Town of Bristol Marina and Maritime Center

Beautiful dock, nice location

My two month stay at the Bristol Maritime Center was undoubtedly one of the best experiences I've had in terms of service, convenience and staff friendliness. I came to recuperate from a broken leg and get my boat ready for sailing to the Caribbean. I cannot count the number of times the staff accommodated me. I would love to personally list every person who helped in so many different ways, but I just have to say that the Harbormaster, Greg, and office manager, Jennifer, run a first-rate operation. Bristol is a perfect location for a weekend getaway or in my case, a summer stay. It is a mini Newport with all of the services, restaurants and bars you would need.

Love being in Bristol. We were on TM-10 which wasn’t bad but a bit noisy. Still prefer TM-1. Other than that we had a wonderful time. We will be back.

They sent an email & text with mooring field map. That should be standard. I wish ALL marinas did this. Jennifer was very friendly. They were great.

Nice dock master and marina manager. Very good facility. We didn’t appreciate people fishing so close to our boat at all hours

We stayed Labor Day Weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday strong southerly wind, waves breaking over dock, spray on windshield! Can't blame the facility for the weather. Docks, personnel, heads and showers very nice. Biggest complaint was a fisherman screaming to his friend at 0630 Monday AM! We left early!

No solid direction to the intended slip. On the dock change of slip indirectly resulting in a collision with a docked boat, and slight damage. Ended up on a smaller slip than the boat. Older and wiser now, but we will likely continue to use Dockwa.

Awesome time, staff is the best!

Easy to get in and out of a Staff very helpful

Unfortunately we were unwilling participants in a deafening wedding bash at a tent venue close by. Kept us up til 1 am. Other than that, it was great! The harbor master responded quickly when there was another boat on our mooring at 3 pm when we arrived. Bristol is a beautiful harbor with an excellent nearby coffee shop - empire tea and coffee…. Lemon poppy muffins !

Nice docks but with the wind out of the south it is difficult to tie up. I have used this dock twice and each time there was a strong southerly and docking was very hard. There isn’t much room between docks to rotate the boat to align it with the dock and compensate for the wind.

Great communication, Easy access and new well protected facility!

Gorgeous views from the transient slips. Easy walk to everything

Great Harbormaster Crew! Excellent facilities.

Nice quiet harbor this time of year.

very expensive for services available

The facility was great , staff , showers etc were very nice. The local fisherman were on the dock fairly late and again at 0500 the next morning , quite loud , unaccustomed to folks sleeping aboard in the transient slips. I will NOT hurry back.

great town for a day visit

Great place to stay and everyone was so helpful.

Could not have been better

Nice new dock. Great location for visiting the Town of Bristol. Clean facilities. Only minor issue was batrooms dont open untill 8am.

Excellent destination and service. We were delayed by weather and didn't arrive up in Bristol until an hour after dark and 10 minutes before the the facility closed. Thankfully two staff members stayed to both guide me by radio to the slip assignment, and to help wrestle my 33' sailboat against wind for the tie-up. The Maritime Center was clean and spacious in a historical building. Upon departing there are two pumpout stations and a fuel dock, all easily accessible. I wish it was like this elsewhere, they are really setting the example. The only recommendation I'd have is to publish online (or in the Dockwa confirmation email) a slip layout diagram similar to their mooring field map.

Great facilities. Everything is in excellent condition. Perfect location.

Beautiful afternoon sailing! Stopped in Bristol for lunch. The marina was super easy to access and the staff are extremely kind and offered to assist if we needed anything.

Stopped by for quick bite in Bristol, staff fantastic getting us to transient slip. Always on top of things at Bristol

It was a great place to visit. Your in downtown Bristol and everything is close. The staff at the marina are very friendly and helpful. I will go back again.

We had a really great Weekend in Bristol August 11,12 and left the 13th. Great hook ups friendly staff We love coming over to walk Bristol and dine in the Restaurants. The accommodations at the Marina are just what we expect. Thank You!!

Excellent help from the Harbormaster who guided us to our slip!

Excellent staff- great stay

The transient moorings are located in a great spot easy to access, downtown… access, fuel dock, and pump out and water with easy access to the Maritime Center for showers and laundry and the showers and laundry room.facility are very nice and neat and clean.

Very professional operation. The Harbormaster provides broad information to get the most of our visit to Bristol.

