless Edwardian interior, and the venue where Laurel and Hardy pl...

Pedestrian shoppers on Broadmead in Bristol with Christmas lights overhead
Stop 13

Broadmead and The Horsefair

Bristol's pedestrianised high-street core. Wesley's New Room, the Galleries, and the city's main Christmas market run al...

The curved glass canopy roof of Cabot Circus shopping centre in Bristol
Stop 14

Cabot Circus

The glassy 2008 shopping quarter built around a glazed canopy big enough to be a landmark in its own right. Bristol's ma...

Cherry blossom in Castle Park Bristol with the river beyond
Stop 15

Newgate and Castle Park

The green wound where medieval Bristol Castle used to stand - flattened in the Civil War, bombed again in 1940, and now ...

Bristol Bridge crossing the Floating Harbour near Castle Park
Stop 16

Bristol Bridge

The original crossing that gave the city its name - Brycgstow, the place by the bridge. Not a landmark in itself, but th...

Victoria Street Bristol with Victorian warehouses and modern offices
Stop 17

Victoria Street

The Victorian-warehouse spine running from Bristol Bridge to Temple Meads - old merchants' counting-houses, new glassy o...

The Gothic facade of Bristol Temple Meads railway station
Stop 18

Temple Meads

Bristol's main railway station. Brunel's original 1841 terminus still stands, now used as a bus station, and the current...

The tall Gothic spire of St Mary Redcliffe church in Bristol
Stop 19

St Mary Redcliffe

The medieval church that Queen Elizabeth I called 'the fairest, the goodliest and most famous parish church in England.'...