Cheap hotels or B&Bs in Bristol?

Howdy howdy,

I'm planning an 8-10 day flat/job finding trip to Bristol in August and wonder if anyone has recommendations for a cheap and safe place to stay.

I'm looking for a single room.  I can handle sharing a bathroom, but not sleeping quarters.  I'm really wanting to make this trip as cheap as possible.

So far I've found The Washington Hotel for approx pounds 32 per day. 

Any suggestions?

thanks~Holly 

Unfortunately, I've never seen much cheap accomodation in Bristol - even the Travelodges which I've always though of as being fairly reasonable are £64 per night for a room!

What part of Bristol are you hoping to stay in? From a quick online search, it seems that the cheapest places are on the outskirts - either near the airport to the south or in north Bristol near the M4/M5 motorway interchange - but both areas are a few miles from the city centre.

If you're looking nearer the centre, the price you've found for the Washington Hotel sounds pretty good - it's in the Clifton area which is very nice - near the unviersity. Actually I used to park my car in that area every day last year when I was doing my masters there .

I know you said you didn't want to share sleeping quarters, but there is a nice-looking youth hostel near the Waterfront right in the city centre starting at only £17.95/night if you're really on a budget. Although most room are for 4 or more people, they do have a few 2-bed rooms, but I'm not sure how much they would charge for just one person in those rooms.

I really don't have a preference on where to stay!  I just want to be in a central location with direct access to walking/buses/trains to the surrounding area. 

What is the transport situation in Bristol?  Is there a local train system?  I'm planning to get a BritRail pass and wonder how many days I should purchase.

My plan is to attend the uni on a part-time basis (classes on Tuesday only).  I need to get at a part-time job (4-5 days per week) - I'm a gardener/plant person by trade.  There are a couple of job agencies that I'm going to contact ahead of time so that I might be able to interview while I'm there. 

In order to cast a wide net, I'll consider jobs in towns around in the SW area - live near the job and just bus/train myself into town for classes on Tuesday.  Does that sound realistic?
 
Part of me want to make this trip into more of a vacation, but considering that 1 month later I will be returning to live there (with the expense of two flights, shipping cats, etc) - I'm thinking that I should be as thrifty as possible.

I'll take a look at the hostel (Waterfront you say?) but I'm a persnickity sleeper.  I needs my space   

BTW what search engine/words did you use for your search? 

thanks! holly

What is the transport situation in Bristol?  Is there a local train system?  I'm planning to get a BritRail pass and wonder how many days I should purchase.

Do you mean trains within Bristol or trains between Bristol and other towns/cities?

Bristol only has 2 main train stations which run on the main train routes across the country - Temple Meads and Parkway. There are some smaller stations that run between different parts of Bristol, but I've never used them so I'm not sure of cost/frequency.

My plan is to attend the uni on a part-time basis (classes on Tuesday only).  I need to get at a part-time job (4-5 days per week) - I'm a gardener/plant person by trade.  There are a couple of job agencies that I'm going to contact ahead of time so that I might be able to interview while I'm there.

 

Just out of curiosity, what type of course are you doing at the university? I'd love to find one that I could only spend one day a week at, lol. I spent up to 40 hours/week at uni last year and I didn't even have any classes!

In order to cast a wide net, I'll consider jobs in towns around in the SW area - live near the job and just bus/train myself into town for classes on Tuesday.  Does that sound realistic?

 
It's certainly feasible, although it can get expensive using public transport (when I was considering doing my masters in London and commuting from Bristol - only a 90 minute journey - I was astounded to find that an annual train pass between the two cities was £8,000!). Last year, I lived with my parents about 15 miles from the city centre and it was costing me £25/week in bus fare and 2 hours journey time per day to get to university (where I live now - in NM, all the buses are free for students, or a dollar for everyone else).

However, if you ended up living in a small town/village outside Bristol, the public transport may not be very frequent - some out of the way places only have a couple of buses running per day. So, while it's possible, it might not be very convenient for you.

BTW what search engine/words did you use for your search? 

I just typed in 'Bristol Accomodation', 'Bristol Youth Hostels' and the names of some of the hotel chains I know of (i.e. Travelodge).

Thanks ksand!  It's like peeling an onion ~ more layers than I could ever imagine!

I'm not sure how to do the quote thing so...

Are you not familiar with the train system because the bus system is so good or because you had a car?

I've applied to the taught MA in Garden History course on a part-time basis.  What kept you at school for 40 hours / week if you had no classes?   I assume you were doing a research degree?  Or is there something else I don't know? 

Thanks for the heads up on the cost/availablity of public transport.  8000 pounds for a train pass!  Cough, splutter, it's a wonder anyone can afford it.

I love walking ~ so I suppose (from what I've ascertained) that a flat and a job in Bristol would be the best course of action. 

I did a work-study semester in Hamburg Germany in 1990, so I think I'm sort of stuck in the mind-set of a hyper-efficient and much cheaper place and time.  People always tell me how much it costs to live in the UK, yet it still shocks me to hear how the exact numbers!

thanks for your input!
Holly

Are you not familiar with the train system because the bus system is so good or because you had a car?

I'm not familiar with the train system because I've only ever used the train to travel to different parts of the country, rather than locally. Plus, in order to get to my nearest station, I would have to either drive 8 miles or spend an hour on a bus anyway. And even then, if I got to the station (Parkway), there would only be one place I could travel to within Bristol - Temple Meads station...which is about 45 minutes walk from the university!

I've applied to the taught MA in Garden History course on a part-time basis.  What kept you at school for 40 hours / week if you had no classes?   I assume you were doing a research degree?  Or is there something else I don't know? 

Yeah I was doing a research degree (and I was also doing it as a 1-year full-time masters) - I spent 12 months working on a research project (near the end, I was in my office in the university 6 days a week!).

Thanks for the heads up on the cost/availablity of public transport.  8000 pounds for a train pass!  Cough, splutter, it's a wonder anyone can afford it.

Yeah, I thought that was horrendous! It would have been cheaper just to move to London for the year .

Compared to the US, it is expensive to live in the UK. I've just found a studio apartment here in Albuquerque for $475/month: 350 sq. ft, furnished, with utilities included. In Bristol, you can't usually rent one tiny room in a small house (the average family home in the UK is around 800-900 sq ft), with no utilities included, for less than £300/month!