Easy to reserve and find moorings. Nice welcome email by harbor master. Stayed a night and a few hours past check out since they also have a daily rate

People are friendly, moorings are well spaced, facilities clean and kept up.

The staff is helpful and friendly. Wonderful stay, will definitely return!

Great facility. Docks, staff, amenities are great.

Awesome facilities and great staff.

Nice view ,, great location. The new docks are fantastic. Staff were very helpful particularly James who helped us dock in high winds. We’ll be back!!

Great staff and facility. Very friendly place. Very close to town with lots to do.

Great place! Easy access moorings and nice marina! Marina is super helpful & friendly and responds very fast!! The town is super cool too, nice restaurants and a lot of great history. We will be back! thanks again!

Marina staff is excellent, mooring gear is like-new and we decided to stay for a few more days to enjoy Bristol and the local hospitality!

Showers didn’t work right and you had to pay for them. Everything was very nice

Great dock team, really convenient to get into town, lovely clean well maintained and modern docks.

Electricity failed during and after storm otherwise fine

Perfect for our day trip. Clear directions, harbormaster very helpful, beautiful day. Will definitely go back. 👍👍

Great place to visit. Well run. Wi-Fi needs improvement. Water and electric all good.

Very easy to deal with, and a very nice dock.

Great habormaster office and support. Very helpful and responsive. Bit bumpy overnight with steady southerly.

Love the new docks!! All went smoothly with reservations.. everyone is friendly

Love this mooring! Dockmaster was great helping us find the mooring. Facilities ashore are east to find and in good shape. Really nice town. We’ll definitely be back.

Regular day tripper. Marina is always very accomodating

Staff was very accommodating and professional. Slips where great with lots of room to maneuver.

Ther town of Bristol has done an excellent job with their marina expansion. Beautiful place!!!

Very helpful staff and convenient location

Easy peasy. Unfortunately there is no public launch service.

Thank you. Harbormaster and Parks & Rec were excellent and extremely cordial. See you again soon. The Lady Ginger

Very nice new dock. People were friendly and helpful if a little understaffed. (it was 4th of July). We had issues with the new ELCI system and our old wiring. Our fault, but we could not plug in. I know there are a lot of older boats with the same issue so I thought I'd mention it. No trash disposal when we were there and the laundry and bathrooms are only open during business hours. Bristol is a lovely town and was all decked out for the Fourth.

Is the launch going to return?

Fantastic as always.

So maybe it was me, but when we arrived they had no record of us. Fortunately there was space at the town dock. Bristol is an outstanding location for boaters, but check twice before shoving off. We’ll be following up with Dockwa.

We enjoyed our stay at the Town of Bristol Marina. The staff were courteous and responsive and the new dock facilities were great. Our only complaint was that the shore power system on the new docks is unreliable. After pulling into our original assigned slip, we could not get the power to work and were told to move to another slip. The power connection at the second slip worked fine the first day and night, but tripped at about 11 the next morning and was not restored until 3 that afternoon. Normally, not having power for a few hours is not a big deal, but it was very hot and sleeping on a boat with no a/c would not have been fun. The staff did their best to restore power to our slip, but we were told that this is a chronic issue and is due to the temporary wiring currently in place for the marina. Although we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Bristol, we are unlikely to return until the permanent shore power installation is complete.

Great place to overnight!

Docks are nice and unlike last year we had power and water nice

Brand new bloody Docks!

We have stayed here a few times and every time has been great. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. The facilities are clean.

marina is safe and easy, only issue is no 24 hour access to bathrooms/showers

Awesome, Great staff!!!

Short stay but the docks are great and the people are very helpful

Reserved a mooring for fireworks , found out within an hour I had the wrong day . Canceled trip and didn’t get refunded . Not a big deal for 20 bucks but I was literally actively messaging them at the time .

Dockmasters are terrific and accommodating

Perfect. Moorings clearly marked.

Was nice. Would have fueled up at the gas dock if they had potable water

Very convenient and very friendly staff

Awesome Marina! Great people.

Everybody was very friendly, three people came to the dock to help us in. The Church Street docks were quiet, modern and very "homey", with a number of people coming to fish and enjoy the view. You're near the business area with great shops and restaurants. Bristol's waterfront is beautiful and has many interesting historic buildings.

