Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is compact. The castle, the Victorian market and arcades, the National Museum in Cathays Park and the Principality Stadium are all a short walk apart in the centre, and Bute Park runs north from the castle along the River Taff. To the south, the old coal docks are now Cardiff Bay, a freshwater lake held back by a barrage and lined with the Senedd and the Wales Millennium Centre. On the edges of the city wait St Fagans, the open-air museum, Llandaff Cathedral and two very different castles, Castell Coch and Caerphilly.
The two national museums are free, though both shorten their hours to 10:00 to 16:00 from 2 November 2026 and National Museum Cardiff closes on Mondays. Match and event days change the city: stadium tours stop, the castle can admit event ticket holders only, and Wales play Japan, New Zealand and Australia at the Principality Stadium on 7, 14 and 21 November 2026.
See Burges's Victorian rooms and wartime shelters at Cardiff Castle
Castle Street, city centre
About 1.5 hours, plus 50 minutes for a house tourNo booking needed
Walk from Roman remains and a Norman keep into gilded Victorian rooms and the tunnels where almost 2,000 people sheltered from air raids.
What it is
Cardiff Castle packs almost 2,000 years into one walled square: Roman remains, a Norman shell keep rebuilt in stone in the early 1100s, and a house transformed in the 19th century by the 3rd Marquess of Bute and his architect William Burges into rooms of gold leaf, carving and murals, such as the Arab Room and the Banqueting Hall. Tunnels inside the walls sheltered almost 2,000 people from air raids in the Second World War and now recreate the bunks and sounds of the time.
How to do it
The £16.50 adult ticket covers the apartments, keep, battlement walks, shelters and the Firing Line regimental museum. For Lord Bute's bedroom, the nursery and the roof garden, add a 50-minute House Tour, £5, sold at the ticket office on the day, hourly from 11:00 to 15:00.
See the Davies sisters' Impressionists at National Museum Cardiff
Cathays Park
Free
See Renoir, Monet and Van Gogh for free, in the French art two sisters collected and bequeathed to the museum.
What it is
National Museum Cardiff, in the civic centre of Cathays Park, was officially opened in 1927 and is preparing for its centenary. Its pride is the French art collected by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, granddaughters of the industrialist David Davies, and bequeathed in the 1950s and 1960s: the collection includes Renoir's La Parisienne, shown at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, Monet's Water Lilies and Rouen Cathedral, Van Gogh's Rain at Auvers and a bronze cast of Rodin's Kiss. Welsh art runs from Richard Wilson's landscapes to Gwen and Augustus John, and the Evolution of Wales galleries cover the natural history.
How to do it
Entry is free, though some exhibitions charge. From 2 November 2026 it opens 10:00 to 16:00. Parking behind the museum, off Museum Avenue, costs £6.50.
Walk through Wales's past at the St Fagans open-air museum
St Fagans, west Cardiff
Free
Walk among more than 40 buildings taken down across Wales and rebuilt here, from a painted medieval church to a Cardiff pub.
What it is
St Fagans National Museum of History is an open-air museum in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor house on the western edge of Cardiff. More than 40 buildings have been taken down across Wales and rebuilt here: a medieval church painted as it was before the Reformation, a Tudor merchant's house, a row of workers' cottages from Merthyr Tydfil furnished from 1800 to 1985, a workmen's institute and, since 2024, the Vulcan pub from Cardiff. There is a working forge, a pottery and two water mills, and bread from the bakery and flour from the mill are on sale.
How to do it
Entry is free; parking costs £7 a day. From 2 November 2026 it opens daily 10:00 to 16:00.
Good to know
The castle is being re-roofed, so only some downstairs rooms are open, and Llwyn-yr-eos farm is closed.
Walk the players' tunnel on a Principality Stadium tour
Westgate Street
Book ahead
Hear a head coach's team talk in the home dressing room, then walk out to the pitch under a retractable roof.
What it is
The Principality Stadium, home of the Welsh Rugby Union, seats about 74,000 under a fully retractable roof in the city centre, and has staged rugby World Cups, 2012 Olympic events, the 2017 Champions League final and concerts from the Rolling Stones to Beyoncé. Tours take in the home dressing room and a head coach's team talk, the Ray Gravell press conference suite and the walk through the players' tunnel to the pitch.
How to do it
Tours start at the WRU Store on Westgate Street and run Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00 and Sunday from 10:15 to 15:45; they cost £19.50 for adults and £12.50 for children. For a full house, Wales play Japan, New Zealand and Australia here on 7, 14 and 21 November 2026.
Good to know
Tours stop on match and event days, and the pitch may be covered while other events are set up.
Walk the old coal docks, now a freshwater lake, from the Senedd's public galleries to the church where Roald Dahl was baptised.
