Some visitors to Cardiff will be arriving by air at Cardiff Airport (IATA code CWL), located 14 miles southwest of Cardiff in Rhoose, a village just west of Barry. Cardiff Airport is the busiest airport in Wales, and is the 21st-busiest in the United Kingdom, with 1.6 million passengers served in 2019.

There is a taxi rank just outside the arrivals hall at Cardiff Airport. The official taxi service at the airport is FlightLink Wales (www.flightlinkwales.com), which allows bookings in advance by telephone and online. For up to four travelers, it is recommended that you take the BlueLink late-model sedan taxi, and for groups of five or more and groups with lots of bags, perhaps the SilverLink option is better suited to your needs. BlueLink taxis cost in the range of £30-£50 before tip from Cardiff Airport to the city center and Cardiff Bay. SilverLink taxis cost a minimum of £50. For more information, visit the FlightLink Wales website or call +44 1446 728 500.

The T9 Airport Express coach bus service is a cheaper and more convenient option. It takes 40 minutes and drops you off in the city centre at Central Square, and from there you can take a taxi to your destination. Tickets are £5 per person one-way. The T9 takes travelers from Cardiff Airport to Cardiff Central train station and vice-versa, and day passes are also available for multiple trips, priced at £11 per day. The Airport Express runs every 20 minutes in summer and every 30 minutes the rest of the year. For more information, visit www.trawscymru.info/t9. (Note: This service is currently suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic; please consult the aforementioned website to check if service has resumed.)

Driving directions from Cardiff Airport:

After the airport roundabout, head east on Tredogan Road for 0.8 miles. Take the first left at the roundabout and head northeast on Port Road about 4 miles, after which point you will turn right onto Barry Docks Link Road. After 3.7 more miles, turn left onto Cardiff Road. After 1.4 extra miles, you will merge onto Cardiff Bay Link Road. Within 500 feet or so you will notice Mermaid Quay and Cardiff Bay. At the roundabout, take the second exit and go north on Central Link. After a mile, you will meet the A4161 motorway which will take you into the Cardiff city center.

Cardiff Bus (www.cardiffbus.com) is the main provider of bus transportation in Cardiff, with 52 lines serving all areas of the city. Five lines serve Cardiff Bay, and a whopping 50 of the 52 lines stop off somewhere in the city center, ranging from Principality Stadium to Central Square to Queen Street station to The Capitol Shopping Centre to St. David`s Dewi Sant Shopping Centre. For a full list of lines, with timetables and network maps, visit www.cardiffbus.com/services. Fares typically start at £2 one-way for adults, although for short distances on select lines, fares may be discounted. Fares start at £2.80 from Cardiff to Barry.

Transport for Wales (www.tfwrail.wales) operates long-distance and commuter services for Cardiff and the rest of Glamorgan. As the city is so compact as it is, train rides are typically a one or two-station affair, unless your goal is to explore past Cardiff Bay and the city center. Commuter trains are based out of the Queen Street train station and go to Cardiff Bay, Treherbert, Coryton, Rhymney, Merthyr Tydfil, and Aberdare.

It is easy to hail taxis from the street or to wait in line for one at a taxi rank. The professional London-level standard of taxi in Cardiff is going to present as a black late-model sedan, with its hood painted white, and a white light on top that says "TAXI" on the front and "CITY OF CARDIFF" and the taxi`s license number under it on the reverse. When the light is on, that means it is vacant and it can be hailed. There are taxi ranks outside Cardiff Central train station, on the opposite side of Duke Street from Cardiff Castle, and at the corner of Greyfriars Road and Park Place near the Cardiff Hilton. As far as reputable taxi companies go, Dragon Taxis (+44 29 2033 3333) and Capital Cabs (+44 29 2077 7777) come well-recommended. A typical two-to-three mile ride in Cardiff should cost about £10, not factoring in tip or any assistance with baggage. There is a £1 surcharge to taxi rides taken between midnight and 6 a.m.

Cardiff has eight large parking garages that are located on all sides of the city center, and parking is available there for £4 for up to four hours (Online pricing only; reserving a space in person is more expensive. You can purchase your parking passes in advance by going online to www.ncp.co.uk/parking-solutions/cities/cardiff.) Cardiff Castle and St. David`s Hall are close to the Westgate Street garage; the National Museum Cardiff and The Capitol Shopping Centre are close to Greyfriars garage; and the Millennium Stadium is close to the NCP Stadium garage. Further south, the Cardiff Bay and Red Dragon Centre parking garages are slightly cheaper.

