The park plaza certainly is a jack of all trades. From the fabulous hotel itself to the excellent…read moreLaguna bar and this, the spa and gym smack bang in the middle of Cardiff. A friend of mine was a member there and so suggested I come and try it out for the day. Of course we bypassed the gym and went straight for the equally taxing pool/steam room/jacuzzi. The pool area is an oasis of calm in the middle of a very busy city. The walls are tranquil blue and it's has the feeling of being pure indulgence. The water is treated with a combination of UV and chlorine which means you don't get that OTT feeling of dry horrible skin that you get in other pools that just use chlorine. People watching is great here, for some reason the most beautiful men in Cardiff chose to swim at this establishment. Great if you're a bit of a perve like me but it's advisable to keep your wits about you to avoid drowning.

In this area of the city centre there are at least three good gyms all competing for membership:…read morethis, the Laguna Health & Spa at the Park Plaza Hotel; Vitality, around the corner, which is based upstairs above Henry's Bar on Park Place and doesn't have a pool; and the Hilton's small LivingWell gym, which can get busy during peak times. This cluster of gyms in close proximity has created plenty of competition between them to attract membership, so there are usually some promotions on at each of them to try to lure you in. The Laguna is good for those into swimming, and its pool is filtered using UV rather than just chlorine (unlike the Hilton's LivingWell pool), which makes for a less chemical swimming experience. They have a relaxing jacuzzi and a steam room next to the pool, and the changing rooms are very smartly done out. Here you definitely get the feeling you can indulge rather than just exercise hard, and it's a relaxing space to spend some time after work or at the weekend. If you want a real treat, the spa also has a range of beauty and relaxation treatments, most of them fairly expensive (as is the case with most spas). They also have a proper gym, of course, and about 35 exercise classes a week (unlike the Hilton LivingWell, which has no space to hold group classes). The gym has cardio vascular stations including treadmills, rowers, cross-trainers, steppers and walking machines, plus fixed resistance stations, a free weight area, a warm up and stretching area, a Power-Plate® Machine, and screens showing sport, news and music while you work out.

This place should be better than 2 stars as it is and could be even more so such a good facility…read more The building is good and the facilities are great. The staff are in the main very helpful. However .... The signs asking people remove their shoes before going in to the changing rooms are ignored by many people so the cubicle floors of the changing rooms end up filthy. The staff walk back and forth ignoring the point and I have never seen them ask a shoe wearer to remove their shoes. So expect to come out of there with dirty feet. The pool is rarely at 50m and when it is it is often very busy. Monday and Thursday nights can be quieter if you aren't too tired to train at 10pm ... In the mornings and now at weekends many of the lanes are taken by the swimming club. Not an issue but expect the other lanes to be crowded and have people of varying ability in each lane. If you are a quick swimmer expect to be frustrated as you dawdle behind a breast stroker waiting for a safe moment to overtake them. The pool is regularly booked out for galas and swim events at weekends and the information/warnings about these events is very discrete or difficult to find so be prepared for Saturday / Sunday morning disappointment and wasted trips. The pleasure pool is mayhem. The lifeguards do a good job but expect to be kicked by other swimmers, by bumped into, swam over/into and come out feeling the most unrelaxed you ever will. As a venue for promoting healthy lifestyle this place surpasses itself. Not!!! For those who bother to use the benches to remove or put on shoes, there is a glittering array of chocolates and sugary drinks in four vending machines, ideally located opposite you. If you or your children manage to get passed them, there are more sugary calorie dispensers by the exit turnstiles and just in case you haven't managed to give in to the sugar, there are 4 more vending machines on the way out. Only the British would fill a "healthy" sports venue with obesity causing, tooth rotting filled vending machines. So, while you are trudging home in the dirty foot rot of other people from the changing rooms, you can comfort yourself with chocolate and fizzy pop to remind yourself what a healthy life you live!

I love this pool and the centre itself. It looks fantastic and its great inside too. Whether your…read morethere to relax and have fun with the kids or to do a serious bit of swimming there is a place for you. Its easy to access and has lots of parking too. There is a gym, sauna, jacuzzi and do all sorts of fitness classes too for quite a reasonable monthly fee. Swimming for adults is £3.70 and no time limit. Family tickets also available. The only downsides are that the changing rooms can be a bit chaotic and its always worth checking out whats going on before you head down because they often have events on at the weekend so you might not get in.