What it is
Cardiff's docks were once the largest coal port in the world; since the barrage was finished in 1999 they have been a freshwater lake lined with landmarks. The Wales Millennium Centre, opened in 2004, carries on its slate front the poet Gwyneth Lewis's lines in Welsh and English, 'In these stones horizons sing'. Next door is Richard Rogers's Senedd, home of the Welsh Parliament since 2006. Along the water stands the white Norwegian Church of 1868, rebuilt here in 1992, where Roald Dahl was baptised; it is now an arts centre with a café.
How to do it
Start at the Millennium Centre. The Senedd is free to enter from 9:00 on weekdays and 10:30 on Saturdays and bank holidays until 16:30, last entry 16:00, with free tours and public galleries for live debates. Then walk the 1.1 km barrage past the locks and sluices to Penarth.
Walk the arboretum in Bute Park, then sail the Taff to the Bay
Bute Park
No booking needed
Follow blue plaques past more champion trees than in any other UK public park, then take a boat down the Taff to the Bay.
What it is
Bute Park, 130 acres of former castle grounds laid out from 1873 by Andrew Pettigrew, head gardener to the 3rd Marquess of Bute, and given to the city in 1947, runs north from Cardiff Castle along the River Taff. Its arboretum of more than 3,000 catalogued trees holds more champion trees, the tallest or stoutest of their kind in Britain and Ireland, than any other UK public park.
How to do it
Follow the blue plaques of the Champion Tree Trail. Then board the Aquabus from the park to Mermaid Quay in Cardiff Bay: boats leave Bute Park on the hour from 10:00 to 17:00 and come back on the half hour, past the Principality Stadium, for £9 one way or £16 return.
Good to know
Look too for the outline of Blackfriars, a 13th-century friary, and the Gorsedd stone circle, set up in 1978 for the National Eisteddfod.
Climb to Castell Coch, Burges's fairy-tale castle in the woods
Tongwynlais
No booking needed
Climb through beech woods to a castle of conical towers and painted vaults, a High Victorian vision over 13th-century remains.
What it is
Castell Coch, the Red Castle, rises from the beech woods of Fforest Fawr above Tongwynlais, just north of Cardiff, its towers capped with conical roofs. Beneath lie the remains of a 13th-century castle that the Marcher lord Gilbert de Clare used as a hunting lodge; above, the 3rd Marquess of Bute gave the architect William Burges free rein, and the result is a High Victorian vision of painted vaults and rich furnishings, from the Drawing Room to Lady Bute's bedroom.
How to do it
Bus 26 from Cardiff bus station to Caerphilly stops in Tongwynlais, close to the castle, or you can walk or cycle up the Taff Trail from Cardiff.
Good to know
Water seeping into the towers has kept Cadw restoring them since 2017, and a two-year repair of the Well Tower began in 2024, so check opening times and prices before you go.
Walk the moats and leaning tower of Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly
Book ahead
Walk the water defences of the biggest castle in Wales to a tower that leans more than Pisa's.
What it is
Gilbert de Clare began Caerphilly Castle in 1268 against the rising power of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, who twice tried to knock it down before it was finished. The result is the biggest castle in Wales and second only to Windsor in Britain: walls, towers and gatehouses set in water defences covering 30 acres. Its best-loved feature is the south-east tower, leaning outwards at about 10 degrees, more than Pisa's; Cadw blames Civil War gunpowder, historians more likely subsidence. After two years of conservation, Hugh Despenser's Great Hall reopened in July 2025, dressed as for a royal feast of the 1320s, with interactive and digital exhibits.
How to do it
Trains from Cardiff Central and Queen Street run to Caerphilly station, and bus 26 comes from Cardiff bus station by way of Castell Coch.
Good to know
Check opening times and prices with Cadw and book ahead.
Eat Welsh cakes in Cardiff Market, then browse the Victorian arcades
St Mary Street and the Castle Quarter
No booking needed
Watch Welsh cakes come hot off the griddle in an 1891 market hall built on the site of the town jail.
What it is
Cardiff Market, a Grade II* listed hall designed by the borough surveyor William Harpur, opened in May 1891 on the site of the town jail; the gallows stood where the St Mary Street entrance is now, under the H. Samuel clock. Some 60 independent traders fill its two levels, among them Ashton's, fishmongers who say they have sold here since 1866, and Cardiff Bakestones, where Welsh cakes, picau ar y maen, come hot off the griddle in front of you.
How to do it
From there, walk the arcades: the Royal Arcade of 1858, the city's oldest, runs from St Mary Street to The Hayes alongside the Morgan Arcade, and the Castle Arcade, begun in 1887, opens opposite the castle.
Good to know
A £6.5 million council restoration of the roof, entrances and original stalls is planned around keeping the market open.
