Bristol Warnings and Dangers

Taxis are extremely expensive in Bristol. beware of the "smart" taxi drivers that they will try to charge you more than it is supposed to be. A standard fare from the city center to an area that is 3-5 miles away can cost you 6-8 pounds. Don't give more than that!!!
Always prefer to hire the black "london taxis", because you will always know the exact amount from the meter. Beware of the mini-cabs!

It won't take you long to discover that Bristol is a very hilly city. Sometimes you could believe that the hills go up in both directions.

Vale Street, in the aptly-named district of Totterdown to the south of Temple Meads station, is said to be the steepest residential street in Europe.

Climbing from the Centre to the University area can be pretty challenging too. If you want some exercise, try starting from the bottom of the Christmas Steps, cross Park Row at the top and then go through the churchyard and on up to the top of St Michaels Hill. It's a great way to lose weight! Devotees of the early days of the BBC hospital drama Casualty will recognise the hill from the opening titles - the one where the ambulance appears be being launched into orbit!

Read the Home Office statistics and you'll discover that Bristol ranks second only to Manchester in terms of violent crime. Cheer up though, Detroit it ain't, and like all UK cities Bristol is perfectly safe provided you keep your wits about you, as you would anywhere. There are no no-go areas.

Some parts of the city - Hartcliffe, Withywood and the Filwood Broadway south of the Avon, Southmead to the north - have serious drug problems and are probably best avoided if you are on your own after dark. These are not areas you would normally be visiting however. The inner-city St Pauls district is somewhere you might visit and has a bad reputation for muggings - probably worse than it deserves, but it can feel threatening. Bristol has large numbers of homeless people and beggars who can be a nuisance but who are mostly harmless.

In general - be aware of your surroundings. Avoid walking directly past the kind of buildings that give a mugger a quick getaway through stairs and passageways. Know who is around you. Don't flash valuables. Don't act like a dumb tourist.

You'll be fine here, it's a great city!

Be very cautious when driving on the tiny roads... on most there is just room for one car at a time, so be careful around corners... in this tiny fishing village in cornwall, the main road is about the size of a foot path (and is one), so be careful to not run any of the locals over. the only place to park is on the sand, so be sure to get roll up your windows and get out of there before the tide comes up.

Avoid the St Pauls and Hartcliffe and Knowle West areas of the city. These areas have a big drug problem and the crime rate is very high.

Also recently we have had a problem with unattended drinks belonging to females in the local nightclubs being spiked with the so called rape drugs.

There are areas of Bristol which are not really safe to go to if you are female and on your own at night.(unless you are good at matial arts of course). These are St Pauls, Knowle West, Southmead and Hartcliffe. You can go if you enjoy watching cars ablaze.

The centre of bristol can get a little wild on a weekend drunks going crazy, but that is just a warning.

St Pauls - try and avoid this area. It can be dangerous as it is an area where drugs and prostitution are rife.

Bristol Town Centre (Friday & Saturday nights about 1am) - very busy, lots of young drunken people. It can be quite daunting if you aren't used to it, so whilst I would say do not avoid it - use common sense here.