Bristol sits in the middle of some of the best day-trip country in England. A Georgian spa city, a limestone gorge, the most famous stone circle in the world and a whole valley of ruined abbeys are all closer than an hour and a half by car. Here are twelve places worth the drive, ordered roughly by how far they are, with the drive time from Bristol city centre.
1. Bath (about 30 minutes)
The closest and the best known: a complete Georgian city in honey-coloured stone, wrapped around Roman springs. See the Roman Baths and the Abbey, the Circus and the Royal Crescent, and Pulteney Bridge. Parking in Bath is famously scarce, which is the main reason people go with a driver. Our Bath day tour.
2. Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare (30 to 40 minutes)
For a day by the sea, Clevedon has its Victorian pier and seafront about half an hour from the centre, and Weston-super-Mare its beach and Grand Pier a little further down the M5. Both are easy runs: Bristol to Clevedon, Bristol to Weston-super-Mare.
3. The Wye Valley and Tintern Abbey (about 30 minutes to Chepstow)
Cross the old Severn Bridge and the landscape changes within minutes. Chepstow Castle is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone castle in Britain; ten minutes up the valley stands the roofless shell of Tintern Abbey, and further on Symonds Yat Rock looks down on the river bending 120 metres below. Our Wye Valley tour.
4. Cheddar Gorge (about 40 minutes)
The Mendips split open into cliffs 137 metres high, with show caves at the bottom and a road that switchbacks up through the middle. Drive the gorge road both ways for the view, then walk the cliff top or go underground. Our Cheddar Gorge & Wells tour.
5. Wells (about 40 minutes)
England's smallest city, with a cathedral whose west front carries some three hundred medieval statues. Wells pairs naturally with Cheddar or Glastonbury, both a short drive away.
6. Lacock and Castle Combe (35 to 45 minutes)
Two villages that period dramas keep coming back to: Lacock, owned by the National Trust, whose abbey cloisters appeared in Harry Potter, and Castle Combe, once voted England's prettiest village. Both are small and best visited outside coach hours. Our Lacock & Castle Combe tour.
7. Longleat and Stourhead (45 to 55 minutes)
Longleat pioneered the drive-through safari park outside Africa; the monkeys in the enclosure climb on the cars. Stourhead's lakeside landscape garden is 20 minutes further and makes it a full day. Our Longleat tour.
8. Glastonbury (about 50 minutes)
The Tor rises out of the Somerset Levels with a steady 15 to 20 minute climb on a paved path to the tower at the top. Below it are the Abbey ruins, said to hold King Arthur's grave, and the Chalice Well gardens. The festival is a different place: Worthy Farm at Pilton, a few miles away. Our Glastonbury tour.
9. The Cotswolds (about an hour)
Small lanes and small villages, which is why the Cotswolds suit a car better than a coach: Castle Combe's film-set street, Arlington Row in Bibury, the low bridges of Bourton-on-the-Water and the market square at Stow-on-the-Wold. Our Cotswolds tour.
10. Cardiff (about an hour)
The Welsh capital is under an hour away over the Prince of Wales Bridge, with no toll to pay. The castle has a Roman wall and gothic-revival apartments, the Victorian arcades are good in the rain, and Cardiff Bay has the rebuilt docklands. Caerphilly, the largest castle in Wales, is 20 minutes north. Our Cardiff tour.
11. Stonehenge and Salisbury (about 1 hour 15 minutes to the stones)
English Heritage asks visitors to book Stonehenge tickets in advance, so book first and plan the day around it. Salisbury, half an hour on, has the tallest cathedral spire in England and one of the four surviving copies of Magna Carta. Or pair the stones with Bath on the way home. Stonehenge & Salisbury, Stonehenge & Bath.
12. Oxford (about 1 hour 40 minutes)
The furthest on this list and worth a full day: Christ Church, the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian and the covered market are all within walking distance once you are in the centre. Parking there is the hard part. Our Oxford tour.
Getting there without the parking
Bath is an easy train ride from Temple Meads, but most of the places above are slow or awkward by bus and train, and several have very little parking. A private day out with BristolRide means one car and one driver for the whole day, door to door from your Bristol address, at a price agreed before you go. Every tour is on our day trips from Bristol page, and any of them can be changed: tell us where you want to go and we plan the day. If you would rather stay in town, there is a Bristol city tour by car and an Only Fools and Horses locations tour.