Great welcome and team was helpful when I needed help to fix an issue To be improved: mooring will be better with two lines to be attached each side of the bow Great amenities too (clean and spacious)

Reserved a mooring. Staff answered the radio right away and gave good directions to our assigned mooring. The staff on the dock was very polite and friendly when I asked where I could tie up the dinghy. My wife and I had a great time. Would not hesitate to get a Mooring from them again.

Friendly, many restaurants

Nice new dock but very expensive for no power or water.

Assigned slip was taken, 2nd slip had a spring line through it. Charter hit my boat on the way in and then on the way out of the slip. Power not available even if dockwa says it is. Nice town

We loved our stay in Brisol. It is such a nice town. The Maritime center is also very nice. Coin op showers and laundry facilities, all very clean. Will return again in the future.

Peaceful mooring. The bar plays music, but we didn’t find it too loud. Easy access to dinghy dock and great town to stroll around. Bathrooms are in the Maritime Center and showers are coin operated. Very clean. Restaurant recommendation is Bristol Oyster Bar. Fantastic!

Great place, mooring field is open and easy to spot assigned ball. Dinghy dock right in kiddie of town with plenty of restaurants and stores around. Booking they Dockwa is simply the best; no wait or spinning around until a mooring is assigned.

We stayed on a Town mooring and liked it just fine. The harbormaster staff were friendly and helpful, showers and heads were very nice, clean, etc. The Town runs a fuel dock and pumpout service and there is water available on the docks, but unfortunately they don't test it so they warn you not to drink it. So make sure you have enough water in your tanks before arriving here. The only other negative is that the harbor is wide open to the south, so it can get quite rolly in a southerly breeze. But overall we really enjoyed our stay in Bristol. It's a very cute town with many bars & restaurants, grocery stores, etc. and we will be back.

Mooring was very convenient to town and dinghy dock; helpful staff at maritime center.

Great harbor and harbormaster

Easy checkin. Very clean.

Reservation request was quickly confirmed. Mooring identified so it was easy to just head right for it.

Beautiful harbor with new maritime center All services and a charming friendly town. Couldn’t be more beautiful or interesting.

Mooring buoys are robust and well spaced out, shore facilities are comfortable and clean, staff is welcoming and helpful, harbor master is available and cares to deliver a good service. Mooring just in front of the city. No launch service.

As a super Yacht Captain one of the challenges that I always face is finding a Marina for a vessel over the size. So when weather forced me to change plans, I thought I would check out Bristol, and was so glad I did. The town has spent a lot of money installing a first class dock capable of holding several large vessels, with very easy access to the town, and wonderful on-site facilities. The thing I appreciate the most though, was the hospitality from the Harbor Master. Normally these guys are so busy that they don’t have time for you, but Bristol is a different story. Really very happy to have given it a shot, and you can bet that I will be back.

Pretty Harbor, great mooring location, convenient to Town. Good directions for locating mooring. Bathroom and showers clean. Would stay in here next visit.

We called ahead by phone after reserving our mooring and a very friendly and helpful person was able to tell me exactly where our mooring was. This was great as we did notice a number of other people having a hard time finding their moorings. As others have noted there is live music on weekends right at the water's edge that you can hear clearly from the mooring field. This might bother some but we enjoyed it and it doesn't seem to go late which is great. Bristol has many good options for food and drink and is a beautiful historic New England seaside town. Enjoy!

Heavy S and SW winds straight into the harbor made it a bumpy stay. No water taxi service available so dingy ride was challenging.

Nice dock facility. Maritime center itself has decent amenities. Would be helpful to have procedures for transient dockage published somewhere (online and at dock?). Also, be aware there is no launch service at town moorings.

Staff was very friendly and helpful. Facilities were great

Awesome in all respects.

great location town of Bristol has there act together as there info pact they send you and the friendly reception you get to any questions asked

Helpful and friendly staff. Clean facility. Great location.

We were escorted to our mooring by local celebrity and author, Rex Inverness!!

Bristol is a beautiful New England town with a great harbor and mooring field. The water may be a little lumpy in a stiff southern breeze but not so bad as to be a problem. The dinghy dock and town are close at hand and the business district is easy strolling and good shopping. Put this place on your need to visit list. If you are lucky enough to schedule a July 4th trip is will be a lifetime experience with the fireworks and famous parade.

We stayed I Bristol on a mooring for the 4th of July weekend. The staff were incredibly helpful, the mooring yard map was very easy to follow, and I was especially appreciative of the Harbor Master and Bristol Police presence on the water the night of the fireworks, I felt like my family was in a very safe harbor. Thank you, we will be back!

