What are you looking for?
Coming to Cardiff to watch your team take on the Cardiff Devils? Good, because there’s plenty to do off the ice too. We’ve put together a weekend that mixes sport, sightseeing and a few pints, with some Welsh history and culture along the way.
Day 1: Afternoon
Check in to your Hotel
Cardiff has plenty of city centre hotels, but Clayton Hotel is the Cardiff Devils’ hotel partner and sits a stone’s throw from Cardiff Central station. Drop your bags, take a breather and get ready for the first night.
Bars with something to do
Cardiff does pubs with a twist. Brains has recently come home to the Old Brewery Quarter, where you can play virtual sports and toast Wales’ historic brewer. Golf Fang is loud, colourful and adult-themed, and Flight Club reinvents darts as a proper social game. Pick one, or work your way through all three.
Day 1: Evening
Dinner on High Street
High Street is the place for your evening meal, with Pasture, Gaucho and Rum & Fizz among the top options. Book ahead if you can, especially on a match weekend.
Let Us Entertain You
Afterwards, head to Mill Lane for Barbara’s Bier Haus, an Alpine-style après-ski bar across three floors of reclaimed wood and fairy lights. It’s another Cardiff Devils partner and a regular hangout for the players after games, so look out for Devils memorabilia behind the bar while you work through a stein and a pizza.
Day 2: Morning
Shop till you drop
Start with a coffee at Wally’s Delicatessen in the Royal Arcade, a Cardiff institution serving continental deli food since 1947. Cardiff is the City of Arcades, with the highest concentration of covered arcades of any British city, so keep wandering. Morgan Arcade is home to Spillers Records, recognised as the oldest record shop in the world, dating back to 1894. Castle Arcade has a double-height balcony and independents like Wally’s Liquor Cellar and Troutmark Books, and it brings you out opposite the castle, which is where you’re heading next. If you want the high street favourites, St David’s Cardiff is close by.
A cultural adventure
Cardiff Castle is the city’s most famous landmark, with a Norman keep, wartime shelters, the Firing Line military museum and lavishly restored Victorian rooms, plus a few ghost stories for good measure. Once you’ve had your fill, it’s a short walk up to Cathays Park and the National Museum Cardiff, where art, natural history and the story of Wales sit under one roof. Entry is free, so there’s no reason not to pop in.
Day 2: Afternoon
Down to the Bay
Hop on the water bus at Bute Park for a relaxed trip down the River Taff to Mermaid Quay, with a guide sharing the history on the way. If the boat isn’t running, the Baycar bus (service 6) and the Queen Street to Cardiff Bay shuttle train will get you there quickly, or you can walk it in about half an hour.
Lunch at Mermaid Quay
Mermaid Quay has more than 30 restaurants, cafés and bars along the waterfront, so there’s something for every appetite. Hub Box does street-food-style dining with views over the Bay, PizzaExpress has outdoor seating opposite the Wales Millennium Centre, and wagamama is there if you fancy noodles.
Wander the Bay
Once you’ve refuelled, follow the Cardiff Bay Trail past sculptures and memorials that tell the story of the docks. Start at the Celtic Ring on Roald Dahl Plass, carved with scenes from the old docklands, then take in the Senedd, home of the Welsh Parliament, and the Pierhead building with its “mini Big Ben” clock. The Norwegian Church was built in 1868 for Norwegian sailors working in what was then the world’s busiest coal port, and the Captain Scott memorial mosaic sits outside. To finish, walk out to the barrage, which created the Bay’s freshwater lake, or for something shorter, try the Wetlands Reserve, with its boardwalk, viewing platform and birdlife.
Day 2: Evening
Get your game face on!
From the Bay you’re already halfway to Cardiff International Sports Village, so it’s a short taxi ride to Vindico Arena, home of the Cardiff Devils. Get there in good time, grab a pint, find your seats (away fans usually sit in block 10) and enjoy the game. With chuck-a-puck, the chance to win a ‘shirt off their back’, you could be celebrating more than your time win. When the final buzzer goes, the number 9 bus runs from outside the arena back to the city centre (check the last one before you go), or you can jump in a taxi.
Where’s the party at?
The game may be over, but the night isn’t. Get a taxi back to the city centre. St Mary Street and Mill Lane are the places for cocktails, Womanby Street is where to go for live music in quirky independent venues, and Greyfriars Road has the nightclubs.
Day 3: Morning
Calm after the storm
Sore head? Cardiff International Sports Village has you covered. Cardiff International Pool has a 50m Olympic pool, a leisure pool with slides and inflatables, and a Health Suite with sauna, steam room and spa, which is a gentle way to sweat out the night before. If you’re feeling brave, Cardiff International White Water, just across the road, offers rafting, canoeing and kayaking on a purpose-built rapids course. Catch the bus from Central Square (Wood Street), and ask your hotel to hold your bags until you head home.
There’s plenty more to see and do in Cardiff, so think of this as a selection of our top picks and most visited spots, to give you a taste of the Welsh capital. We hope it’s the first of many visits.