Getting around Bristol

If you’re travelling to the city via Bristol Airport, there are a number of ways you can make your way from the arrivals lounge to any one of our hotels in Bristol, the closest being our Sidcot (A38) hotel.

If you’re looking to hire a car, take your pick from the airport’s eight on-site options, including Hertz, Avis, Enterprise and Europcar. Alternatively, as Bristol Airport is only eight miles south-west of the city centre, getting a taxi to your hotel can be a reasonably inexpensive option. Arrow Cars is the airport’s chosen taxi and minibus service, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Just like Uber, you can track your taxi in real time and contact your driver directly. Plus, you can pay by cash or card, either at the office or online, which takes away the stress of transferring to one of our hotels near Bristol Airport.

In terms of your public transport options, the Airport Flyer bus service is by far and away the cheapest, easiest and most popular option. It operates 24 hours a day, running every ten minutes. The route takes you from Bristol Airport, through Bedminster, to Bristol Temple Meads, and concludes at Bristol Bus and Coach Station. Plus, return tickets are valid for a month, so you don’t need to worry about making it a round trip.

Bristol Temple Meads is the city’s oldest and largest railway station. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it’s one of the UK’s major rail hubs, serving more than 10 million passengers a year with services running across the country. As you enter the station’s main building, you’ll find the ticket office and machines directly ahead of you.

There’s also the ubiquitous selection of shops where you can buy something to read, drink or eat on the train – like a sausage roll from Hart’s Bakery, one of our favourite places to eat in Bristol. The platforms are numbered between one and fifteen, with odd numbers to the east and even numbers to the west.

If you want to catch a bus around Bristol, they operate from the Bristol Bus and Coach Station on Marlborough Street – near the Broadmead shopping area. The station has 19 bays in total. The first seven are for National Express services, bay eight is dedicated to the Bristol Airport Flyer, which we’ve already mentioned, and the rest are for local First West services that’ll get you wherever you need to go around Bristol.