This museum is the perfect price. Free! It is a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours. There…read moreis lots of natural history as well as cultural history. Everything is in both English and Welsh. The natural history area had videos ad well as exhibits detailing the geographic history of the region. The Art of the Selfie exhibit had a small cost which was quite fair. Van Gogh's Self Portrait was the main draw, but they also had Rembrandt and other artists. In the other rooms, there were so many artifacts. Rooms within rooms and beyond, you can lose hours reading about everything on display.

it was a pretty good experience, but no one warned me that the bloody dinosaurs are getting starved…read morebecause they are literally just bones. animal mistreatment is NOT a joke I want to support, I cannot believe the STATE of this museum. Good value for money as its free. Cool stones and a selection of STARVED AND DEAD animals. and the service was poor because they encourage this. the toilets are good for kids, AND OTHER THINGS.

A must-see if you are in Cardiff. There is so much history inside these castle walls and it…read moreconveniently located adjacent to the city center. You can opt to go on guided-tours or wander at your leisure. I was there on a rainy day and there were very few visitors, so I really felt like I went back in time. The WWII museum was pretty intense; it might have been the dark, rainy weather or the creepy background music or the dim lights, but I could literally feel the anxiety of those that had been seeking shelter in those tunnels. While the grounds and first floor of the house are wheelchair accessible, the rest of the grounds are not. I was recovering from a broken leg, and I had to take a few steps to do the tunnel tour and I was unable to ascend the MANY stairs that lead up to the fortress at the top of the hill. The visitor center houses ruins of the original Roman wall that dates back to the 1st centaury AD, a gift shop, and a café. The experience is 100% worth the entry fee and I highly recommend if you are visiting Cardiff.

Wrong hours advertised…read more Arrived at 4:10pm on a tuesday. Websites say 6pm. Waste of time for travelers . Cannot recommend .

Genuinely an amazing staple of the outer Cardiff community. The staff in the restaurant and…read moreadventure climbing are incredibly enthusiastic and helpful. There are so many child friendly activities. Admission is free, and they often put on holiday related markets and other things. They put up the Gwalia and other shops, shops my Grandmother visited daily in the 50's. This is not only preserving Welsh local history, but also the story of my Grandmother. This is amazing, Great!

This museum is absolutely amazing! It is a huge outdoor museum, although it does have a few…read moreexhibits in the main building. Once you step outside, you can feel yourself being transported back in time (if you overlook the paved walkways). There are buildings that have been moved here from all over Wales, with deep history and great staff available to answer any questions.

one of the best free museums ive been to! lots of interesting information and interactive setups. i…read morerecommend checking this museum out if you're visiting cardiff!

Your City, Your Story…read more Opening in early 2011, this will be the first museum where Cardiffians and visitors alike can see the story of the city through the eyes of its people. Housed in the historic Old Library building in the heart of Cardiff city centre it aims to offer 'a fun, free, family day out and a fantastic learning and community resource.' More of their blurb says this... 'An international cultural venue which is an inclusive, exciting and inspirational resource; bringing people together to help them learn about the making of Cardiff, its diverse narratives and the multi-cultural communities which created the capital city of Wales.' If all goes to plan the museum will be a great starting point for any visit to Cardiff, providing an introduction to the city's history and pointing visitors to places where they can find out more. In the lead up to the opening of The Cardiff Story, while the museum is being developed, the first floor galleries will continue to run a diverse programme of art and history exhibitions, as per usual and you can also enjoy a sneak preview of some of the objects and stories that will feature in the galleries. The downstair cafe/bar remains a great place to hang out too.

This place is lovely, a really nice place to walk around in and discover bits of welsh history…read more Free to enter, which is a novelty for an English girl like me, as places of this vain over the border such as blists hill and beamish charge entry. You can leave a donation, and there's a small fee for parking, but after that you're on your way. You can take a picnic, or you can eat in one of the cafes, get stuff from the bakery. We ate in the cafe, and had the welsh afternoon tea, welsh cakes, scones, sandwiches, all lovely, the bakery wasn't open as late as it said on the door, which was the only bummer, but the rest of it was great. A mock village made up of buildings of different eras, with a good number of buildings that illustrate history and culture. Livestock, shops, gardens, vehicles, all informative, with signs in welsh and English. It's open air, so its a family/couples/cultural friends day out for a pleasant day, you want to give yourself some time to get around it!