I don’t generally give fives. Mooring was an easy stick pickup, facilities (laundry and bathroom) were essentially new, and the staff were responsive. Easy walk to a variety of restaurants. No places to provision, however. Bristol seems to be a party spot, judging from last night, so if you’re a light sleeper who turns in early, beware. I had a restful night on the mooring. I would return.

Very accommodating with clear instructions

There are Brand new docks at this location, however there is no electric service available yet. We were not informed of this.

Great new docks, easy to tie off even in strong winds

The new facilities are really nice, and when we came in, the Harbormaster and a dockstaffer met us there to help guide us to our slip and secure the lines. They were awesome and welcoming. I'll be visiting again.

Great communication with harbor master. Docks are very large with plenty of space to maneuver for docking.

We didn't use the facilities, but the location is excellent. The town is cute and there's a ton to do, plus great access to the biking trail. Dinghy dock is easy (put your outboard up because it gets shallow at low tide).

Great staff, they help me during the storm Henri. Harbormaster is very professional. good location.very calm place. Good access to dinghy dock. I love this place.

Walking to the showers and paying for them was a little inconvenient but being so close to all the great restaurants in Bristol was a blast. It was worth a loud honk every so often from the ferry. I would recommend it to anyone needing some dock time and wanting to explore the area.

Great stay! Hospitality and facilities are great at the Bristol Maritime Center. As with other reviews, it was a bit choppy with a good southerly breeze. Not uncomfortable at all. There is no commercial launch service. There are two dinghy docks with plenty of room to access different parts of town. Great for walking dinning and shops. Bristol by water is a great alternative in Narragansett Bay.

This review is for the dock, not the moorings. If you have a deep draft sailboat, you will be on the face dock. This dock is very exposed to the prevailing southwest wind and chop and when we arrived, it was blowing 20+. We got bounced hard all that day and overnight. The listing on dockwa says to hail them on 16. They didn't answer. We ended up calling the office number to get instructions as we approached. We asked for a dockhand to assist in the high winds - there are none. This dock seems to be mainly useful as a quick touch and go for water or pumpout or to pick/drop passengers. It's not really suitable for a stay unless conditions are VERY settled. There is NO WIFI on the docks - only inside the building. We managed hijack a couple local pubs' connections with some success so we could work our jobs while we were there. On the plus side, this dock is at ground-zero for the foodie hub of Bristol. The location is great. I would come back if conditions were very settled (or not blowing from SW), and if I didn't need good connectivity while there (which is pretty unusual). Also on the plus side, the docks and walkways are in good shape. The Bath, shower and laundry facilities are very clean and nice.

Great stop as always!

Excellent facilities. Friendly staff

Bristol is a wonderful destination with plenty of things to do including parks, museums, restaurants, and bars within walking distance of the docks. Very dog friendly with many restaurants allowing dogs in the outdoor areas. The dock itself was overpriced for the amenities. There are no dock hands to catch a line. It has wifi listed as an amenity however the wifi is available in the maritime center only, not at the dock. Showers listed as amenity but is an additional charge. No protection, especially from south to southwest wind, extremely rolly . The woman working in the maritime center was friendly, and knowledgeable.

Great mooring to weather Tropical Storm Henri.

Absolutely wonderful staff harbor and facilities would DEFINITELY RETURN

Great, protection. Delicious dinner at SS Dion and grilled cinnamon roll breakfast at Van's.

Very exposed Transient Dock and uncomfortable if wind from South and West. Facilities very good but not open until 8:30 am. Great town.

Very helpful and courteous on my second trip there. I’ll be returning again soon

We enjoyed staying in Bristol on a mooring. My kids loved that there is a playground near the dinghy dock. The harbormaster office has nice clean restrooms and showers (operated my quarters). They also have two washers and dryers ($2.50 per machine).We were able to receive our packages. We will be back next summer.

Got there at 4pm in a wind storm and couldn’t contact the Marina for mooring assignment, no one was responding to channel 16 on the vhf radio, we tried numerous times with no success, even calling the office phone it went to voicemail mail. The launch boat from a different Marina put us on their mooring for the night. The next morning we went ashore to the office and was given the mooring assignment we then moved to the correct mooring. Apparently they don’t monitor the VHF radio. The town of Bristol was amazing though, I will visit again.

