Showing 1–19 of 19 free attractions in Bristol
MuseumsM Shed
MuseumsBristol Museum & Art Gallery
Parks and PlaygroundsBrandon Hill Park
Parks and PlaygroundsOldbury Court Estate
Children's FarmsWindmill Hill City Farm
TheatresThe Redgrave Theatre
SightseeingThe Matthew of Bristol
MuseumsThe Georgian House Museum
Parks and PlaygroundsAshton Court Estate
Children's FarmsFarrington’s Farm Park and Playbarn
Parks and PlaygroundsDame Emily Park
Children's FarmsLawrence Weston Community Farm
Children's FarmsSt Werburghs City Farm
Parks and PlaygroundsClifton & Durdham Downs
Children's FarmsHartcliffe Farm
Parks and PlaygroundsFelix Road Adventure Playground
Activity CentresWot Pots
Parks and PlaygroundsHengrove Park
Sports & ActivitiesBristol and Bath Railway Path
Free Family Days Out in Bristol
Fourteen of Bristol's nineteen no-charge listings are outdoor ones, which tells you most of what you need to know about how a day here tends to go. Clifton & Durdham Downs, Brandon Hill Park and Oldbury Court Estate are open ground you simply walk into. Felix Road Adventure Playground and Windmill Hill City Farm give a child something to do on arrival rather than something to look at. The eight indoor entries, among them Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and The Georgian House Museum, are the ones worth holding in reserve for a wet Tuesday.
Bristol rewards a plan with a fallback built into it. Pick an outdoor first choice and keep one of the museums in your back pocket, because the weather decides more of the afternoon here than any shortlist does.
Free days out in Bristol: FAQs
Is a free listing the same as a cheap day out?
Not reliably. Admission is one line of the budget and rarely the one that surprises people. Parking, the cafe and whatever gets bought on the way home do more damage to a family's day than the gate ever did. A park costs nothing to enter; a city farm can still separate you from your change at the animal feed dispenser. Read the list as a way of removing one fixed cost rather than a promise about the whole afternoon.
Which of these suit a child who cannot stand still?
Felix Road Adventure Playground and Windmill Hill City Farm hand a child a job the moment you arrive, and the open ground at Clifton & Durdham Downs absorbs running about in a way no indoor room manages. Museums ask for a different temperament altogether: quieter, slower, more willing to be told things. Match the venue to the child in front of you today rather than the one you had in mind when you started planning.
Does free entry mean everything on site is open to us?
Not always, and this is worth two minutes on the venue's own page before you leave. A museum can close a gallery without closing the building, a play area inside a park can be fenced off for repairs while the park stays open, and a farm can shut its indoor barn on a quiet weekday. None of that shows up in a listing. Ask the venue directly about the one thing your child is expecting to find.