Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Bristol for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Bristol for grown-ups.
20 places
Drink A pint of still farmhouse cider on the top deck
The Apple pours dozens of farmhouse ciders from a converted Dutch barge on Welsh Back, the floating heart of Bristol's cider drinking culture.
Drink Exhibition cider, served in halves only
The Coronation Tap is Clifton's centuries-old cider house near the Suspension Bridge, pouring its exclusive Exhibition cider by the half in Bristol.
Drink A whisky cocktail from the hidden vault list
The Milk Thistle stacks four floors of hidden cocktail rooms behind an unmarked Colston Avenue door, Bristol's grand speakeasy with a whisky vault.
15 of the bars on this list are cocktail bars.
Viator · 1.8 h
Successfully smuggle your liquor past the Warden and serve your time with a covert supply of personalised cocktails. This is the bar behind bars, where the serving inm...
Viator · 2 h
The Espresso Martini was invented by British bar tender Dick Bradsell in London. Legend has it that a ‘top model’ asked for a drink that would ‘wake me up and f**k me ...
Musement · 1h 45m
Embark on a journey of independent distilling with an informal, guided gin tasting nestled in the heart of Bristol. The experience begins as soon as you step through t...
Drink A local ale while you wait years for a roast table
The Bank Tavern hides down a John Street alley in Bristol with an award-named Sunday lunch so popular its roast bookings sell out a year ahead.
Drink A pint of ale with the trad jazz band three feet away
The Old Duke runs free live jazz and blues every night of the week on King Street, a Bristol institution in a cobbled-street pub dating from around 1775.
Drink Whatever rotating UK keg line is about to run out
The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer runs 36 all-UK beer and cider lines inside a 1673 King Street building, Bristol's Grade II listed craft beer flagship.
Drink A cask pour from the 32 underground lines
The Beer Emporium runs 32 keg and cask lines in vaulted cellars under King Street, the underground bar of Bristol's self-styled Beermuda Triangle.
Drink A local craft pint on the medieval stairway
The Christmas Steps pours local craft beer in a c1600 building on Bristol's medieval stairway street, with a free jukebox and a serious kitchen.
Drink A negroni during the free evening gig
The Gallimaufry mixes bar, kitchen pop-ups and nightly free music on Gloucester Road, the all-purpose local of Bristol's longest independent street.
Drink Bristol Beer Factory ale opposite the SS Great Britain
Grain Barge floats Bristol Beer Factory's pub on a 1936 grain boat off Hotwell Road, with deck views straight across to the SS Great Britain.
A sample of Bristol hotels from our booking partner, who list 701 here. Live prices and availability open on their site.
YHA Bristol - Hostel
A stay at YHA Bristol - Hostel places you in the heart of Bristol, steps from Arnolfini Gallery and Queen S...
Check dates
ibis Bristol Temple Meads Quay
A stay at ibis Bristol Temple Meads Quay places you in the heart of Bristol, within a 15-minute walk of Old...
Check dates
ibis Bristol Centre
A stay at ibis Bristol Centre places you in the heart of Bristol, steps from We The Curious and Millennium ...
Check dates
Lodge at Bristol
With a stay at Lodge at Bristol in Bristol (Bradley Stoke), you'll be a 1-minute drive from Aztec West Busi...
Check dates
Compare for next weekend: Holidu in Bristol from USD 64/night · Booking.com in Bristol from USD 72/night
Stays are listed by our booking partners, not editor picks. We earn a commission if you book, at no cost to you.
Drink A well-kept cask ale in the snug
The Highbury Vaults keeps a Victorian warren of snugs at the top of St Michael's Hill, the Kingsdown local where Bristol academics argue over ale.
Drink A changing microbrewery cask in the walled garden
The Volunteer Tavern hides a 17th-century pub and walled beer garden off Old Market in Bristol, pouring small-brewery casks away from the traffic.
Drink Gravity-poured cask ale, no lager, no music
The Drapers Arms is Bristol's first micropub, a one-room former draper's shop on Gloucester Road serving cask ale and conversation, nothing else.
Drink A gravity-served stout from the cool room
Snuffy Jack's pours gravity-served casks in a Fishponds micropub named after a snuff-mill ghost, east Bristol's destination for proper quiet ale drinking.
Drink A gin in the sticker-covered back room
The Mothers' Ruin is Bristol's beloved St Nicholas Street dive, a gin-named grotto of band stickers, late pints and impromptu gigs upstairs.
Drink A properly settled Guinness during the session
Seamus O'Donnell's keeps trad sessions and slow-poured Guinness alive on St Nicholas Street, the Irish snug of Bristol's Old City bar crawl.
Drink A bartender's-choice twist from the award-listed menu
Filthy XIII shakes award-listed cocktails behind a scruffy Cheltenham Road front, the Montpelier bar Bristol's bartenders drink at after shifts.
Drink A tasting flight of craft and traditional ciders
The Cider Box ferments and pours craft cider under a railway arch on Silverthorne Lane in Bristol, the weekend-only taproom for the orchard-curious.
Drink One of about 20 boxed farmhouse ciders
The Orchard Inn pours a wall of boxed farmhouse ciders in a Spike Island backstreet local, a few minutes from Bristol's SS Great Britain and its crowds.
Drink A glass of low-intervention wine from the shelves
Kask pours organic and natural wines from small growers at 51 North Street, the Bedminster bottle-shop bar that started Bristol's natural wine run.
Nothing matches.
