Header image credit: Under the Wing
Step into the city that paints its own story. Bristol, birthplace of the world’s most elusive artist, Banksy, is an open-air gallery where concrete becomes canvas and rebellion still hums beneath the cobblestones. Recently crowned the only UK city in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2026, thanks to its street art scene, Bristol is proof that creativity can shape a destination as much as its history.
Here’s how to spend 48 hours immersed in the paint-splattered pulse of Britain’s boldest city.
Day 1: Banksy's beginnings and creative workshops
Walk with a legend
Kick off your weekend in Stokes Croft, Bristol’s beating creative heart, which is equal parts bohemian, chaotic, and colourful. This is where the Where The Wall Street Art Tour begins: two hours of stories, spray cans, and social history led by guides who lived it. Many walks are hosted by John Nation, known locally as the Godfather of Graffiti and Banksy’s early mentor. He threads together the city’s evolution from 1980s counterculture to global art capital.
If you prefer to wander solo, the Self-Guided Banksy Walking Tour turns your phone into a guidebook, revealing stories behind the stencils as you drift through side streets at your own pace.
Unleash your inner artist
After a morning of inspiration, it’s time to swap observation for creation. Around the corner from Banksy’s Mild Mild West, Hamilton House hosts stencil-art spray sessions. This is a low-mess, high-fun introduction to street techniques. The hiss of the can, the smell of fresh paint, the satisfaction of peeling back a stencil to reveal your own design – it’s addictive. You’ll walk out with a canvas and, possibly, a new hobby.
Eat where the art lives
When hunger hits, stay local. The Canteen is Stokes Croft’s culinary highlight, with vegan-leaning plates, local ciders, and live music beneath Banksy’s famous mural. Across the street, Mr Cenz’s portrait of activist Jen Reid reminds diners that Bristol’s walls still speak up.
Day 2: Festivals, murals, and museums
A festival that never fades
Cross the Avon to Bedminster, home of Upfest, Europe’s biggest street-art festival. Even between events, the neighbourhood remains an outdoor museum of 170 murals. Follow the Upfest Google Map to hunt down your favourites; don’t miss the Six Sisters murals, painted by six female artists across consecutive shopfronts. Each one feels like a manifesto in colour.
Banksy, preserved
Street art is famously fleeting, but Bristol has kept a few treasures safe. Down on the Harbourside, M Shed Museum displays Banksy’s The Grim Reaper, rescued from the side of the club-boat Thekla. A short walk away, the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery houses Paint-Pot Angel – a rebellious relic from Banksy’s secret takeover of the museum back in 2009.
It’s strange and wonderful to see graffiti under glass, but that’s Bristol: contradiction and celebration side by side.
Dinner with a view (and a bit of history)
End your weekend at Harbour House, where floor-to-ceiling windows overlook Bristol’s colourful hillside homes. The food is as artful as the scenery, and the location is fitting — this is where Banksy held his first-ever exhibition in 2000. Two decades later, his spirit still lingers, layered over the city like paint on brick.
Why visit now?
Bristol isn’t just riding the wave of Lonely Planet’s accolade; it’s already ahead of it. In 2026, both Upfest and the Bristol Light Festival return, promising new murals and large-scale installations that transform winter nights into technicolour dreams. Even outside festival season, creativity spills into every corner, from graffiti workshops in former police cells to avant-garde galleries on the Harbourside.
Bristol doesn’t ask to be admired; it demands to be explored. It’s a city that turns defiance into beauty and dares visitors to look closer. Spend two days here and you’ll leave with paint flecks on your shoes, camera roll full of colour, and the sense that adventure doesn’t always need a mountain – sometimes, it’s right there on the wall.
