The prestigious Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2026 has singled out Bristol’s street art in its top 50 list of winners, an accolade set to boost the number of visitors to the city and its ever-changing, ever-striking outdoor gallery. As the guide says: “No city in Britain uses its urban landscape as a canvas quite like Bristol,” with “some of the best street art anywhere in Europe”.
Known as the birthplace of Banksy – arguably the world’s most famous and elusive street artist – Bristol’s city walls are adorned with vibrant murals by Banksy and hundreds of other internationally acclaimed artists, many of whom live in Bristol.
With street art tours, self-guided trails, the biennial Upfest street art festival, spray art workshop experiences and street art themed hotels, here is the ultimate guide to having a street-art break in Bristol.
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Street art tours and experiences
Bristol Street Art tour by Where the Wall
Discover famous Banksy murals and the work of other world-renowned artists during this two-hour guided walking tour, which runs every Saturday, with many tours hosted by the ‘Godfather of Graffiti’, John Nation. This is cutting edge, modern art, mixed with history and culture, and Where the Wall’s Bristol Street Art Tour proudly tells the story of the city’s incredible creative culture and art scene from the dawn of the 1980s to the present day.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/bristol-street-art-walking-tours/154566301/
Self-guided Banksy walking tour
“A piece of…Banksy!” Self-guided street art cultural walking tour is narrated by John Nation (mentioned above) who is also known as Banksy’s mentor. The tour is available via all smart phones (using 5G, no need to download an app) and once the code is activated, you have access to the tour for 24 hours, so you can dip in and out of the tour as you explore Bristol at your own pace.
Blackbeard to Banksy: The Ultimate Bristol Walking Tour
Running daily, this two-hour guided walking tour reveals 1,000 years of Bristol history and street art. See Banksy originals, hear pirate tales and uncover literary legends with passionate local guides who bring Bristol’s fascinating stories to life. Coming in 2026, a new tour route by the same company, dubbed a ‘street art safari’ - more information to come.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/blackbeard-to-banksy-the-ultimate-bristol-walking-tour/173190301/
Learn about Graffiti with Graft
For a bespoke graffiti workshop experience, Graft cater for all ages and group sizes. Led by professional artists, these workshops give a unique insight into the history of Bristol graffiti, as well as the chance to learn or develop skills with spray cans, stencils and paint markers – all in the quirky venue of a former police station cell! Create your own graffiti artwork on a canvas board, to take home as a souvenir of your experience.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/learn-about-graffiti-by-graft/262633301/
Introducing stencil art spray sessions
Running every week on Saturdays at Hamilton House in Stokes Croft – right by Banksy’s Mild Mild West mural – are these Introducing stencil art spray sessions, suitable for all ages, led by Where the Wall. Using water-based, no mess paints, you can get your ‘hands on the cans’ and discover how to paint like Banksy and create your own masterpiece. Where the Wall are introducing a new workshop in 2026 - a Graffiti Style Writing workshop, 'Graffititude' - in which all participants are invited to design their own style writing.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/where-the-walls-introducing-stencil-art-spray-sessions/227051301/
Cycle the City
Running since 2012, Cycle the City offers guided bike tours that bring 1,000 years of Bristol’s history to life – on two wheels! Ride one of their locally made Temple bikes as you uncover castle ruins and Georgian streets, as well as tales of pirates and smugglers and sailors. Along the way, discover world-famous street art – including pieces by Banksy – and enjoy stunning views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Brunel’s SS Great Britain.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/cycle-the-city/369108301/
Self-guided Upfest mural tour
Go on a self-guided tour of 170 artworks painted during Upfest – Europe’s largest street art festival. With descriptions of the artists and the artworks, the Upfest Google map of Bedminster and Southville is easy to use at your convenience, all year round. Top tip, the Upfest Gallery is on North Street – the main high street in Bedminster – where you can buy your own piece of artwork, and also marvel at the Six Sisters murals painted by six female, Bristol-based street artists on consecutive shop facades.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/upfest-murals/300767301/
Street art festivals and art exhibitions
Bristol Light Festival
Bristol’s award-winning winter festival is set to return February 2026 with a stunning interactive and captivating light installation trail – perfect for any art lover. The 2025 event brought in 275,000 visitors to experience the vibrant, colourful streets of Bristol in the middle of winter and artists are submitting works for the 2026 festival now.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/event/bristol-light-festival/282289301/
Upfest
Upfest is Europe’s largest urban painting festival, drawing in artists from around the world to paint live in front of art lovers. Past events have seen large murals painted live on Bedminster street walls, paint jams, workshops and talks. The festival is biennial, due to return to Bristol in 2026 (details and date to be confirmed), and the curated artworks are left on display on street walls for people to discover all year round.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/event/upfest/237998301/
Weston Wallz
Another street art festival set to return in 2026 (date to be confirmed) is Weston Wallz, in Weston-super-Mare, just 30 minutes away from Bristol. The event attracts international artists who transform the town with large scale murals and engage with locals and visitors with hands-on workshops in spray-painting, illustration and printmaking.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/event/weston-wallz/310989301/
See Banksy artworks in Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and M Shed
After the enormously successful ‘Banksy vs Bristol Museum’ exhibition in 2009 – when Banksy took over Bristol Museum with an array of new artworks, all set up in secret, of course – his piece ‘Paint-Pot Angel’ was left as a reminder and can still be seen at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery today. At M Shed Museum down on Bristol’s Harbourside, you can also see Banksy’s ‘The Grim Reaper’, which was originally painted onto the side of the nearby legendary club-on-a-boat, Thekla, before being given on long-term loan to M Shed.
