How To Reach Bristol

A city and county spanning the River Avon in South West England, Bristol edges North Somerset and South Gloucestershire in the south-east and north-east respectively. With a population of 459,300, Bristol has a rich nautical past, with its former port in the city hub, being a cultural center now. Bristol’s present-day economy is built on aerospace, creative media and electronics industries and its docks have been revamped as focal points of its heritage & culture. One of the most popular tourist destinations in the United Kingdom, Bristol was selected as one of the top 10 cities in the world in a series of travel guides in Eyewitness, and international travel publication, in the year 2009, while the Sunday Times called it the best city in Britain to live in, in 2014 & 2017. The city also has the EU’s European Green Capital Award from 2015 to its name.

Bristol is connected to all major UK cities by road and railways and by sea and air to the rest of the world. The best way to reach Bristol, England from India is to take a flight to Bristol from either New Delhi or Mumbai.

With over 84 flights between India and England, one of the fastest ways to reach Bristol is to fly from New Delhi, KLM has 5 flights from Delhi with travel time ranging between 13 hours and 40 minutes to about 23 hours with just one stopover. Other flight operators on the route include Air France, Finnair, Flybe, Alitalia and Brussels Airlines. The price range for New Delhi-Bristol sector is anything between INR 33,000-90,000. On arrival at Bristol International Airport, you can take a bus to the Bristol City Center. A bus leaves the airport for the city center every 10 minutes.

The cheapest way to get to Bristol from New Delhi is to fly to London Heathrow and then take a train which is a journey of about 14 hours and a few minutes inclusive of transfers. On arrival at London's Heathrow Airport, you board a train to London Paddington from Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3, where there’s a train every 20 minutes to London Paddington. The train journey is 16 minutes long and costs INR 500-2800 roughly. TFL Rail and Heathrow Express operate trains on this route

From London Paddington Station, the journey time to Bristol Temple Meads is approx. 1 hour 42 minutes and costs about INR 4600-8500. Great Western Railway operates on this rail route.

If you arrive at the London Heathrow Airport, then to reach Bristol, another alternate mode of travel would be by bus. The bus journey between London Heathrow and Bristol is roughly 2 hours 10 minutes. Operators National Express and Megabus UK ply on the route at an estimated fare of INR 1300-2400 at an hourly frequency and 4 times a week frequency, respectively. You can also use Rideshare in the price range of INR 850-1300 for a road journey of 2 hours 8 minutes.

Public transportation in Bristol is very accessible. It’s easy to get around in Bristol by bus. Metrobus is a new public transport service in Bristol that offers faster, frequent and steadfast service with direct access to key spots and is one of the best ways to getting around the city in the most environmentally friendly way. The city being the hub of a national rail network in West England, the Great Western Railway (GWR) runs local/regional/inter-city service between the Bristol Temple Meads Station to Bristol Parkway Station. And for merely £6 with a GWR freedom travel pass, you can get an unlimited travel on all trains and most buses in Bristol.

The city also has ample city center car parks with a hi-tech site that offers 2,600 parking space, so you can avail the park and ride service here as well. Another way of getting around the city is to avail the ferry service operated by Bristol Ferry Boats or Number 7 Boats that function between all the key destinations alongside the harbor and from the waterfront attractions with guided trips around Bristol.