EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Weaving through its centre, the River Avon forms part of a system of waterways that made Bristol a great inland port, in later years booming on the transatlantic trafficking of such goods as rum, tobacco and slaves. In the nineteenth century the illustrious Isambard Kingdom Brunel laid the foundations of a tradition of engineering, creating two of Bristol's greatest monuments - the SS Great Britain and the lofty Clifton Suspension Bridge. More recently, spin-offs from the aerospace industry have given the city a high profile in the fields of communications, computing, design and finance. Beneath the prosperous surface, however, Bristol has its negative aspects - one of England's highest homeless populations, some of the most notorious housing estates and the highest proportion of cars to inhabitants. Nonetheless, it remains an attractive city, predominantly hilly, and surrounded by rolling countryside.