Cardiff - Wales' Cultured Capital City

Cardiff has only been the capital city of Wales for around fifty years, but in that short period of time it has gone from being a relatively obscure industrial town into becoming one of the leading cultural cities in Europe and a major center for education, sport, the arts and entertainment. It has been extensively modernized and redeveloped and is now regarded as one of the best places to live in the country thanks to everything that it offers. Not only that, The respected tourist guide Frommers rated Cardiff as one of their top 20 destinations in the world for 2008 thanks to the buzz about the city and variety of different activities on offer.

Because of the relatively short history of the city of Cardiff as a major city, you could be forgiven for thinking that it would have relatively little to offer, but such is the depth of affection that the Welsh have for their new capital, Cardiff has developed very quickly in order to provide people with a city that they can be very proud of, with plenty of landmark buildings and impressive attractions to appeal to all visitors.

Perhaps the most famous building in Cardiff -- at least until recently -- was Cardiff Castle. Built by Prince Edward of Wales in the 1300s as part of his network of defense for the country, the castle has been well protected over the years and remains one of the best examples of military architecture still standing.

One of the more modern buildings in the city is the Wales Millennium Center. Frequently seen in the background of TV shows and movies thanks to its distinctive architecture, the building was created to celebrate the Welsh culture over a thousand years, and contains a number of fascinating hands on exhibits that cover the various areas of life in the country including singing, painting and poetry. The building also contains the largest theatre in the city, and is regularly the host to plays and musical performances from around the world, making it very much the cultural heart of Cardiff.

The best way to explore Cardiff on foot is along the well signposted Centenary Walk. This two and a half mile route through the city center passes by many of the 1,000 listed buildings in Cardiff including the famous National Gallery of Wales, which stands next to the elaborate Cardiff City Hall, and also the Castle Coch, which was built as a folly in the 1870s, but looks like something from the Middle Ages, and is a major tourist attraction to this day.