Things to do in Cardiff
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Cardiff
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Six Nations season: best atmosphere of the year, worst hotel prices and availability.
Smart shoulder: longer days, blossom, full excursion access and no Six Nations premium.
Pride Cymru, early summer concerts and Roath Park roses peak, with long evenings.
Festivals, concerts and the Bay at its best; book everything in school holidays.
Connoisseur's month: harvest menus, students back, excursion weather often holds, prices soften.
Cardiff Half Marathon weekend fills the city; autumn colours and dramatic waterfalls.
Autumn internationals bring matchday pricing; otherwise quiet, wet and good value for indoor sights.
December lights and Winter Wonderland; January is the cheapest, quietest and wettest month.
What's on
- Six Nations February to March
Wales home matches at the Principality transform the centre and triple hotel prices.
- St David's Day 1 March
National day with daffodils, Welsh cakes and special menus and events.
- Pride Cymru Usually a weekend in June
One of Wales' biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations, recently at Cardiff Castle, with a parade from 11:00 Saturday.
- Cardiff Food and Drink Festival July
Street food around Roald Dahl Plass and the Oval Basin in the Bay; check the year's dates.
- Cardiff Half Marathon Usually the first Sunday of October
Course past castle, stadium, Barrage and Millennium Centre, with weekend road closures.
- Christmas at Bute Park December
Light trail in Bute Park, with Winter Wonderland by City Hall and the Castle.
Best things to do in Cardiff
Cardiff Castle
Two thousand years in one site: Roman wall, Norman keep and opulent Burges Victorian apartments.
St Fagans National Museum of History
Over 40 historic Welsh buildings rebuilt in 100 acres, with craftspeople and a working pub.
Principality Stadium
The 74,500 seat national stadium in the city centre: a Wales match if you can, otherwise the tour.
National Museum Cardiff
Free museum with Welsh natural history downstairs and a strong Impressionist art floor upstairs.
Wales Millennium Centre
The copper landmark on the Bay for touring musicals, Welsh National Opera and smaller cabaret shows.
Cardiff Bay Barrage
Walk the barrage that created the freshwater lake, past the Senedd and Norwegian Church, at golden hour.
Cardiff Market
Two tier Victorian market for Welsh cakes, street food, butchers and books in the city centre.
Spillers Records
Billed as the world's oldest record shop, founded in 1894, inside the Morgan Arcade.
Where to stay in Cardiff
City Centre
first trip, all-round base
Everything walks: castle, museum, arcades, stadium and both main stations, with the Bay 25 minutes away.
Pontcanna
food, character and repeat trips
Leafy Victorian terraces west of the castle with Cardiff's best restaurant street and Bute Park on the doorstep.
Cardiff Bay
views, quiet nights and Millennium Centre evenings
Waterfront hotels by the Centre and Senedd, calmer at night, with centre sights a short commute away.
Cathays / Roath
value and a local feel
Guesthouses near Roath Park and Wellfield Road cafes, 20 minutes from the centre, with student term time noise.
Penarth
seaside-base twist on a longer stay
A proper town 10 minutes by train with pier, esplanade and good restaurants for mornings by the sea.
Think twice about
- St Mary Street / Greyfriars Road late-night strip
Cardiff's main drinking run: very loud until the early hours on weekends and event nights. Stay two streets away.
- City Road / Clifton Street / Adamsdown and Splott edges
Almost no hotels and a deprived main road feel in stretches, with a long walk to the sights. Eat here, do not base here.
- Butetown / Bute Street corridor
Parts feel deserted at night and the walk between centre and Bay is less pleasant than other routes.
- Ely / Caerau and out-of-town estates and business-park hotels
Residential or motorway locations with no visitor infrastructure: you will spend the trip on buses or in taxis.
Best restaurants in Cardiff
Gorse
Cardiff's first starred table: a tiny 22 seat tasting menu built on Welsh produce in Pontcanna.
Heaneys
Locals' fine dining favourite with tasting menus, a keen set lunch and a praised Sunday roast.
Asador 44
Spanish fire cooking: sharing chuletón, croquetas and suckling pig in a wine lined room.
Pasture Cardiff
Dry aged, charcoal grilled sharing steaks in an open kitchen, louder and later than Asador.
Thomas by Tom Simmons
Polished Pontcanna dining: modern British with French technique, tasting menu and Sunday roasts.
The Potted Pig
Dine in a former bank vault: Welsh ingredients with Italian and French ease, plus a gin bar.
