Wales · United Kingdom
Where to stay in Cardiff
Cardiff is a city in Wales, United Kingdom, home to about 384,000 people. This guide covers 6 hotels in Cardiff, with about 485 rooms between them. Every one carries a published guest score, and the list below is ordered by it.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 6
- Best months
- June, July and September
- Nearest airport
- CWL15 km · Cardiff International Airport
- Currency
- GBPpound sterling
- Time zone
- Europe/London
- Language
- Cornish, English, Irish
About
About Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of 381,516 in 2025 and forms a principal area officially known as the City and County of Cardiff.
Cardiff is on the south coast of the South Wales plain, with a shoreline on the Bristol Channel. It lies at the mouth of three rivers: the Taff, the Ely and the Rhymney, with the Taff flowing through the city centre and all three reaching the sea at Cardiff Bay. Cardiff is quite a flat city, a characteristic that helped it become one of the world's leading ports for the transport of coal from the rugged south Wales Valleys. Around 12% of the residents of Cardiff speak some Welsh, and all public signs in the city are in both Welsh and English.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Cardiff
See
- Cardiff Castle
- The Millennium Stadium
- The Wales Millennium Centre
- The Welsh Parliament or Senedd Cymru
- The Norwegian Church
- Llandaff Cathedral
- Castell Coch
- City Hall
- Cathays Park
- Bute Park
- Pierhead building
- Caerau Castle Ringwork
Do
- Canyoning Wales
- New Theatre
- Sherman Theatre
- Chapter Arts Centre
- Odeon
- Cineworld
- The Glee Club
- Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
- Millennium Stadium
- St. David's Hall
- Wales Millennium Centre
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
The best-rated places to stay in Cardiff
Ordered by guest score as each operator publishes it, weighted by the number of reviews so a handful of perfect scores does not outrank thousands of very good ones. Scores are shown on their own scale.
| # | Place to stay | Rooms | Guest score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leonardo Hotel Cardiff hotel | 142 | 88/100 9,709 reviews |
| 2 | Travelodge Cardiff Atlantic Wharf hotel | 61 | 4.2/5 3,251 reviews |
| 3 | Travelodge Cardiff Whitchurch hotel | 87 | 4.2/5 342 reviews |
| 4 | Travelodge Cardiff Central Queen Street hotel | 54 | 4.1/5 658 reviews |
| 5 | Travelodge Cardiff Llanedeyrn hotel | 84 | 4.1/5 586 reviews |
| 6 | Travelodge Cardiff Central hotel | 57 | 4.0/5 385 reviews |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
Where to stay
Which part of Cardiff to stay in
It can be very difficult to find rooms available or within a sensible price when the Millennium Stadium is hosting events, especially when Wales play in rugby or football, so plan around the dates or plan early as it will be much cheaper.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit Cardiff
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Cardiff are June, July and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 21 °C; December is the wettest, with about 115 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Cardiff: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cardiff International Airport (CWL), about 15 km from the city centre in a straight line; Bristol Airport (BRS, 34 km) and Exeter International Airport (EXT, 85 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
Cardiff Airport (CWL) is the city's only airport, which lies just west of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. Airlines which fly into Cardiff include KLM, Ryanair and TUI. There are direct flights from cities throughout the UK and Europe, including Amsterdam, Dublin and Edinburgh.
Getting around
Cardiff is a large city with two reasonably compact central areas - the city centre and Cardiff Bay. The walk between Cardiff Central Library in the city centre and the Bay is approximately one mile along flat, roadside pavements. Llandaff Cathedral and Cardiff Metropolitan University are further out - approximately two miles from Cardiff Castle in the centre, and approximately 3.5 miles from the Bay. Attractions in the city centre are signposted. Some of the main shopping areas, including parts of St Mary's Street, The Hayes and Queen Street are pedestrianised.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
CWL · Cardiff International Airport
BRS · Bristol Airport
EXT · Exeter International Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Cardiff
Eat
It can be very difficult to book a table in the better restaurants on a Friday or Saturday evening. As a rule of thumb Mermaid Quay and the city centre are jam packed full with a varied contrast of eateries allowing you to experience many different tastes within a small area. Vegetarian options are easy to find, and vegan options reasonably so. In the centre see Cafe Minuet (Marcello's) in Castle Arcade, The Potted Pig on High Street. In Riverside try Madhav's for unusual vegetarian Indian food. In the Bay avoid all the chains at Mermaid Quay and look at Mr G's Soul Kitchen for Caribbean. In Canton try La Cuina (Catalan food) on Kings Road.
Drink
Cardiff is one of top nights out in Britain having the most pubs per square foot than anywhere else in the country. It has many late night pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants. In the city centre, St Mary's Street, Greyfriars Road and Mill Lane are especially lively and offer a variety of establishments to suit all tastes. Mermaid Quay is a lively, albeit smaller option to spend a warm summer night. Cardiff is a place to drink, favoured by stag and hen parties from all over the UK. St Mary St contains many pubs and shops and becomes wild and exciting on Friday and Saturday nights. There are numerous clubs only a block short walk from Central Station that are bumping into the wee hours.
Stay safe
Cardiff is quite a safe city, and certainly safer than most other major cities in the UK, with the centre having less overall crime than much smaller cities like Gloucester, Northampton and Derby, and far less than in the centre of London, Birmingham, Liverpool or Leeds. However, Cardiff has a relatively high rate of car theft crime rates. Make sure you remove all valuables from your vehicle, especially from show; and don't park at night in badly-lit streets in inner-city neighbourhoods such as Adamsdown, Splott, Riverside or Butetown. If you do need to leave a car overnight, several of the city-centre car parks offer cheap rates for all-night parking and are completely safe.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Good to know
Accessibility, parking and families in Cardiff
How many places to stay in this guide offer each, in their operators' own words.
of 6 places
of 6 places
of 6 places
of 6 places
of 6 places
Questions
Cardiff: questions travellers ask
What are the best-rated hotels in Cardiff?
By published guest score: Leonardo Hotel Cardiff (88 / 100 · 9,709 reviews · www.leonardo-hotels.com (operator's own guest score)); Travelodge Cardiff Atlantic Wharf (4.2 / 5 · 3,251 reviews · www.travelodge.co.uk (operator's own guest score)); Travelodge Cardiff Whitchurch (4.2 / 5 · 342 reviews · www.travelodge.co.uk (operator's own guest score)).
When is the best time to visit Cardiff?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Cardiff are June, July and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 21 °C; December is the wettest, with about 115 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Cardiff?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cardiff International Airport (CWL), about 15 km from the city centre in a straight line; Bristol Airport (BRS, 34 km) and Exeter International Airport (EXT, 85 km) are also within reach.
Are there accessible hotels in Cardiff?
1 place in this guide list accessible rooms.
What currency is used in Cardiff?
pound sterling (GBP).
Nearby
Destinations near Cardiff
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.