Cardiff
Country: United Kingdom · 383,536 inhabitants · Founded: 1081
Attractions
Wikivoyage
Cardiff (Welsh: Caerdydd) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It used to be an industrial city, but is now a lively and modern capital city and a tourism hot spot. The city is friendly to pedestrians, and summer is by far the best time to visit, with large festivals, and outdoor dining and drinking.
The city centre has been intensely developed in the 21st century, and is now considered to be one of the top ten shopping destinations in the United Kingdom. Cardiff is a green city, and this is complemented by Bute Park which sits in the heart of the city. It has a reputation as a city of castles, having 5 of them within its surroundings. As of 2023, the city's population stands at roughly 360,000, with 1.1 million living in the metropolitan area.
Wikipedia
Cardiff ( ; Welsh: Caerdydd [kairˈdiːð, kaːɨrˈdɨːð] ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of 383,919 in 2024 and forms a principal area officially known as the City and County of Cardiff (Welsh: Dinas a Sir Caerdydd). The city is the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the southeast of Wales and in the Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan and in 1974–1996 of South Glamorgan. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. The Cardiff urban area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth.
Cardiff is the main commercial centre of Wales as well as the base for the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament. At the 2021 census, the unitary authority area population was put at 362,400. The population of the wider urban area in 2011 was 479,000. In 2011, it ranked sixth in the world in a National Geographic magazine list of alternative tourist destinations. It is the most popular destination in Wales with 21.3 million visitors in 2017. It was voted as the best city in the UK at the 2023 Readers' Choice Awards.
Cardiff is a major centre for television and film production (such as the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sherlock) and is the Welsh base for the main national broadcasters.
Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building and the Wales Millennium Centre arts complex. Work continues at Cardiff Bay and in the centre on projects such as Cardiff International Sports Village, BBC drama village, and a new business district.