Apparently, Splott Swimming Pool was originally an open air pool, but opened in 1976 as an indoor…read morepool. It's also Cardiff Council's oldest pool, but it did undergo refurbishment back in 2003 to introduce disabled changing facilities and specialised listing hoists and cradles. This means the pool can cater for special needs, and to complement this they've introduced a programme of specific sessions aimed at groups of physically and mentally disabled people. The pool itself is 25 metres long, and while it's not Cardiff's most beautiful pool at least it does offer some of the disabled facilities that other pools don't. There are also free swimming lessons for the over 60s, and women-only and men-only swim sessions. Make sure you phone for swimming times between 9am and 12 noon and 1.30-3.30pm on weekdays during school term time because they sometimes close the pool for school swimming lessons and times change frequently.

This is a swimmers swimming pool. No frills or gyms or yoga classes. Ok, there is a fitness suite…read more Most of the day there are swimming lessons in here and in the evening there are some very good swimming lessons and clubs. Top points to Splott for its disabled facilities and free over 60s swimming. Recently refurbished so not as grotty as it used to be. If you haven't been for a few years it's worth a revisit. If you are taking some kids to swim there's a nice little playground in the park that the pool is set in (well, more of a grassy scrubland than a park). Check with the pool about when what activities are on when because events seem to overtake them sometimes.

Penarth leisure center is great value for money if you're looking to get fit or loose weight…read more It has a decent sized gym with a good range of equipment, a large pool and a lifestyle/wellness suite. There are also a huge range of fitness classes that run daily at the center. In recent years the place has undergone a revamp and so there is now a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi next to the pool in the wellness suite. (Full disabled access) Once a week there is even a ladies only session so the more body conscious or religious females don't have to miss out on the facilities. Prices are okay, for an off peak swim and relax in the wellness suite you pay £6.15 but if you become a member you can use the gym facilities, the pool and the classes from about £23 a month without getting locked into a contract. Bargain.

This place is pretty crumby …read more... The building is old and showing the signs of wear and tear. The changing rooms are quite grubby with a very odd aroma. Lots of the lockers are broken. The pool is unpredictable. It has a children's area and a hydro slide but I have never worked out when to guarantee that they are operational. The adult pool sometimes has lane swimming and sometimes not. It is 25m.

I travel quite regularly with work, and since the Novotel is the hotel of choice for my business,…read moreI'm lucky enough to get to use the facilities here whenever I come down to Cardiff. In all honesty, I've used the pool facilities more often than the gym (forcing myself to get on an elliptical trainer when there's a spa pool I can relax in instead just never goes well!) but the gym facilities - while not the largest around - seem adequate for the clientele. A few treadmills, a few ellipticals as well as some stationary bikes in one side for the cardio junkies, while the other side of the gym is filled with free and static weights for the more buff of us (not me!). The pool is a reasonable size for a hotel swimming pool, with a beautiful spa pool (I love this thing!), a steam room and a sauna. I've also had a couple of times where I've been lucky enough to be the only person in there which is just bliss. Not sure how adequate it'd be if I were a paying member, but as a hotel perk it's pretty great.

From the owner: Exclusive, 4 Star Hotel-based Health & Fitness Club…read more InBalance Wellness by Novotel Cardiff offers contemporary and state-of-the-art facilities in a relaxing environment. Our highly trained and friendly staff offer a professional and motivational experience to help members achieve their personal goals. We offer complementary Lifestyle Consultations with tailor-made exercise programming to support you every step of the way. Whether your aim is to improve your fitness, tone up or to enhance general wellbeing, our facility caters for your needs and with a range of flexible membership tariffs, we will help you to achieve your goals. We offer quality service with the reassuring committment to every individual that we intend for you to make the most out of your membership. Facilities include: Resistance Gym Cardio Gym 15m Indoor Heated swimming pool Jacuzzi Steam Room Sauna Male & Female changing rooms Exercise Classes Personal Training Massage Treatments

Really awful experience with this swimming school. We were told before signing up for lessons that…read morewe could have 5 minutes to use the changing cubicles after the class. We were changed and out in 5minutes every time although it was a rush. After 3 classes we were told we would no longer be able to use the changing cubicles and would have to change our children outside the building in the car park no matter what the weather. All this despite the fact that there are no longer any legal covid restrictions and people can mix freely anywhere else. I would not have signed up with these conditions, and will now struggle to find alternative swimming lessons until next term. Delyth who runs it is also really awful - she was absolutely unapologetic and didn't seem to see any problem with changing the conditions after we had already booked and paid and started classes, and I also witnessed her being really overbearing and unsympathetic to a parent whose child was upset after accidentally going under the water and swallowing some water

