Must-see attractions in Cardiff

  • Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

    Cardiff Castle

    Cardiff

    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…

  • National Museum and Gallery at night, Cardiff, Wales

    National Museum Cardiff

    Cardiff

    Devoted mainly to natural history and art, this grand neoclassical building is the centrepiece of the seven institutions dotted around the country that…

  • St Fagans National History Museum

    Cardiff

    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…

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    Bute Park

    Cardiff

    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…

  • Millennium Stadium and River Taff, Cardiff.

    Principality Stadium

    Cardiff

    Also known as Millennium Stadium ('Principality' is the current naming-rights sponsor), this spectacular venue squats like a stranded spaceship on the…

  • 500px Photo ID: 68922741 - Views around Cardiff Bay and the Millennium Waterfront and the Roald Dahl Plass South Wales UK

    Wales Millennium Centre

    Cardiff

    The centrepiece and symbol of Cardiff Bay's regeneration is the £106-million Wales Millennium Centre, an architectural masterpiece of stacked Welsh slate…

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    Castell Coch

    Cardiff

    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…

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    Llandaff Cathedral

    Cardiff

    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…

  • The famous lighthouse, Roath Park

    Roath Park

    Cardiff

    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…

  • Outside Yr Hen Lyfrgell

    Yr Hen Lyfrgell

    Cardiff

    Croeso (welcome) to a bastion of the Welsh language in the overwhelmingly English-speaking capital. Cardiff's beautiful Old Library has been converted…

  • Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve

    Cardiff

    Between the Bristol Channel and Mermaid Quay lies a 20-acre conservation area on former dockland. Tall walls of reeds attract warblers, bunting,…

  • Cardiff Story

    Cardiff

    This excellent little museum uses interactive displays, free audio guides, video footage and everyday objects to tell the story of Cardiff’s…

  • Ffotogallery

    Cardiff

    Also known as the Turner House Gallery, this red-brick building near the train station hosts edgy photographic, video and multimedia exhibitions. It's at…

  • Inside the Senedd

    Senedd

    Cardiff

    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…

  • Outside the Pierhead Building

    Pierhead

    Cardiff

    One of the waterfront's few Victorian remnants, Pierhead is a red-brick and glazed-terracotta French Gothic confection, built in 1897 with Bute family…

  • The Norwegian Church from outside

    Norwegian Church Arts Centre

    Cardiff

    Looking as though it's popped out of the pages of a story book, this white-slatted wooden building with a black witch's-hat spire was modelled on a…

  • Outside St John the Baptist Church

    St John the Baptist Church

    Cardiff

    A graceful Gothic tower rises from this 15th-century church, its delicate stonework looking almost like filigree. Along with the castle keep, this is one…

  • Ianto's Shrine from afar

    Ianto's Shrine

    Cardiff

    For over a decade Cardiff has been the filming location for famed TV series Doctor Who and its spin-off, Torchwood. In 2009 one of the main characters of…

  • Cardiff Bay Barrage

    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…

  • Animal Wall

    Cardiff

    This section of wall on Bute Park's southern edge is topped with stone figures of lions, seals, bears and other creatures. In the 1930s they were the…

  • Techniquest

    Cardiff

    With the aim of introducing kids to science, Techniquest is jam-packed with engrossing, hands-on exhibits that are equally enjoyable for under-fives and…

  • Roald Dahl Plass

    Cardiff

    The unusual shape of this large public space is due to its past life as the basin of the West Bute Dock. A large rectangular dock once extended from here…

  • Coal Exchange

    Cardiff

    This imposing but semiderelict building was once the nerve centre of the Welsh coal trade, and for a time the place where international coal prices were…

  • Blackfriars Priory

    Cardiff

    As you're walking through Bute Park, look for the outline of the foundations of 13th-century Blackfriars Priory. It was destroyed in 1404, when Owain…

  • Water Sculpture

    Cardiff

    Roald Dahl Plass is overseen by a soaring stainless-steel water sculpture, which fans of the Doctor Who spin-off series will recognise as the location of…

  • Gorsedd Stones

    Cardiff

    This stone circle was erected in 1978 when Cardiff hosted the National Eisteddfod. Such so-called gorsedd stones are found all over Wales where…