What are you going to do with your Summer Holidays? Get the most out of Cardiff with our 2017 Guide!
Oh summer! The suns out and you find yourself with so much time and so little to do. Well, don’t spend your summer locked away, get out there. Here are some of the best things to do this summer in Cardiff. Also if you’re looking for places to eat while you’re out go look at our places to eat guide here.
1. Bike ride along the River Taff to Castle Coch
Castle Coch Photo Credit: hannahmcook1990 Flickr via Compfight cc
Start off your summer holidays with a ride down the Taff trail, through Tongwynlais and up to Castle Coch. If you can make the start time of 11am you can get a tour too. This trail, lasting four hours, is a great way to get the best of the sunny weather while it lasts. The tour will cost you £19 and gets you a bike, helmet, backpack, bike lock, insurance as well as the tour guide. If you can get some of your friends to come down it could be a great day out.
2. Cardiff Street Food Circus
On the 23rd and 24th of July the Cardiff Street Food Circus is in town. The event, taking place on City Road 1oam till 10pm, will be home to some of the best pop up restaurants around at the moment. So whether you want some Thai Fusion Food or some smoky American BBQ pop down to street food circus.
3. Cardiff Bay Beach
Cardiff Bay Beach in Roald Dahl Plass – Photo Credit: Facebook.com/thebaybeachcdf
From the 28th July – 3rd September the Roald Dahl Plass will be transformed into a seaside funfair. With a sandy beach, water play area and a load of funfair rides. This could be a great day out with your mates or with the family. It’s free entry and opens 10am Monday to Sunday. More info on CardiffBayBeach.co.uk.
4. Extreme sailing series at Cardiff Harbour
For the sixth consecutive year, the intense boat races return to Cardiff. Over the August Bank Holiday (25th– 28th August) you will be able to see elite level sailors such as the British team, the Land Rover BAR academy, who were mentored by members of Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team. The races are renowned for their breathtaking racing spirit and as well as this there will be plenty of other things to do on the shore.
5. Swim at Cardiff International Pool
What’s better than having a swim in the summer? The Cardiff International Pool as well as having an Olympic style swimming pool also has a load of slides to go on. The pool is open from 10.00- 17.00 during the holidays and costs £3.80 for a junior swim at peak times.
6. Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend
After the success of Pride 2016 last year, Pride Cymru have announced that they will be bringing back Cardiff’s Big Weekend. The party atmosphere comes to Cardiff again but this time as a celebration of the LGBT community in Cardiff. The Big Weekend was last held in 2011 but this August Bank Holiday weekend it comes back. It will cost £2 for a ticket and will feature some of the biggest names in UK music. It will be held on the City Hall Lawn and the surrounding streets turning Cardiff into a carnival of colour. The set list is yet to be announced but watch this space.
7. Day out at Cardiff Castle or Cosmeston
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWbB5_1jvWQ/?taken-at=906460400
If you’re into your history go down to Cardiff Castle and see the Grand Medieval Melee. This reconstruction will give you the experience of a real medieval tournament. As well as this you can experience fascinating demonstrations of falconry, medieval games and other activities suitable for all ages. It will cost £4 for children’s tickets and £6 for an adult ticket.
If the Melee isn’t really your thing then perhaps go down to Cosmeston. As well as having a medieval village it is also the place to go if you fancy seeing some of Wales’ wildlife. It’s free to get in to the park as well as the medieval village although a guided tour of the village can be bought for £3.50. Getting there is going to be easy as well; the bus comes every 15 minutes at the Wood street stop in the City Centre and takes about 25 minutes to get there.
8. Watch Jurassic Park (or Beauty & The Beast) outdoors for free!
Two outdoor cinema screenings will be taking place in the gardens on Barry Island this August. On Saturday 26th August at 8.30pm it’s the classic Spielberg of Jurassic Park, while at the same time on Sunday 27th August, is this year’s live action remake of Beauty & The Beast. If you missed these films when they left the cinemas then this is one of the best ways to see them. The best part about this though has to be that it’s completely free.
9. Go bowling at the Red Dragon Centre
If you’re less outdoorsy or burn easily then perhaps staying out of the sun and going bowling is more your style. The Hollywood Bowl in the Red Dragon Centre could be the perfect place for you. The Red Dragon Centre has plenty of restaurants as well and is also home to the ODEON cinema. You could make a day of it at the Red Dragon Centre.
10. Visit Mid-Wales on a free TrawsCymru bus
Mid-Wales is home to some beautiful and varied sites and as the TrawsCymru buses will be free on weekends, this is the perfect time to go see them. Climbing Pen-y-Fan is popular and good fun when it’s sunny. You could even go one further and do the circular walk around both Pen-y-Fan and Corn-Du. You could also see the Elan Valley located past the Brecon Beacons but still fairly accessible by bus.
11. See the start of the sporting season in Cardiff
Summer means the start of the sporting season so get watching at one of Cardiff’s many sporting teams. Glamorgan Cricket club are offering cheap tickets for under 17s at £5 and Cardiff Devils ice hockey team have tickets ranging from £7 to £10 for under 16s to go watch their pre-season or Champions League matches. You could also watch Cardiff City FC as they struggle to get out of mid-table mediocrity for the low price of £5.
12. Listen to some music
Cardiff has quite a few gigs this summer so there is bound to be something that will get you dancing. Gwdihw as always have a packed calendar with a variety of artists from Jungle Brown, a hip hop group that spent most of the year in Apple Music’s ‘Best of 2016’ category, to an open mic night where you can test your own skills as a musician. Check out Gwdihw’s full events calendar.
Related:
There’s a cheese festival coming to Cardiff and it’s going to be *grate*
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