Here I have many more memories than any other swimming pool in Cardiff and I had my swimming…read morelessons here. We also had school swimming lesson sessions, which were in extremely large groups and we had the lessons for long hours of the day, but they were fun and were different. They have children parties with cold and hot drinks and food. This pool was opened in 1989 and it has a refurbished fitness suit. It also has a cafe; tennis courts/badminton courts, squash courts, community suit, a bar, a crèche, junior activities, parties, changing rooms, toilets, showers, lockers, and vending machines. I always loved going here as a kid and loved to spend our jumping in the pool and swimming many lengths and splashing about in the waves. I keep having this place appear in my dreams, but I'm never in the pool I'm often walking around the place, or in a queue, or a room training/fitness, aerobics, and yoga. It is a fantastic local pool and it's great for all tourists and anybody really, children will just simply love it. People over the age of sixty years old go free; all ages can go in for between the prices of £1.50p - £3 during the hours of 10am - 7pm.

Another great leisure centre from Cardiff City Council. It has one of those pools that are really…read moregood for toddlers with a sloping shoreline so they can toddle in without going out of their depth. This is where I took mine when they were tiny. There's also a deep bit for proper swimming with lanes a dedicated times for different swimmers. The whole centre has a friendly feel. There are also lots of other good things for kids like gymnastics, trampolining and soft play. For adults there's aerobics, fit-ball, circuits and the very latest craze - Zumba (a dance class based on a combination of rumba and salsa).

As a student this was the best location to go for a weekly swim to get the cardio working and to…read morenurse my aches from my rigorous sporting week. A good swim really relaxes the muscles and leaves you feeling invigorated, it's just a shame Maindy pool isn't like a health spa like Esporta, as I missed having the steam room sauna. The prices are very good, less than £3 last time I checked. The pool is a 25m six-lane pool that gets segregated into fun, slow lapse and fast lapse, depending on your goals. The changing rooms are clean and there are cubicles if you need them. Lockers need 50p coins, which are refunded when finished. There is always ample parking and easy access from the centre of town. I really enjoy the exercise element of Maindy but if you're looking for fun and slide you need to head to the swimming pool down the bay. There's a small café that's for parents to sit poolside or have a quick snack before heading off, but if you want to avoid the families get there during the day. This centre also boasts a cycle velodrome and a large gym with prices much lower than any other gym or health spa, the only exception being the university gyms.

It's easy to think you are simply faster, better, and less splashy than you actually are. In Maindy…read morepool they have this great system of three lanes - fast, medium and slow. But the definition seems to be a matter of personal opinion. Which doesn't seem to be mine. I was once in a pool in London where they defined it by how fast you swim a length. I expect people cheated there too. It's Cardiff council owned and if you have ever lived most other cities you'll know how fantastic our facilities are. In Maindy, not only do they have three lanes of indefinite definition in the pool, they have an amazing cycle track outside. There's also a gym and some hard-core yoga classes.

This is as fairly old leisure centre, but just a couple of years ago it had a revamp with lots of…read morenew facilities added. It attracts a lot of regular school and community group visits, so is still a well-used facility. It now has a 72-station gym / fitness suite, cardio theatre, dance studio, spinning room, community room and a smaller teaching pool in addition to its original 25-metre pool. They have a range of classes on offer, from yoga to soft play for little ones - and there's a strong community feel to the place. The on site café serves basic hot and cold snacks such as paninis and jacket potatoes if you're hungry after your swim. If you live in the area, it's worth checking out - but not worth a special trip over to Ely.

If I could give a -5 stars I would. They lie to prospective members, ignore complaints, refuse to…read moreacknowledge mistakes, and fob you off at every turn. It's not worth the money to start with and DEFINITELY isn't worth the hassle. AVOID DAVID LLOYD LIKE THE PLAGUE.

This is the best gym in Cardiff…read more Amongst other things it has a great gym, 2 swimming pools, 1 indoor and one outdoor both heated, squash courts and 14 indoor tennis courts too. It also has a nice social area and plenty of social functions in its diary. So it has the lot and of course you have to pay for it. It is the most expensive gym in Cardiff but hey you've got to expect that what with the facilities it has. If you're thinking of joining then you either have a bit of disposable income or you take your fitness seriously. This is where you will often see well known rugby players working out or more often than not relaxing in the pool. When I was a member here I used ot pay £65 per month and this was just for health and fitness e.g. the gym and swimming pools. It is a bit more expensive if you want access to the tennis courts too. You may see this as expensive but imagine how much a month you spend making your body unhealthy e.g. drinking. So why not spend that amount trying to make it healthy? If you have the money this is the place to join.