Earlier this year our daughter was seriously ill and spent time in hospital. During her recovery, unable to eat properly, she started looking back through old photos of a pizza restaurant we’d all loved in Bristol, called Pepenero’s, with its brilliant vegan pizza. She’d been dreaming about it. We promised her that when she was better, we’d take her back for that pizza.

A few months later she was back to her normal self and her birthday was coming up. She didn’t want a party or anything with friends this year, instead she just wanted a family day out in Bristol. Wake the Tiger, We The Curious, and that longed for pizza. Simple as that.

The only complication was the budget. We’re self-employed and this year our income took a significant hit, so a day out in Bristol (three hours from home in Cornwall) isn’t something we could just do on a whim at the moment.

Fuel and parking alone is around £70. A family meal for four in a restaurant is the best part of £100. Add two attraction entries and you’re looking at £300 before you’ve bought so much as a souvenir.

So we did what we do at the moment to fund entertainment or extra spending while we get our finances back on track – we sold bits and bobs on Facebook Marketplace until we’d raised £300 to fund the day. It was absolutely worth every car boot sale listing.

We left Cornwall at 7am, arrived in Bristol around 10am, and aimed to leave by 6pm. Eight hours in Bristol. Here’s exactly how we spent them.

I’ve included costs throughout so you can plan and budget if you’re thinking of doing something similar.

10am: Wake the Tiger

We’d pre-booked the first slot of the day at Wake the Tiger, the immersive art experience in Bristol. First slot meant we’d be there for opening before it got too busy, and it gave us the whole day ahead.

We spent just under two and a half hours inside and saw everything, including the brand new Outerverse section upstairs that didn’t exist last time we visited. The theatrical acting intro that wasn’t really our thing last time had been completely removed, which was a welcome change.

It was our daughter’s first visit, and she absolutely loved it. Our son had been before as a young child and we thought he’d enjoy it more now he’s older, but nope. More on that later.

Find full details and lots and lots of photos in my Wake the Tiger 2026 return visit review.

Cost: £77 for two adults and two children including refund protection, plus £3 for parking. Pre-book in advance.

12.30pm: Pepenero’s for Lunch

This was the meal our daughter had been dreaming about for months. Pepenero’s is an independent Italian restaurant inside The Beer Emporium on King Street. It’s a brilliant underground bar and restaurant with a unique atmosphere. We’ve been a few times over the years and always loved it, though it had been at least five years since our last visit.

The vegan options are genuinely excellent. The staff are a bit hit and miss! But generally, we’ve always had a tasty vegan meal and always wanted to go back again for more of their vegan pizza. Pepenero’s was actually one of the first places in Bristol to start serving vegan pizza which is how we discovered it years ago when we went vegan at the start of 2018.

Ben and I shared one of their large pizzas as they do huge sharing ones which are great value. The kids had a normal size one each as they wanted different toppings, and Pepenero’s don’t do half and half in the restaurant, or at least the barman said they can’t. The service was good this day, and we sat and relaxed properly, which was exactly what we needed between two big attractions.

We used to always finish with their chocolate gelato – they made the most amazing vegan gelato – but we skipped dessert this time to keep the pace of the day moving. Something to look forward to next time, if they still make it.

We’d originally planned to eat at the Wake the Tiger restaurant for lunch, but it was completely full with no free tables. Ending up at Pepenero’s for lunch worked out better though – we got the meal we’d been promising our daughter for months, and having it at lunchtime rather than in the evening meant we could leave Bristol at a reasonable hour and not get home too late after the three hour drive back to Cornwall!

Cost: £72 for four including pizzas, sides and soft drinks.

2pm: The LEGO Shop at Cabot Circus

After Pepenero’s we made a detour to the LEGO shop at Cabot Circus. Our son had been to the Bristol LEGO store on a previous trip and had been excited about returning ever since. His sister was keen too as she was a big LEGO Friends fan when she was younger!

The LEGO shop is always worth a browse regardless of age. The in-store displays and builds are impressive if you like LEGO, the staff are enthusiastic, and there are free builds during the day.

If you time your visit right, sometimes there are freebies to be had, and they give away free LEGO gifts when you spend certain amounts. Both kids spent some of their saved pocket money and came out happy.

