The most visually loud city outside London. Stokes Croft and the surrounding walls are an open-air gallery — Banksy started here, and the graffiti is constantly repainted, so the backdrop is never the same twice. Use the murals as sets and wait for people to walk through them.

Best time: Saturday for St Nicholas Market and the crowds. Any weekday for Stokes Croft and Gloucester Road without the weekend footfall.

Look for: the collision of the polished harbourside and the scruffy, political energy of Stokes Croft. The steep streets and coloured houses of Clifton and Totterdown give you elevation and a wall of colour behind any subject.