Set in over 40 acres of parkland around the 16th century St Fagan's castle, 4 miles (6km) west of…read moreCardiff, this was one Europe's first open-air museums. It includes over 40 buildings from across Wales which illustrate its history and culture, such as schools, workshops, churches, shops, civic buildings and of course a variety of dwellings. The museum has a range of activities taking place associated with the buildings, with craftsmen making a variety of products (food, pottery, metalwork) for sale. The farm features collections of traditional breeds of livestock. Some of the buildings also contain displays of historical objects, clothing etc. A nice touch is the row of mine-worker's cottages, each one furnished to reflect different periods from the late 1800's to the present day. The museum also hosts a number of festivals during the year, and there is a restaurant, cafe and tea-room. When I lived in Cardiff, this was a regular destination to take friends from outside the UK. It is an excellent introduction to Wales and Welsh culture: but allow a whole day to do it justice, and wear comfortable footwear...

Bang bang bang bang. Run for cover. I'm a pacifist me, but that didn't stop me acting out wars as a…read morekid in the grounds of castles. It doesn't stop big kid mates doing it now either. For people like them, who like facts about war and stuff, this place is amazing. Not so much for me. Still the exhibition commemorates over 300 years of fighting history including the Battle of Waterloo 1815, Rorke's Drift against the Zulus 1879 as well as recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan today. The biggest sway is, in fact the littlest things. The museum displays the trinkets a soldier would've had to carry such as cigarette pouches, magazine clips, pots and pans and notebooks giving a more personal insight in to the day to day experience of soldier life. The concept was developed through a joint vision of 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards and The Royal Welsh. Castle admission prices from now until end of December 2010: Essential Ticket £10.50 adults, £9 seniors/students, £7.95 children (5-16 yrs inclusive) Premium Tour Ticket: £13.50 adults, £11.50 seniors/students, £10 children These prices include entrance to the Firing Line museum. Serving and past members of the Armed forces can obtain concessionary rates please contact the museum for details on 029 2022 9367.

A grandiose venue within the National Museum Cardiff, from inside the Reardon Smith Theatre looks…read moremuch larger than its 350 capacity, crescents of seats lending the feel of a university lecture hall constructed for royalty. Lectures, guest speakers and conferences are its bread and butter. But it's as a criminally underused occasional music venue that the Reardon Smith becomes most interesting, with fantastic views from all seats and impressively bombastic sound filling the cavernous space right up to its regal ceiling. As an antidote to sticky-floored gig holes, you can only hope that many more future shows find their way to the Reardon Smith Theatre, although they'll need to resolve the glaring lack of a bar first.

I went to see Rain Man here a few months ago featuring Oliver Chris and Neil Morrisey. As a…read moretheatre virgin as it were, I entered with much trepidation, unsure of what to expect. I was highly impressed. It's decorated quite lavishly in a pretty old-fashioned way. It certainly conformed to every imagining I had of what a theatre should look like inside and was in keeping with the history of the building, built in 1878. Onto the bar then! The service was quick and the drinks were reasonably priced. A surprise, as I thought I'd get stung for a drink here. A cool service they provided (I have no idea if this is standard fare or not) is that you could order drinks for the intermission, so when you come out, rather than waste any precious time queueing and paying, your drinks are there waiting for you with your name on! I thought this was brilliant. As nobody really wants to stand up in the middle of a tense scene and shuffle past an entire row, there was the expected mad rush for the bathrooms at the end of the performance but the toilets were adequately sized which was great. I'm not a big theatre person but I had a really enjoyabke night here and would definitely go back if something that took my fancy came to town.

The New Theatre is an old classic looking theatre that I always remember when visiting it on school…read moretrips to see what shows they had. I vaguely remember seeing 'The Hobbit' on stage and that was enjoyable. The New Theatre is one of the oldest buildings in Cardiff and still delivers shows for everybody. If I were to put a certain category of shows the New Theatre has it would be pantomimes. Everyone loves the pantomime and The New Theatre knows this, it has had shows like Aladin, Dick Whittington and a variety of other shows. It does have some drama plays too. I went to and see Romeo and Juliet with my girlfriend. However, this does bring me to mention a problem the auditorium has. We were sitting at the back of the stalls and unfortunately we had a giant pillar between our seats so we couldn't even see each other, this wasn't exactly the most romantic way to spend an evening watching Romeo and Juliet's final scenes and all I have to comfort me is a pillar. New Theatre I beg of you, please knock this pillar down. The New Theatre is an old classic theatre that still has a buzz when a performance starts. It may not have the most contemporary shows but it's brilliant for families. My only problem is that annoying pillar. Knock it down!

