Cardiff Castle

The site holds three castles at once. A Roman fort stood here from the first century and its wall line is marked in different stone at the base of the modern enclosure. The Normans raised a motte with a twelfth-century shell keep on top, still climbable. Then in the 1860s the third Marquess of Bute, reputedly the richest man in the world on Cardiff's coal exports, commissioned William Burges to remake the lodgings, and Burges produced interiors of extraordinary density: a Moorish smoking room, an Arab Room with a gilded honeycomb ceiling, a rooftop garden and a nursery tiled with fairy-tale scenes, all in miniature-perfect Gothic revival. During the Second World War the medieval walls were hollowed into public air raid shelters, which are open and fitted out as they were.

Highlights

• The Burges interiors - the Arab Room, smoking room and roof garden of the 1860s.
• The Norman keep - a shell keep on a motte, climbable for a city view.
• The Roman wall line - marked in contrasting stone around the enclosure.
• The wartime shelters - tunnels inside the castle walls, fitted as used.

When to go

Year-round; the castle is central and open daily. Interiors are shown on a fixed route with the Burges rooms often needing a separate house tour ticket, which is worth it. Summer brings events on the green.

Good to know

The basic ticket does not include the full house tour of the best rooms, which is an extra and sells out. The keep climb is steep with uneven steps. Events on the castle green close parts of the site with little notice.

Nearby

Bute Park lies behind the castle; the Principality Stadium and city centre are alongside.

Key facts