[Closed] Staying near Bristol - on the way to Cornwall.

Depends on what you want. Are you planning a day out or just crashing for the night? Bristol is nice for the day. Plenty to see and do around the harbourside. There's a range of hotels there including a few cheaper ones. If just crashing maybe around cribbs or Aztec West just off the motorway.

If it’s just about breaking the journey, whatever the hotel is at gordano. Used to be a days inn but I think that got knocked down.

I second what jam-bo said, one of the services south west of Bristol would be my choice unless you want to have a look around.

We've done the services at Gordano, but more fun was an air B&B in Southville, which is an easy walk to Bristol Docks, we spent the evening wandering around with our then 14yo son looking for Banksies, having a drink and something nice to eat. Extra 15 minutes drive from the M5 but worth it.

Cheers. Will have a look. We want somewhere to have a mooch about and a meal.

Just do the journey in one go.

We do it most years from just outside Glasgow. It’s only 10 hours. You’d spend just as long travelling if you were going abroad.

Try Avonside or Southville Guest Houses - handy for harbourside, SS Great Britain and some excellent eating and drinking establishments. North Street in Southville also has loads of amazing graffiti as well as more eating & drinking places. Also relatively easy to get to and from the M5.

We want somewhere to have a mooch about and a meal.

In that case somewhere near the harbourside. There's plenty of family friendly eating. You can have a nice walk round. There's always something going on, watersports, steam train, music, historic boats, etc. A couple of good, free museums. You can take a little boat ride. You can even have a state through Aardman's window and see Shaun, Morph and Gromit.

Yep for one night I reckon the 15 minutes on the A4 into the harbourside is worth the detour. And as said, you can do outside / evening things looking for Banksy's or the Aardman stuff or taking in the views from the top of Cabot Tower if it's all open again by summer. Do expect the harbourside to be busy if the weather is good. The Ibis is good for dependable quality with safe and secure (though not cheap) parking at Millenium Square. If B&B, look for something close to Gaol Ferry Bridge if you can find something with parking, for the easiest way into town and a more gentrified bit; the Wapping Wharf is full of containers as restaurants and nice views over the harbour but again busy.

If you want somewhere to stay for 2 nights and have a day in between, Wells is a very pretty small city (with cathedral) and the Mendips for walking, mtb and caving on the doorstep. Avoid Cheddar (busy). Or look at the Quantocks for mtb and walking that will be less busy than the National Parks.

Can recommend popping into goonhilly if you are staying on the lizard. My favourite pub is the halzephron which has fantastic views but most places on the lizard are pretty good to be honest. There is also good riding on the coastal path of you go first thing before all the walkers are about.

Wow. Brilliant stuff thank you! Not sure why someone advised that I do it in one go? How is that advice when I was clearly stating I wanted to break up the journey!? Guess they must know me really well and know exactly my circumstances.

Anyway, thanks for the rest of you who have offered some genuinely handy advice.

Goes without saying, don't leave bikes on your car in anything but a locked carpark in Bristol, especially the Coronation rd area (Southville). Used to be tonnes of smashed car windows along there.

It’s only 10 hours. You’d spend just as long travelling if you were going abroad.

Not sure what entertainment mechanisms you employ but I can't imagine doing this with my lot. It'd be like motorway purgatory.

As a weekend dweller of Portishead I’d go with konagirls suggestions.
I love wandering around the Harbourside area and always discover something new each time I visit.
Clifton is nice for a mooch around too.
If you want to break up the journey on the way back there’s a new Ibis on Portishead, 5 minutes from j19.
A lot quieter than Bristol but you can have a nice stroll around the Marina and there’s some good places to eat.

We stopped at a Taunton premier inn or similar on the way to North Devon, the main reason was to be able to miss the M5 on rush hour day. We left early on a Thursday and had the day at Wooky Hole and Cheddar Gorge.
It worked well so we had an extra days holiday and didn’t spend an entire day sat on the motorway.

Absolutely agree with checking out the harbour area, it’s easy to spend most of a day walking around it, and if you’re lucky, you might see the floating harbour lock-gates open, and the big swing bridge turn, it’s quite a sight. There’s a pub part way round, the Dolphin, IIRC, and they do a superb fish-finger sandwich! Actually it’s big chunks of battered fish between doorstep sized slices of crusty bread.

Just checked, it’s The Cottage Inn, near Cottage Landing;

https://earth.app.goo.gl/TRJY5K
#googleearth

The Great Britain is well worth a walk round.

Brunel was a proper genius

Most hotels will let you take the bikes into your room. Sound advice about not leaving them in your car.

We’ve done the services at Gordano, but more fun was an air B&B in Southville, which is an easy walk to Bristol Docks, we spent the evening wandering around with our then 14yo son looking for Banksies, having a drink and something nice to eat. Extra 15 minutes drive from the M5 but worth i

I’d definitely go this way, I was going to say grab a beer in the Llandoger Trow but dunno if it’s open again for a taste of pirate.

Plenty to eat and drink in the docks , I like the battered pickles in the big pub near wapping wharf.(sound uck tastes great)

(Meh making me homesick)

Love and live in Central Bristol here. I would imagine after 5 hours in the car you want to limit hassle-factor so there are two things to think about.

- Parking
- Ease of access to hotel

Whilst there are 3 Premier Inns in the city centre, none have parking.
There is a Travel Lodge on the Anchor Road which has parking underneath. It’s absolutely fine, but it is on a busy road and a bit tired. Wouldn’t stay there with kids.

Would suggest the Ibis on Millenium Square. Couple of reasons for this.

- The location is at the bottom of the A4 and it’s easy to drive to;
- There is a large NCP underground next to it so you can walk with the kids to the hotel easily;
- It’s in the middle of the harbour side development with ice cream shops, bars and a open space around it;
- You can walk from the Ibis straight onto the harbour and walk around taking in Aardman, SS Great Britain and all the sights.

One thing I would bear in mind is that it is generally not advised to leave any possessions in a car overnight anywhere in Bristol.

+1 for Portishead, easy to get in and out of loads of places to eat. I live here so a tad bit biased or bet it that I live in the old part.

JeZ