Cathays Park in Cardiff is one of Europe's finest Civic Centres, built in the early years of the…read more20th century to reflect Cardiff's rapid development as a major city and trading port, largely due to the export of coal. What had been a small town of a few thousand souls in 1800 was, by 1900, the largest coal exporting port in the world, and home to over 150,000. A key figure in the early life of Cardiff was the local landowner, the 1st Marquess of Bute. He was responsible for the rebuilding of Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch, and in 1898 sold what had been the grounds of a Georgian Mansion to the City to enable construction of the Civic Centre. It now contains the National Museum of Wales, the main buildings of the University, administrative buildings of the Welsh Assembly, Law Courts and, as its crowning glory, Cardiff City Hall. Completed in 1904 and built in white Portland stone, this magnificent baroque building was designed by the firm Lanchester, Stewart and Rickards after an architectural competition. The basic design includes an imposing central dome and entrance portico, with an offset 194ft (60m) tall bell tower. The external statuary represents the City's three rivers, the Taff, Rhymney and Ely. The bell tower is something of a landmark, and contains five bells, each inscribed with a motto in English or Welsh: Hour bell: 'Y gwir yn erbyn y byd' (His truth against the world) 1st Quarter - 'I mark time, dost thou?' 2nd Quarter - 'Duw a phob daioni' (God is all goodness) 3rd Quarter - 'Time conquers all and we must time obey' 4th Quarter - 'A gair Duw yn uchaf' (God's voice on high) Inside the main entrance hall has two grand staircases leading to the grand first floor reception, appropriately called the 'Marble Hall'. The most impressive internal rooms (there are also offices, of course) are the Council Chamber and the Great Assembly Hall. The latter possesses three huge bronze chandeliers and has been used for all sorts of functions, from dinner dances (which my Mum and Dad used to attend for 1/6 in the 1950s!) to banquets for Royalty and visiting Heads of State. The Council Chamber, of oak and Breccia Marble, is also worth a look, and was used for a meeting of the European Council in 1998. The Edwardian period was a time when Wales was rediscovering its history and confidence, and so the interior reception halls - especially that on the first floor - are decked out with the best Edwardian marble statues of Welsh heroes and heroines by noted sculptors of the day. To modern eyes, apart form the dubious historical accuracy, they are a bit overblown, but impressive nonetheless. Better is the building's impressive art collection, mostly of late Victorian English painting, including some minor pre-raphaelite works by Blair Leighton and my favourite, 'Winter', by the Scottish artist, Joseph Farquharson, (much beloved of Christmas Cards). There are also portraits of political figures, such as Lloyd George, George Thomas and James Callaghan, and a rather odd triple portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales by John Merton (for hardened Diana fans only). As well as conferences, banquets and similar events, the Marble Hall is licensed for weddings and they can also cater for receptions for up to 500 guests.

NOTES: ~ This review is for using it as a wedding venue!…read more Cardiff's City Hall was where I got married and overall the people and process was fantastic. I'll explain the 1 star off later. ~ Support: The support from the staff here was fantastic and the process was very smooth. There were several stages to the process from getting registered to booking a date and everything went smoothly. They had selection pack where you declare what music you want (of which there were a variety of options), what statements you wish to be made, and generally how the whole flow of the ceremony was good. The person who married us was also very kind and supportive. I had a little crying breakdown during our vows and she was very patient with me and also seemed really genuinely happy for us on the day. ~ Venue: As noted by other reviewers, the building is beautiful which makes it for a great location to get married. Just look at the photos! ~ Downside: I recognise that this may be a rare occurrence, but I wish they were a bit more strict on people who don't turn up on time. There was a wedding scheduled before us and they were very late so our guests had to wait in the waiting room with guests of another wedding which made it very awkward and not intimate at all. My partner and I also had to wait until our own ceremony and so waited with our guests. We are all pretty relaxed people and this didn't bother me too much and I actually found it hilarious, but I can imagine if it happens to anyone else it would be very hectic. Maybe a 15 minutes or cancellation policy? The couple before us were over half an hour late which cut the "nervous pre-wedding anticipation" down by quite a lot.