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Cardiff

The capital of Wales since just 1955, Cardiff has embraced the role with vigour, emerging in the new millennium as one of Britain’s leading urban centres. Spread between an ancient fort and an ultramodern waterfront, compact Cardiff seems to have surprised even itself with how interesting it has become.

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Experience the real

　　Named for 12th-century Welsh rebel Ifor Bach, the legendary Clwb ('Club') has broken many a Welsh band since it first opened its doors as a Welsh-language social club in 1983, building a reputation as Cardiff's most important indie-music venue. It now hosts bands performing in many tongues – from young...

Must-see attractions

　　Designed by Lord Richard Rogers (the architect behind London's Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome and Paris' Pompidou Centre), the home of the National Assembly for Wales' Siambr (debating chamber) is a striking structure of concrete, slate, glass and steel, with an undulating canopy roof lined with red cedar. It has...

　　Cardiff's oldest arcade (1858), the Royal, connects with the Morgan Arcade via a series of covered lanes, forming a ritzy shopping precinct called the Morgan Quarter. Along with name-brand fashion, there are shops selling skateboards, vintage books and antiques. Look out for Spillers Records, art and design collective Illustrate, The...

Spillers Records

　　The world's oldest record shop, founded in 1894 (when it sold wax phonograph cylinders), Spillers stocks a large range of CDs and vinyl, and prides itself on catering to the non-mainstream end of the market (it's especially good on punk). In-store gigs promote local talent. ...

　　Inspired by prohibition-era bars, this swanky speakeasy is hidden behind a narrow lane in the city centre. Find the bell with a feather painted nearby (it's near a fire exit sign). You'll then enter the dimly lit bar, with low seats, a jazz-club vibe and the best cocktails in town....

　　St David's is central Cardiff's biggest and slickest shopping centre. All the famous chains you could name have a home here, along with a smorgasbord of eateries, a cinema multiplex and a large branch of the John Lewis department store, which dominates its southern end. ...

　　This family-run Portuguese bakery is famed for its pastel de nata – rich custard tarts with crisp pastry – but also serves freshly baked rolls, sourdough loaves, huge slices of multilayered Portuguese sponge cakes and lunchtime meal deals for around £5. Eat in or takeaway. There are two other branches...

　　This cool cafe, a series of rooms at the entrance to one of Cardiff's Victorian arcades, is good for coffee, indulgent pancake stacks, daily soups and thick milkshakes served in glass milk bottles. Despite its size, soft chairs and quirky decor give it a cosy vibe. Usually busy, it also...

　　Long, narrow Roath Park rivals Bute Park as Cardiff's favourite green space. The third marquess of Bute gifted the land to the city in 1887, when the marsh at its northern end was dammed to create the 30-acre Roath Park Lake, the park's central feature. The rest was laid out...

Llandaff Cathedral

　　This venerable cathedral is set in a hollow near the River Taff, on the site of a 6th-century monastery founded by St Teilo. The present building was begun in 1120, but it crumbled throughout the Middle Ages, and during the Reformation and Civil War it was used as an alehouse...

　　Cardiff Castle's fanciful little brother sits perched atop a thickly wooded crag on the northern fringes of Cardiff. It was the summer retreat of the third marquess of Bute and, like Cardiff Castle, was designed by oddball architect William Burges in gaudy Gothic-revival style. Raised on the ruins of Gilbert...

Wales Millennium Centre

　　The centrepiece and symbol of Cardiff Bay's regeneration is the £106-million Wales Millennium Centre, an architectural masterpiece of stacked Welsh slate in shades of purple, green and grey topped with an overarching bronzed steel shell. Designed by Welsh architect Jonathan Adams, it opened in 2004 as Wales' premier arts complex,...

Principality Stadium

　　Also known as Millennium Stadium ('Principality' is the current naming-rights sponsor), this spectacular venue squats like a stranded spaceship on the River Taff's east bank. Seating 74,500 and built at a cost of £168 million, this three-tiered, retractable-roofed arena was completed in time to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup....

　　Flanked by the castle and the River Taff, Bute Park was donated to the city along with the castle in 1947. With Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields and Llandaff Fields, it forms a green corridor that stretches northwest for 1.5 miles to Llandaff. All were once part of the Butes' vast...

St Fagans National History Museum

　　Historic buildings from all over the country have been dismantled and re-erected in the semirural surrounds of St Fagans village, 5 miles west of central Cardiff. More than 40 buildings are on show, including thatched farmhouses, barns, a watermill, a school, an 18th-century Unitarian chapel and shops selling period-appropriate goods....

National Museum Cardiff

　　Devoted mainly to natural history and art, this grand neoclassical building is the centrepiece of the seven institutions dotted around the country that together form the Welsh National Museum. It's one of Britain's best museums; you'll need at least three hours to do it justice, but it could easily consume...

　　There's a medieval keep at its heart, but it's the later additions to Cardiff Castle that really capture the imagination. In Victorian times, extravagant mock-Gothic features were grafted onto this relic, including a clock tower and a lavish banqueting hall. Some but not all of this flamboyant fantasy world can...

Latest stories from Cardiff

　　Completed in 1999 at a cost of £220 million, this large dam plugged the gap between Penarth and Porth Teigr, containing the waters flowing out from the mouths of the Rivers Taff and Ely, and transforming stinky Cardiff Bay into a freshwater lake. It includes sluice gates to control the...

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

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