Purple Poppadom
Modern Indian cooking with Welsh produce and precise spicing, the dinner to cross the river for.
Bar 44 Cardiff
Grupo 44 tapas bar for sherry, vermouth, jamón and charcoal grilled tapas near the stadium.
Outdoor things to do in Cardiff
Pen y Fan
South Wales' highest peak at 886m on a well made path, about 2.5 to 3 hours up and down.
Rhossili Bay Beach
The Gower's vast headline beach, with Worm's Head reachable only on a falling tide at posted times.
Three Cliffs Bay
The photographer's bay on the Gower, paired with Rhossili on a full weather dependent day.
Cardiff International White Water
Pumped Olympic standard course for instructor led rafting, river boarding, kayaking and SUP.
Taff Trail
Mostly traffic free trail along the Taff: the visitor slice runs through Bute Park to Castell Coch.
Castell Coch
Small Victorian fantasy castle in beech woods, built by the same Bute and Burges team as Cardiff Castle.
Caerphilly Castle
Largest castle in Wales and second largest in Britain, moated, with a famously leaning tower.
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club
True championship links with sea views from almost every hole, a once a trip bucket list round.
Best hotels in Cardiff
The Parkgate Hotel
Converted post office by the stadium with a rooftop thermal suite and hydrotherapy pool.
Hotel Indigo Cardiff
Boutique rooms themed on Welsh design inside an arcade off Queen Street, with a rooftop bar.
Park Plaza Cardiff
Large contemporary hotel near the castle with a 20 metre pool, spa, gym and restaurant.
Hilton Cardiff
Big rooms overlooking Cardiff Castle and City Hall, with pool and spa, polished and predictable.
Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff
Design led budget hotel by Cardiff Central: central, reviewed and no surprises.
Premier Inn Cardiff City Centre (Queen Street)
Credible cheap centre sleep five minutes from Queen Street station, top floors with views.
ZIP by Premier Inn Cardiff
Cheaper still Premier Inn format, worth it only knowingly as it costs the walk in location.
YHA Cardiff Central
Hostel tier option near the centre with dorms and private rooms for budget stays.
Is Cardiff expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | £60 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | £135 a person |
| Splurge | £320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Cardiff Castle: a few days ahead
- Principality Stadium: weeks ahead
- Wales Millennium Centre: weeks ahead
- Lab 22: a few days ahead
- Cardiff International White Water: a few days ahead
- Royal Porthcawl Golf Club: months ahead
- Twenty Ten Course: weeks ahead
- Cottrell Park Golf Resort: a few days ahead
- Check Principality Stadium and Utilita Arena calendars before booking hotels: rooms can triple on event weekends.
- Gorse needs weeks ahead for weekends; Heaneys, Asador 44 and Thomas need days to weeks for Friday and Saturday.
- Wales Millennium Centre headline shows sell out; matinees are the value play.
- Book CIWW rafting, SCALE and Royal Porthcawl and Twenty Ten tee times ahead, golf with the longest lead.
- Flat Holm sailings and Gower tours in high summer are tide limited: book and reconfirm weather the day before.
Is Cardiff safe?
- Cardiff is overall a safe feeling capital: watch bags in crowded arcades and matchday pubs and use licensed taxis late.
- Street homelessness in the centre is real but modest by large city standards, not a reason to avoid basing there.
- The main visitor risk is alcohol related: the night time economy is boisterous on St Mary Street and matchdays.
Cardiff travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- St David's shopping centre as a thing to do: the arcades and market nearby are the Cardiff experience.
- The Doctor Who Experience in the Bay is closed: do not plan around a permanent exhibition.
- Chippy Lane is a late night post pub rite, not a dinner recommendation.
- Castle Quarter cafes charge more than the Market or Pontcanna for the same Welsh cake, coffee or lunch.
- Pen y Fan in trainers in bad weather and Worm's Head without tide times are genuine safety traps.
Getting around Cardiff: public transport and more
- Walk mostly: centre to Pontcanna is 10 to 15 minutes, centre to Bay about 25 minutes flat.
- Trains cover Caerphilly, Penarth, Newport and Swansea cheaply; buy off-peak returns and check Sunday works.
- The T4 bus goes to Storey Arms for Pen y Fan; city buses serve St Fagans and the Sports Village.
- Cardiff Airport is at Rhoose, 12 miles west: 40 to 60 minutes by bus or train plus shuttle.
Who Cardiff suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Cardiff your trip
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