Up until the 19th century, there were very few shops in Cardiff. Most people purchased what they needed for their family and home from market stalls. With the opening of the Royal Arcade in 1858, the number of shops in Cardiff increased dramatically. Seven other arcades opened up in the subsequent generations, and today this tradition continues with three modern shopping centers, all of which give a nod to the arcades of yesteryear in some fashion. The Victorian and Edwardian-era arcades are primarily local businesses that offer a wide range of goods, and many potential souvenir options. The modern shopping centers host a mix of local shops and national and international chains, and like U.S. shopping malls, they are typically anchored by well-known clothing stores, department stores, or food outlets.

You can access the entrances of the Victorian and Edwardian arcades from the following streets:

-Central Market: St. Mary Street, High Street
-Castle Arcade: Castle Street, High Street
-Dominions Arcade: Queen Street, Crockherberton Lane
-Duke Street Arcade: Duke Street, High Street Arcade
-High Street Arcade: High Street, St. John Street
-Morgan Arcade: St. Mary Street, The Hayes
-Royal Arcade: St. Mary Street, The Hayes
-Wyndham Arcade: St. Mary Street, Mill Lane

You can access the entrances of the contemporary shopping centers from the following streets:

-St. David`s Dewi Sant Shopping Centre: Queen Street, Hill`s Street, Working Street, Queens Arcade
-Queens Arcade: Queen Street, Working Street, St. David`s Dewi Sant Shopping Centre
-The Capitol Shopping Centre: Queen Street

The noted novelist Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Cardiff, at the Villa Marie, an estate now called Ty Gwyn, located at 32 Fairwater Road, which Dahl`s father built in 1907. Dahl spent much of his childhood in Cardiff, and the `Roald Dahl Trail` self-guided tour circuit has grown in popularity over the years.

When Roald Dahl was two years old, the family moved to Radyr, where they lived in a Victorian house called Ty Mynydd. Today only the lodge exists and can be found at Heol Isaf between Park Road and Maes Yr Awel. Mrs. Pratchett`s Sweet Shop is located at 11 High Street in Llandaff and was a place known for its gobstopper sweets, which were mentioned by name in both his autobiography Boy: Tales of Childhood and in the legendary children`s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The building is not open to the public but it is available to rent for the day; the interior of the house has been renovated since its time as a sweet shop, and as recently as a few years ago it served as a Chinese takeout restaurant. There is a plaque on the front of the building, whose façade is the same as it was when Dahl was a child in the 1920s. The Norwegian Church, located on Harbour Drive on Cardiff Bay, is where Dahl and his siblings were baptized.

In 2002, the Oval Basin Plaza in Cardiff Bay adjacent to the Wales Millennium Centre was renamed Roald Dahl Plass (`Plass` being the Norwegian for square/plaza, in a nod to Dahl`s Norwegian heritage).

The currency of Wales, like all constituent nations of the United Kingdom, is the pound sterling (£). U.S. dollars are not accepted. Please be sure to have the correct currency on hand or be prepared to exchange your dollars for pounds upon arrival. ATMs can be found at many locations in Cardiff.

Nightlife in Cardiff is clustered in the city center, particularly around St. Mary Street, Mill Lane, and The Hayes. You will find a venue for every personality type here, from pubs that serve food with your drinks, to cabaret bars, to live music venues, to Wales`s hottest nightclub complexes. Typically bars and nightclubs are open until midnight during the week and until as late as 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (Note: With Wales in varying degrees of coronavirus-related lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, businesses have opened and closed -- and opened again -- with varying hours. Modified hours may continue through at least 2021.)

Cardiff Castle, dating from the third century CE, is the most popular museum in Cardiff that charges admission, while the St Fagans National Museum of History, which is also open-air, is the most popular free museum in Cardiff. The National Museum Cardiff is also very popular, welcoming over 500,000 visitors in 2019. Other museums that welcome locals and visitors alike include the Cardiff Story Museum (formerly known as the Museum of Cardiff) and Techniquest. There is a discounted tourist card, the Visit Cardiff Visitor Card, which can be purchased from the Cardiff Tourist Information Centre located inside Cardiff Castle. (Note: The Visitor Card is not currently being sold at this time due to the coronavirus pandemic; it may be brought back in the future.)