No dock hand help. First night very rough with a 20 kt south wind on their exposed dock. Boats hobby horsing 3 to 4 feet at the bow. The town off Bristol is very nice. The Herreshoff museum was great. Highly recommend.

Excellent customer service. Showers were clean and water was hot. Dinghy dock had plenty of space. Great dog friendly community with lots of dining choices. Enjoyed our stay

Bristol doesn’t disappoint as an interesting, friendly town worthy of a multi-day stay. But for the exposure of the harbor to the prevailing SW wind, it gets a full five stars… but be prepared to bounce and have a wet dinghy ride more often than not.

Loved the town! Pretty long walk to food store, but awesome spot!

Having been displaced in Newport, we decided to head up the bay to Bristol. A very nice little town full of historical homes. Very quiet. Town dock provided adequate dockage for our big boat. Dock is exposed to the SW so if the winds are coming from SW it can be a bit bumpy. Super cool to see a self service pump out. You gotta pay big money to get a pump out in Newport.

We received confirmation on our assigned mooring the morning of arrival, very nice. Upon arrival a sailboat was on our assigned mooring, hailed the HM, he immediately sent out a boat (in the pouring rain). Our assigned mooring #10, was occupied and another mooring was extremely close to #10, the HM boat dispatched out attempted to relocate the “dragged” mooring. We grabbed #3 while waiting, and the HM radioed back to us, confirming that it was OK to stay on #3. Spent the nights of 7/3 and 7/4, All went well!!!!!!

Beautiful town, responsive and courteous town harbor master.

Nice dock master but restaurant was all the way across bay. We just boated home.

The Harbormaster's transient moorings are wonderful - especially when it is blowing from the southwest! Once in town, the Maritime Center is a joy! Showers; laundry; ice; local information; knowledgable and friendly staff.

We were on the dock ($208/day) in a SW wind. It was terrible, probably the worst we have experienced.

Bristol harbor calmed down at night even with winds from the south. Had a good night sleep on the mooring. The moorings are blue/white kegs at the south end of the mooring field. We had to double back as we had passed them. Lots of great places to eat when going ashore.

Mooring (bouy #1) has no pennant and only one link of fixed chan to tie to. I was singlehanding a 44' powerboat in 20 kn wind and rain, making for a very difficult, frustrating, and potentially dangerous arrival. There is no excuse for inadequate equipment like that. Most boaters will not be able to use this mooring. A call to the harbormaster (on the Sunday of popular Memorial Day weekend) was unanswered. Maybe 3 stars was too many. Bristol was very pleasant and enjoyable howevef.

Outstanding service and impressive response. We had a lobster pot next to the mooring and informed the Harbourmaster. He responded immediately despite it being late in the afternoon of a holiday weekend. He then sent the harbour patrol out at 6pm to move the pot. Wow.

Well the people who helped us dock were very nice. Beautiful dock but holy cow the wind came (sea breeze) in and I thought my boat was going to be destroyed by the waves. People were nice but location of the dock is dangerous. Would love to come again as the restaurants along the new waterfront were great but won’t unless a more sheltered dock is made available.

Always friendly and accommodating!

Great location and friendly service

Awesome people to deal with I parked in wrong spot by mistake and they were very professional very nice not rude and I moved right away would recommend to all my boating friends

The Dockmaster was very helpful and the location was great, but the material condition of the dock itself was not good. The Dockmaster said that they had been beaten badly by a recent storm. Hope they have money in the budget to make necessary repairs.

Great stay for one night

Love To spend August in Bristol.

Excellent no problems great spot.

Staff was attentive and helpful - bathrooms and showers were very clean- dingy dock very accessible and they had ice including blocks. Definitely would stay here again when in the area

Friendly staff and clean facilities.

Very nice stay here. South wind made the hot day cooler and the night spectacular for sleeping. Went ashore for dinner and enjoyed our stay immensely.

Great service from Bristol Marina staff. Set us up on a great mooring across from town

Nice mooring location..

Having never been to Bristol harbor before, we called the harbor master when we were close. Unfortunately, we were given incorrect directions to our transient mooring. several radio and cell calls later, 30 minutes worth, we finally found the right ball. We did not take advantage of their facilities but, beyond the initial mixup, everyone was helpful.

Always a great destination.

Great location. Floating transient dock in rough shape! Bring extra fenders to avoid damage from prevailing SW winds against dock.