See Epstein's Christ in Majesty in Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff
Free
Stand under a concrete arch carrying Epstein's Christ in Majesty, in a cathedral restored after a 1941 parachute mine.
What it is
Llandaff Cathedral stands on a site with a Christian presence since at least the 6th century, and Bishop Urban began the present church around 1120. It has been ruined and restored three times, most recently after a German parachute mine on 2 January 1941 left it the most damaged cathedral of the Second World War after Coventry. George Pace's post-war restoration gave it its most striking sight: a concrete arch across the nave carrying Jacob Epstein's figure of Christ in Majesty. Look also for the Rossetti triptych, The Seed of David, from the Victorian restoration, when John Seddon brought in the Pre-Raphaelites.
How to do it
Entry is by donation; it opens 8:00 to 17:30, Sundays to 16:00. Take the train to Fairwater, 10 minutes, and walk 10 to 15, or buses 25, 63 or 66 from Westgate Street.
Great Western Railway trains run from London Paddington to Cardiff Central, and Transport for Wales trains link the city with the rest of Wales. Cardiff Central is the nearest station to the Principality Stadium, with the castle a short walk north. By road, Cardiff is just off the M4: leave at junction 29 from the east or junction 33 from the west, while the A470 comes down from the north of Wales.
Getting around
The centre is walkable. For Cardiff Bay, trains from Queen Street run every 12 minutes and take under 5 minutes, Cardiff Bus stops outside the Wales Millennium Centre, the Taff Trail cycle path follows the river from opposite the stadium, and the Aquabus sails hourly from Bute Park to Mermaid Quay. Caerphilly Castle is 1 km from its station on the Rhymney line, Castell Coch 1 km from the Tongwynlais stop on buses 26 and 132, and Llandaff 10 minutes by train to Fairwater or 25 to 30 minutes on buses 25, 63 and 66 from Westgate Street.
How many days
In must30's view, three days: one in the centre for the castle, the market and arcades and Bute Park, ending on the Aquabus to the Bay; one for National Museum Cardiff in the morning and St Fagans in the afternoon; and one for Castell Coch and Caerphilly on a joint ticket, with Llandaff Cathedral on the way back. Add a day for a stadium tour or a match.
When to go
Cardiff works in any season, because the museums, the market, the arcades and the castle rooms are indoors. November brings the autumn rugby internationals, and on match and event days stadium tours stop and the castle may open only to event ticket holders, so check before you plan. From 2 November 2026 both national museums close at 16:00, and Cadw's castles open 10:00 to 16:00 from November to February. In summer the Senedd opens seven days a week, as it did from 18 July to 31 August 2026.
Where to base yourself
The city centre, between Cardiff Central and Queen Street stations, puts the castle, the market, the arcades and the stadium on foot, and both stations at hand for the Bay, Caerphilly and Castell Coch. Cardiff Bay suits a waterfront stay, with the Senedd, the Wales Millennium Centre and the Aquabus to Bute Park, and quick trains back to Queen Street. Llandaff, around its cathedral, is a quieter choice 10 minutes by train from the centre. On match and big concert weekends, book your room before anything else.
Questions travellers ask
Is National Museum Cardiff free?
Yes. Entry is free thanks to Welsh Government funding, though some exhibitions and events charge. You can book a free day ticket online to receive visit information in advance. It is closed on Mondays except bank holidays, and from 2 November 2026 it opens 10:00 to 16:00, with the galleries closing at 15:45.
How do you get from Cardiff city centre to Cardiff Bay?
The quickest way is the train from Queen Street, every 12 minutes and under 5 minutes to the Bay. The Aquabus water bus leaves Bute Park on the hour from 10:00 to 17:00 and Mermaid Quay on the half hour, at £9 one way for adults. You can also walk or cycle the Taff Trail beside the river from opposite the Principality Stadium.
Can you tour the Principality Stadium on a match day?
Standard tours do not run on match and event days. The stadium sells separate Match Day Tours on the morning of some games, which visit the home dressing room and the players' tunnel during the build-up. On other days standard tours run Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00 and on Sundays from 10:15, and cost £19.50 for adults.
What does a Cardiff Castle ticket include?
The standard ticket, £16.50 for adults, covers the castle apartments, the Norman keep, the battlement walks, the wartime shelters and the Firing Line museum, all day with re-entry. A House Tour, a £5 upgrade bought at the ticket office on the day, adds rooms not otherwise open, such as Lord Bute's bedroom and the roof garden. The grounds of the Public Square are free.
Can you visit Castell Coch and Caerphilly Castle on the same day?
Yes. Cadw sells a joint ticket for the two, £16.30 for adults until March 2027, which can be used at both sites on the same day, and bus 26 serves both. Castell Coch is in the middle of a large conservation project and its café has been closed since June 2025, so plan to eat in Caerphilly or Cardiff.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
