Cardiff - Easy to Visit Attractions in the Area

Visit Cardiff for 2012 soccer but don't miss the region's highlights

Nov 12, 2009

Football will be top of the agenda in Cardiff during the 2012 Olympics, but there's much more than sport to enjoy in this part of Wales. Here's a few good ideas.

Cardiff will host 8 soccer matches during the UK 2012 Olympics, but this part of Wales has so much more to offer for those willing to explore when the final whistle has blown on the football. Apart from the heritage of Cardiff city itself, the surrounding area has spectacular scenery and heritage sites.

One of the oldest Christian sites in Britain, Llandaff Cathedral, is a couple of miles outside Cardiff city centre. Other than being bombed in the Second World War, nothing much has changed since it was built in 1107. Inside is the magnificent Christ in Majesty sculpture by Jacob Epstein.

Llanerch Vineyard is a 20-acre estate of vineyards, gardens and woodland, open for vineyard tours and wine tasting.

Cosmeston Medieval Village lies five miles west of Cardiff, it is an authentic medieval village in 110 hectares of glorious countryside. Take a picnic and wander around the meadows, lakes, woodland and wetland, or dine in style at the lakeside restaurant.

St Fagans National History Museum is a 20-minute drive from the city centre. It is a vast open-air museum, home to a variety of historic buildings collected from across Wales including mansion houses, cottages, farmhouses and a Victorian shop complex from the South Wales valleys with a working bakery, blacksmiths, saddler, tea shop and store.

The little thumb of land dipping into the Bristol Channel near Swansea is an unspoilt area of outstanding beauty, freckled with ancient churches, castle ruins and tiny villages. Easily reached from Cardiff, it is an unmissable side-trip from the Welsh capital – take the train to Swansea, then bus out to the Gower, or by car, it’s about an hour’s drive west along the M4.

The Gower is an outdoors action sort of place, tailor-made for hiking, biking, horse riding and beachcombing. Miles of glorious wild coastline are just the job for blustery clifftop picnics, endless beaches perfect for kite flying - and the rollers pounding on the beach are made for more extreme action sports such as surfing and kitesurfing.

Rhossili Beach with the spectacular dragon’s back headland of Worm’s Head is surfing heaven – and PJ’s Surf Shop in Llangennith is the first port of call to hire kit and talk about local conditions.

On the edge of the Gower in the estuary of Llanelli, you can get down and dirty at the National Mud Festival, held each September in the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust centre. Throughout the weekend there are lots of hands-on activities to illustrate the different uses of mud, such as mud hut building, mud sculptures and well dressing, and funs and games such as the energetic art of ‘welly wanging’ or the 'Tug of Mud' competition.

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