2.45pm: The Bristol Wheel

As we reached We The Curious after walking back from Cabot Circus, the kids spotted a large ferris wheel and immediately wanted to go on it. They were calling it the Bristol Eye!

They’ve both been on the London Eye on school residentials before, so a big ferris wheel was nothing new to them. There was nobody on it and we thought why not while we were there.

Worth setting expectations before you visit: this is a fun fair-style ferris wheel rather than a London Eye-style observation experience! The ride lasts about five minutes and I think we went around three times. There are decent views over Bristol harbourside from the top.

The only issue was that it was a rainy day and the seats were completely soaking which we didn’t think about before we got on. We all sat down and immediately got wet bottoms!

The wheel also made some fairly alarming creaking sounds throughout, prompting some very dramatic commentary from the kids about whether we were going to survive. We did. Just.

Was it worth the money? Honestly, not really – we all felt it was expensive for what it was, essentially a fairground ride. A lower price point would probably get more people on board. But it was spontaneous, and with 15 minutes to kill before our ticket time at We The Curious, it was a fun way to fill the gap.

Cost: £20 for a family of four.

(We had a family ticket price on a quiet rainy day, however, I’ve seen online mentions that it usually costs £8.50 per adult – whoa!)

3pm: We The Curious

We had late entry open concession tickets for We The Curious, Bristol’s hands-on science museum on Millennium Square, which meant entry from 3pm until 5pm, at under £10 per person.

Booking late entry was a deliberate choice as it meant we didn’t have to rush through Wake the Tiger in the morning, had time for a proper lunch, a browse of the LEGO shop, a spontaneous ferris wheel ride, and still got a full two hours inside. It also meant we could get a cheaper ticket price as the full day price wasn’t realistic with our budget.

This is where the two kids completely swapped opinions. Our son, who had been underwhelmed by Wake the Tiger, absolutely loved We The Curious. The Aardvark animation studios upstairs captured both kids and they spent a good chunk of time there making stop-motion animations. The spinning sand plates, the colourful shadow screen, and the slanted living room were all highlights.

Our daughter somewhat enjoyed it, but preferred Wake the Tiger by a mile. Different attractions, different personalities.

We stayed until 5pm when it closed, but could easily have done with another hour. Find the full details and lots more photos in my We The Curious 2026 review.

Cost: £30 for four on late entry open concession tickets, plus £14 parking at Millennium Square car park.

How It All Added Up

Six hours of driving. Eight hours in Bristol. Three paid activities. One restaurant meal. One shopping stop. A happy and tired 11 and 14 year old. Here’s the full cost breakdown:

• Wake the Tiger entry: £77 (inc. refund protection)
• Wake the Tiger car park: £3
• Pepenero’s lunch: £72 (four pizzas, sides, drinks)
• Bristol Wheel: £20
• We The Curious late entry: £30
• Millennium Square car park: £14
• Fuel (6 hour round trip): approximately £50
• Gift shop souvenirs: £18
• Motorway services on the way home: approximately £40

Total: approximately £324

Our estimate of needing around £300 was pretty much spot on – and it does sound like a staggering amount for one day out! Or at least I think so.

But when you break it down across six hours of driving, two big attraction visits, a sit-down restaurant meal, a ferris wheel ride, and a browse of the LEGO shop, we really did squeeze a lot in. And for a birthday day out that had been months in the planning, it felt absolutely worth every penny we’d saved up selling things we no longer needed.

Rather than eating out again in Bristol at the end of the day (which would have added another restaurant bill to an already significant day), we grabbed a naughty fast food treat at the motorway services on the way home. A much cheaper way to finish the day, and honestly the perfect end to a long but brilliant one.

Would We Visit Bristol Again?

Absolutely! We love Bristol and will definitely be back. But next time we’ll be looking for some different attractions, as we’ve now done both Wake the Tiger and We The Curious with the kids at different ages.

Top of the list for our next Bristol visit is the SS Great Britain, and we also need to give the hot air balloon fiesta another go too – we went once but it was too windy for the balloons to go up, so we’re still waiting for the proper experience!

Bristol is a brilliant city for this kind of day out. If you’re planning something similar, our guides to things to do in Bristol for families and visiting Bristol for half a day are worth a read too.