If you’re visiting downtown Bristol by boat, these moorings are hard to beat; otherwise, Bristol Harbor has regular wake from the ferry and passing boats, plus serious wind chop. No launch service so plan for splashing on your ride to the dinghy dock

Easy approach and docking, no problems

Not much transient docking and someone was in out spot but the harbormaster and harbor patrol got the boat moved quickly and gave the vacant boat a ticket. They were supposed to add a lot more transient docking this year but with everything going on it didn’t happen. Bristol is a great area and will be more transient boater friendly hopefully soon.

Although the location was great for restaurants and bars in Bristol, we were very disappointed with our stay at the marina. Originally we booked 2 boats with the marina and received confirmation of our request within 1-2 hours. On the date of arrival, we got a call from the Marina letting us know that only 1 boat would be able to fit there at the dock, the other would have to go on a mooring, as someone had come into the marina in a larger boat and was allowed dock space. We changed our plans and brought only 1 boat. Upon arrival at the Marina, we had to ask for assistance from the Assistant Harbormaster as there were limited power pedestals working and our power pedestal was being utilized by the other boat. The assistant harbormaster came down and worked things out so that we had power. He mentioned that the other power pedestal had been broken and was not sure if it had been fixed yet. Upon coming back to our boat several hours later, our power cord was unplugged and a note was left from the other boat to not unplug their cord. As the Assistant Harbormaster had connected our cord upon arrival, we reconnected it. At this point, a “crew member” from the other boat came rushing out of his boat yelling at us. We tried to explain that we did not originally unplug him and that staff had done so; he was not interested in dealing reasonably so we attempted to call the Marina office. As it was late, there was no one in the office. The “crew member” was being arrogant so we called 911. After the police arrived and assessed the situation, they called the Harbormaster. He arrived roughly an hour later. At this time it is now after midnight. After about another hour of his trying to resolve the power connection issues, he plugged us back in, apologized for our inconvenience, and said to call him on Monday morning as he would comp us that evening for the difficulties and give us a free night next season. After calling his office a few times, I was able to speak with him. He offered both of the boats a free night next season, but said that he was unable to comp us as previously offered for that stay. We have visited many different marinas over our years of boating experience and we have never experienced such a poorly managed facility.

Bristol is a great destination, the Herreshoff museum a must see, and many restaurants to chose from. The maritime center is good for showers. Just be careful at the dinghy dock at low tide.

Beautiful harbor and town. Must see Herreshoff and America’s Cup Museums.

Town moorings are directly off downtown, which is fine if you don't mind listening to live bands and dj's at night, or being close to the ferry. Launch service must be obtained through a separate company, namely Bristol Marine. Simple amenities are available inside the maritime center building, such as coin-operated showers and laundry.

After a little co fusion about where the mooring was located in the harbor we got secured and went ashore. Showers, laundry, pump out all good. Mooring are off town ferry dock which is conspicuous. Dinghy in to dedicated dinghy dock near small park.

easy to find mooring....harbormaster was raised on vhf and cell and it was quick and simple. Mooring was fairly close to the south dinghy docks.

Very nice location and quaint area to explore. The Herreshoff museum is well done, if you like sail boats. Great restaurants. Nice relaxed vibe compared to Newport

Location is a bit exposed and winds will whip up wave action. There was no launch service and we didn't pay attention to that - use our dinghy. Otherwise, Bristol is an awesome location and great bars and restaurants.

People were great. Facilities were well kept. The dock is wide open to the harbor, so not a lot of protection.

Jennifer and the harbor patrol crews were great!

Mix up with the reservation but it got straightened out.

Very good marina and staff. Improvement needed on internet service at transient dock.

Town is great, marina staff was friendly and informative, docks are dated,

A very pleasant surprise. First time in Bristol. There is a lot to do. If Newport is busy, Bristol is a great alternative. Lots of live music and great restaurants. Very boater friendly, but no fuel.

The "slip"we were promised turned out to be an outside floating dock completely exposed to the fetch from Narangansett Bay coming into Bristol Harbor, so it was completely unacceptable because of the wave action. We opted for a mooring which was so far out that is was very uncomfortable. I would NEVER recommend Bristol Harbor to anyone. The "harbormaster" was off on vacation or "gone home early" in the middle of the weekday in August! WHAT A RIPOFF.

Good mooring tackle, rolly with prevailing southerly winds.