In love with Bristol

Welcome to Bristol, a city of oxymorons. It’s big-small: big in terms of nightlife, culture and excitement, but small enough to feel homely - the middle bit’s hilly but beautifully compact, making most of the action within stumbling distance. It’s urban-rural: despite being a buzzing, life-hungry metropolis, it’s enveloped by countryside - the Mendips, the Avon Gorge, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire rolling greenly all around. It’s old-new: well over 1,000 years old and rich with history, tall tales and intrigue, but also rippling with modernity - the throbbing dockside area, the sleek Arnolfini arts complex, the multi-million-pound Cabot Circus shopping centre. It’s easy to get to know, but full of secrets: from tiny neon-buzzing arts cinemas and impromptu outdoor film clubs to storytelling in dockside huts and dubious all-night raves hidden away in the woods. Above all, though, Bristol is fun. Brilliant fun. Festival after festival rolls out across the summer, the sky fills with hot air balloons, the docks sway and bob with music and there’s a real sense that the people of Bristol don’t just live it, but love it. We hope you will, too.