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/bristol-museum-%26-art-gallery/2458101/
https://visitbristol.co.uk/listing/m-shed/2431101/
Explore Bristol’s art and cultural attractions
For something art focused but with a punk twist, street art lovers will enjoy Wake the Tiger - the UK’s largest immersive art experience and Amazement Park, featuring 40 rooms in the alternative worlds of Meridia and the Outer-verse. For photography fans, head to Martin Parr Foundation nearby Wake the Tiger, which houses a photography gallery supporting emerging and established photographers who explore British diversity. While Royal West of England Academy is Bristol’s oldest art gallery, it hosts incredibly diverse exhibitions ranging from historical to contemporary, including the annual Open Exhibition which has been running for 170 years. On the Harbourside, Spike Island is an international centre for the development of contemporary art; a vibrant hub for production, presentation and debate with a gallery, café and working space for artists, designers and creative businesses. Also on the Harbourside is Arnolfini, a centre for international contemporary arts, dedicated to producing and presenting visual arts, performance, dance, film, music, events and workshops, welcoming a broad and diverse audience of all ages.
Street art themed hotels
In Bristol, street art is celebrated inside buildings as well as outside on city walls, with many hotels incorporating street art into their design. Located at the edge of Stokes Croft – one of the main areas for street art – Moxy Bristol Hotel is a canvas that showcases the city’s vibrancy, with murals by four local artists Lucas Antics, Bo Lanyon, Dr Myles-Jay Linton and Lawrence Hoo & Charles Golding. Also nearby, is Artist Residence, which as the name implies, has pop art ingrained into every detail of its bohemian and achingly cool styling. The Clayton Hotel Bristol in city centre has embraced the street art on nearby Nelson Street and commissioned renowned graffiti artist Inkie to create new artworks around the hotel, taking inspiration from the original Art Nouveau façade. Radisson Blu Bristol, in collaboration with Bristol BID, commissioned Inkie to paint the epic Bristol 650 mural outside its main entrance, to mark 650 years of Bristol being recognised as a city in 2023, and also has views over the largest piece of street art in Bristol, Our Common Ground by Oshii. Bristol Grand Hotel by Sunday and Leonardo Hotel Bristol have pictures of street art in their rooms, as a nod to the city’s creativity too.
Where to eat and drink while street art spotting
Street art spotting is hungry (and thirsty) work, but luckily there are plenty of places to eat and drink while exploring Bristol. Harbour House not only has impeccable food and views of the famous Bristol colourful houses on the Harbourside, it’s also where Banksy housed his first exhibition in 2000. Dine on the finest Sri Lankan food (including sharing dosas the length of the tables) at Nadu in Stokes Croft, which has views of Banksy’s Mild Mild West mural, or try an epic wrap from nearby Biblos, Banky’s chosen catering partner at his Dismaland exhibition in Weston-super-Mare in 2015. The Canteen is another locals’ favourite – a café/restaurant by day championing a sustainable and largely vegetarian menu, and a live music venue and bar by night - it is very much the heart of the ‘People’s Republic of Stokes Croft’, with two famous murals on its walls, the Mild Mild West by Banksy and the mural of Black Lives Matter activist Jen Reid, painted by Mr Cenz. Enjoy some matcha and the popular, viral Japanese souffle pancakes at Fluffy Fluffy on Park Street, which is adjacent to Banksy’s Well Hung Lover piece. Head south of the river and explore Bedminster’s street art (using the Upfest self-guided trail map listed above) and try COR, an outstanding neighbourhood restaurant awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide 2025, or sample some sustainable, organic and vegan wine from the south west and beyond at KASK – both with street art on their exterior walls. And if you want a rest after your self-guided street art safari, catch a show at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bedminster, with its iconic side wall, one of the largest murals painted during Upfest.
For more information and inspiration, visit https://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do/street-art/
Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2026 is available for £14.99 from lonelyplanet.com or where all good books are sold.
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