Places to explore in and near Cardiff

Grade II* Welsh Baptist chapel on The Hayes, a fine example of Cardiff's Nonconformist heritage.

0.4 km SE

Historic parkland and arboretum along the River Taff beside Cardiff Castle, laid out on the former grounds of the Marquesses of Bute.

0.6 km NW

Victorian public park with a boating lake, botanic gardens and a lighthouse clock tower commemorating Captain Scott.

2.7 km N

Dining pub in Llandaff serving contemporary Welsh cooking, holder of a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

3.4 km NW

Open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, with formal Italianate gardens and fish ponds.

6.5 km W

Village on Cardiff's western edge, best known as home to the National Museum of History.

6.8 km W · Cardiff

Wooded valley garden on Cardiff's northern edge, planted with rhododendrons and azaleas that flower in late spring.

7.5 km N

Victorian fairytale castle in the woods.

8 km NW

A hill whose burial mound inspired 'The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill'.

10.5 km NW

Bristol Channel island where Marconi sent the first radio signals over open sea, with Victorian gun batteries and a lighthouse

12 km S

On the Bristol Channel island where Marconi sent the first wireless message over the sea in 1897, its light covering the approaches to Cardiff.

12.7 km S

The mountain connoisseur's route over the roof of Wales — Cardiff to Conwy by way of the Bannau, the Cambrian wilderness and Eryri.

0.1 km SW · spans 9 counties

Walk the outline of a whole nation — 870 miles of cliff, estuary and beach from Chepstow round to Queensferry.

1 km SE · spans 16 counties

Victorian and Edwardian seaside town on the Severn Estuary, with a restored pier and Art Deco pavilion.

5.1 km S · Vale of Glamorgan

Edwardian seaside pier with a restored 1929 Art Deco pavilion housing a cinema and gallery.

5.3 km S

Two flooded quarry lakes near Penarth with waymarked trails and a reconstructed medieval village.

7.2 km S

Coastal headland where Marconi made the first radio transmission over open sea in 1897.

8.4 km S

Ridge between Cardiff and Caerphilly with panoramic views and open common land.

9.4 km N

National Trust Edwardian gardens and arboretum around Dyffryn House, laid out by Thomas Mawson and rated by Cadw the finest Edwardian garden in Wales.

9.6 km SW

Vast moated fortress with a famous leaning tower.

10.9 km N

Rhymney Valley town at the foot of its great medieval castle, and the source of Caerphilly cheese.

11 km N · Caerphilly

Broad sandy bay backed by a promenade and pleasure park, the classic Valleys seaside resort.

12 km SW

220 acres of wood and meadow in a sheltered valley beneath a towering railway viaduct, leading to a pebble beach.

12.7 km SW

National Trust Restoration mansion and formal walled gardens of the Morgan family on the western edge of Newport.

13.6 km NE

Steep flight of locks on the Monmouthshire Canal at Rogerstone, an 18th-century engineering feat with towpath walks and a visitor centre.

15.5 km NE

Steep limestone island in the Bristol Channel with Victorian gun batteries, medieval priory remains, wild peonies and gull colonies

16.4 km S

Towering 1906 transporter bridge over the River Usk, one of very few of its kind still standing, with a restored visitor centre.

16.6 km NE

RSPB reserve of reedbed, saltmarsh and lagoons on the Severn estuary at Nash, with birdwatching hides and a lighthouse walk.

16.6 km NE

Cathedral church of the diocese of Monmouth on Stow Hill in Newport, keeping a fine Norman arch and nave.

16.8 km NE

Prominent hillfort-topped summit above Cwmcarn with views to Cardiff Bay and the Bristol Channel.

17.2 km N

The National Lido of Wales, a 1927 pool in Pontypridd's war memorial park, derelict for years and reopened in 2015.

17.3 km NW

Riverside park in Pontypridd, home to the restored National Lido of Wales.

17.3 km NW

William Edwards's elegant single-span stone bridge of 1756 over the River Taff.

17.6 km NW

Georgian market town on a long High Street of independent shops, built on the Roman road between Neath and Cardiff.

18.8 km W · Vale of Glamorgan

Forest park in the Ebbw Valley with a scenic drive, mountain-bike trails and the Twmbarlwm walk.

18.9 km N

The great seaside pleasure pier reaching over the sands at Weston, its pavilion full of rides and arcades.

20 km SE

A dramatic limestone headland striding out into the sea near Weston, topped by downland, a Victorian fort and huge Channel views.

20.3 km SE

Former Lewis Merthyr colliery at Trehafod, now a museum with underground tours of the mining Rhondda.

20.3 km NW

Britain's best-preserved Roman amphitheatre and barracks.

20.8 km NE

Historic town on the Usk just outside Newport, built over the Roman legionary fortress of Isca with its amphitheatre, baths and barracks.

21.1 km NE · Newport

A walled sea-water lake of 1929 beside the beach at Clevedon, topped up by the big tides and free to swim all year.

22.1 km E

An elegant Grade I Victorian pier of 1869 reaching into the Bristol Channel, called by Betjeman the most beautiful in England.

22.3 km E

Coastal town on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, one of the earliest centres of Welsh Christianity around St Illtud's monastery.

22.5 km W · Vale of Glamorgan

A limestone upland riddled with caves and gorges, an easy high point, and old lead-mining country on top

23.8 km SE

Rocky Heritage Coast beach at Col-huw reached by a valley walk from the town.

24.2 km SW

Cardiff Bay to Brecon on old tramways and towpaths up the Taff — shared with bikes, with Castell Coch on the way out of town.

0.5 km W · spans 4 counties

Rural inn on Caerphilly Mountain with views over the Rhymney Valley.

9.1 km NW

Long-established country inn on the edge of Caerphilly near Rudry.

10.3 km N

Seaside town and former coal port, home to Barry Island and Whitmore Bay.

10.4 km SW · Vale of Glamorgan

A National Trust place in Vale of Glamorgan.

10.6 km W