Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is an often overlooked city on a visit to the UK, often overshadowed by more popular options like London and Edinburgh. But you won’t regret adding this Welsh destination to your itinerary – the city is home to several museums, castles in and around the city center, beautiful Cardiff Bay, and more.
Explore Cardiff Castle
Visitors to Cardiff Castle in the city center might be forgiven for thinking that this is a neo-Gothic fantasy from the Victorian era. Many of the rooms were decorated in that style. In fact, the castle’s foundations are probably 2,000 years old. It stands on the site of a Roman fortress that may be from the time of Emperor Nero. The Normans took advantage of this strategic site to build a castle in 1091. Since then, it has been occupied by different noble families, each of whom contributed to its comfort and grandeur. But it was the Victorian era, the 3rd Marquis of Bute, who spent his seemingly limitless fortune creating the incredible fantasy residence that you can visit today. Take a 50-minute house tour through incredibly opulent rooms, including the astonishing Arab Room shown here, or take a free audio tour. Norman’s Castle is the best preserved in the UK and you can visit the underground shelters from WWII where hundreds lived and worked in the 1940s. This is a fascinating place with a tremendous amount to see and do.
Stroll down Riverside at Bute Park
Bute Park used to once be the gardens surrounding Cardiff Castle. The beautiful riverside park in the heart of the city was designed by legendary landscape architect Lancelot Capability Brown. There are well-established woodland walks, an arboretum, Victorian gardens, and a cafe, all in a quiet 130-acre green oasis. It is named after the Bute family, the last private owners of Cardiff Castle, who developed the Port of Cardiff, making it, at one point, the largest coal shipping port in the world.
See a show at the Wales Millennium Center
The Wales Millennium Center, in the Cardiff Bay coastal area, is the National Center for the Arts for Wales. It is home to eight resident companies, including the National Opera of Wales, the BBC Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, a dance company and a traveling theater company. All of their programs are bilingual, in Welsh and English and the center is committed to preserving the Welsh language and culture, so if you want to hear this magical language, book a Welsh language presentation here. However, don’t worry if you don’t speak Welsh. This center hosts concerts, musical theater, international show tours, cabaret, and even stand-up comedy.
Visitors often think that the surprising words on the front of the building, by Welsh writer Gwyneth Lewis, are English and Welsh translations of the same phrase. But, in fact, they are completely different and complementary. The English, “In these stones the horizons sing” is combined with the Welsh ” Creu Gwir fel Gwydr or Ffwrnais Awen “, which means “Create truth like the glass of the furnace of inspiration.”
Watch rugby players enter a Scrum at the home of the Welsh Rugby Union
Ask the locals for directions to the Principality Stadium and they might refer to it as the Millennium Stadium. Confusingly, the Welsh Rugby house was temporarily renamed in a ten-year sponsorship deal with a local bank. It doesn’t matter – if you are curious about Rugby, what the game is about and how Rugby Union differs from Rugby League, this is the best place to go because the Welsh are crazy about Rugby. In the off-season, you can take a tour of the stadium or watch other events, such as motorsports like MonsterJam.
Join the Waterfront Café Society on Mermaid Quay
Mermaid Quay is one of Cardiff Bay’s main restaurants, bars and shopping areas. There are dozens of coffee shops to choose from and a lively street scene. The Senedd, home of the Welsh Assembly, with its dramatic sloping roof next to the quayside. It is possible to tour the building to attend art exhibitions and events there. Check their website for the monthly calendar of what is happening.
Step into the magical past of Wales at the National Museum of Wales in St. Fagans
St Fagans was the UK’s first national open-air museum. Today it remains one of the most popular attractions in Wales. Visit to learn about the social and cultural history of Wales: costumes and national dress, farm life, crafts and skills, fossils and folklore. It’s a great family attraction with outdoor activities, like a high rope hike, for more spirited kids. It’s open every day, including Monday holidays, you can bring the family dog and it’s free. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
Visit the madness of an eccentric castle
The fabulously wealthy victor, the 3rd Marquis of Bute, did it again, using his boundless wealth to create a country retreat to match his other home, Cardiff Castle. Castell Coch is about 8 km from the city center, but can be easily reached by bus 132 and about 20 minutes on foot. It’s an example of what a great deal of money, utterly extravagant taste, and the Victorian love of the Middle Ages can achieve. The eccentric English architect and designer William Burges, who had a kind of utopian vision of medieval Britain, was given free rein and an unlimited budget to build the ‘Red Castle’. His followers continued to work on the realization of his plans for 10 years after his death. His fantastic architectural drawings and designs are on display throughout the house, along with elaborate ceilings and opulent furnishings.
Explore the collections of the Cardiff National Museum of Wales
500 years of European and Welsh art treasures may seem like a strange companion to galleries filled with dinosaur fossils, giant skeletons, and other natural history specimens, but the combination makes this museum a great option for families. To make the experience even better for visitors young and old, Museum ExploreAR augmented reality animation phones are available for rent. Visitors can choose from several different programs, all based on the museum’s collections. These include Monet’s Water Lily Garden Experience, Underwater Life Experience in Sea Galleries, and Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures Experience. The museum, located in the civic center of the city, is open from Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays.
Discover great contemporary art at Llandaff Cathedral
Cardiff Cathedral, known as Llandaff Cathedral, was badly damaged by a German landmine explosion during the 1941 Cardiff Blitz of WWII. Despite this and other major upheavals during the Victorian period, the Cathedral still retains much of its original stonework. You can see its origins as a Norman building dating from around 1120. Even the above features date back to the 6th century.
Visit to see the great artistic treasures of the cathedral. Rossetti’s triptych “The Seed of David “ was completed by the great Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti between 1855 and 1864. The Epstein Majestas, by British sculptor Jacob Epstein, is a monumental figure of Christ, cast in aluminum, and suspended of an arch in the center of the nave. The original sculpture from which this figure was cast was sent to Riverside Church in New York City, where it can still be seen today.
Have fun at Techniquest
Another family-friendly attraction, Techniquest is a center for scientific discovery and activity. Experiences designed to engage children and adults are organized around a changing series of themes. In 2019, those themes were Space Hunters, Mars, and Fire and Ice. The center is open every day during school holidays and closed on Mondays when local schools are in session. Events change all the time, so check the website for the schedule of activities.
Shop at a Victorian covered market
There’s not much you can’t buy at Cardiff Market. They have been marketed here since the 1700s, although the massive glass and cast iron canopy that houses hundreds of stalls and thousands of shoppers dates from the mid-Victorian period. Buy food, shoes, clothes, household items, pots and pans, toys, books, musical instruments; if you need something, you will probably find it here. And if you’re just passing through, it’s fun to browse and get in on some pranks with the market traders. The market is open Monday through Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm Sometimes called Central Market, it is in the center of the city with entrances on St. Mary Street and Trinity Street.
Take a tour
Visit Cardiff, the city’s official tourism organization, lists some great tours. Walking tours are great ways to see and learn a lot in a short time with the insider knowledge that comes from entertaining the locals. Take beer tours and pub crawls, unforgettable Halloween tours, food tours, and historical and heritage tours. Check their website to see what’s on offer with a regularly changing hike and tour schedule. Or, if you’re really adventurous, why not get an overview of Cardiff and Cardiff Bay from a helicopter? Visit Cardiff offers experience vouchers for flights with Hover Helicopters from the Cardiff Heliport. They range from 5-minute flights through Cardiff Bay and 15-minute flights over the city to full 30-minute flights down the coast to Tintern Abbey with a panoramic view from 1,500 feet.
