Guest Post: Enjoying Cardiff at the weekend

Cardiff, Wales’ capital, is fast becoming one of the best loved alternative tourist cities in Britain. Attracting an estimated 18 million tourists in 2010, Cardiff offers a vast array of attractions and must-dos to suit all interests, and hotels like the Ibis Hotel Cardiff Gate lie well enough in the heart of it all to provide a decent base from which to explore the city. If you’re thinking about visiting the city soon, here are a few places you should definitely try and squeeze in while you’re there.

Cardiff Bay
Home to a large freshwater lake and the Wales Millennium Centre in which lies the glorious Welsh National Opera, Cardiff Bay is the largest waterfront development in Europe, and offers a fantastic selection of top quality restaurants, bars and cafes in addition to all the fun water sports there. So whoever’s in your party, the more sedate can relax and use the amenities, and the thrill seekers can join in the water-based excitement before you return to your Cardiff hotel to freshen up.

 
Llandaff Cardiff Ghost Walk
Cardiff History and Hauntings’ Llandaff Cardiff Ghost Walk is the only way to get right under the skin of Cardiff’s paranormal past. The guided tour will take you around the capital city’s spookiest alleyways, where you’ll be told about the chilling history and hauntings of each of the stops on the, and all for under £10. In fact, Cardiff History and Hauntings’ Llandaff Cardiff Ghost Walk has been hailed as one of the best things to do for under a tenner in all of Britain!

Millennium Stadium
Built in 1999 to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup and one of the newest big attractions in Cardiff, the beautiful Millennium Stadium is situated on the water’s edge and lies at the heart of the city, it’s a real feat of architecture and engineering. Home to Wales national rugby union team, Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium also stages games of the Wales national football team as well as a plethora of other big ticket events, for example the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, Super Special Stage of Wales Rally Great Britain, boxing and many music acts including the likes of U2, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Madonna, Stereophonics and Paul McCartney. Visitors are able to take a stadium tour with prices starting from £4.95 for concessions and £19.50 for a family, so it’s well worth checking out.

National Museum and Art Gallery
Free to enter and bursting with culture, Cardiff can offer visitors the likes of the National Museum and Art Gallery where they will learn about natural history, geology and archaeology.

This guest post has been written by Joseph Griffiths.

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Self Catering Holiday Cottages–Cost-Effective yet Ideal way to enjoy your holidays!

Whether you are a couple or a family or a large group of family and friends, self catering holiday cottages are meant for all of you. These holiday cottages set in picturesque locations give the traveller a home away from home feeling. And the best part is that they offer all these at a lower cost than the hotels.

To cite an example, I stayed at two such self catering holiday cottages along with my large group of friends during my recent trip to Sri Lanka. One of them was set amidst the central highlands of Sri Lanka and was surrounded by tea estates, while the other cottage was facing a beautiful lake that was set close to the Southern coastline of Sri Lanka. In terms of facilities, they were on par with hotels. In fact, they offered more space in terms of a kitchen, dining hall, lounge and so many other things like a large garden, multiple hiking trails, etc. We absolutely loved the self catering concept as it allowed us to explore our culinary skills, save money that would have been otherwise spent at a restaurant and call our own shots in terms of food. Though, both these cottages came with a in-house cook and caretaker, we hardly used their services as our group had its fair share of cooks.

I know that this is a personal choice, but sometimes, such self catering cottages, allow the tourist to save so much money that would have been spent otherwise on hotels and restaurants. It is not that we have to save this money, but we can definitely spend it elsewhere on things and places that appeal to us. Additionally, these cottages act as an extension of your home, but set in pretty locales. And, in most cases, such cottages allow the group to stay together and thus make optimum use of the holiday time.

I believe such self catering holiday cottages are popular even in the United Kingdom. For those interested in the Lake District National Park, Keswick cottages and Ambleside cottages are great options. These old market towns offer great character and culture apart from great greenery and vistas. The annual beer and film festivals are also a huge rage here. And for those interested in Wales, these Welsh cottages offer great variety. The traveller can choose cottages from the beautiful Isle of Anglesey to the mighty peaks of Snowdonia and to the Pembrokeshire National Park and the Gower Peninsula.

Note: Please use your own discretion before booking any of these cottages. The author is not responsible for your decision.

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