Welcome to Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and its largest city. Located on the south coast of Wales it is administered as a unitary authority. Cardiff is home to Cardiff Castle, the National Assembly for Wales, St. David's Hall, the National Museum and Gallery, and Cathays Park (including municipal buildings modelled on those in New Delhi), and the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral. The Welsh National Opera moved into the Wales Millennium Centre in November 2004. The Big Weekend Festival, is held annually in late July/August in the city centre and is the place for many theme park events, rides and regularly attracts annually over 200,000 visitors. The annual Cardiff Festival claims to be the UK's largest free outdoor festival and plays host to a range of different festivals including the Children's Festival that takes place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. Cardiff's centre is a particularly green one with Bute Park, formerly the castle grounds, extending northwards from the top of the Cardiff's main shopping street (Queen Street); when combined with the adjacent Llandaff Fields to the north west it produces a massive open space skirting the river Taff.
The popular name of Taffy, for the Welshman abroad has its origins in the name of the river. Other popular parks include Roath Park in the north, donated to the city by the 3rd Marquess of Bute in 1887 and which includes a very popular boating lake; Victoria Park, Cardiff's first official park; and Thompson's Park, formerly home to an aviary removed in the 1970s. It is possible to cycle from Cardiff to Brecon almost completely off road on the Taff Trail, a cycle route which follows the River Taff and many of the old disused railways of the Glamorganshire valleys. Cardiff has an established and wide-ranging music scene. It is the home to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera. It has produced several leading acts itself and, as a capital city, has acted as a springboard for numerous Welsh bands to go and become famous both nationally and internationally. These include Charlotte Church, The Automatic, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, Lost Prophets, The Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, Budgie and Shakin Steven, among others. Cardiff is home to one of only four Barfly venues in the UK Every other year, Cardiff plays host to the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a world renowned event on the Opera Calender.
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