Cardiff only became the capital of Wales in 1955, but it has grown into the role with impressive speed. The city has a genuinely European feel — compact, walkable, and with a cultural life that punches well above the weight of its 350,000 population.
Cardiff Castle dominates the city centre — a Roman fort, Norman keep and Victorian Gothic fantasy all on the same site. The Marquess of Bute's lavishly decorated interiors are worth the tour. Nearby, the National Museum Cardiff houses one of the best Impressionist collections outside Paris, alongside an excellent natural history section.
The Cardiff Bay waterfront, once the gritty docklands of Tiger Bay that shipped Welsh coal to the world, has been completely transformed. The Wales Millennium Centre (the opera house) is a striking piece of architecture, and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament building) is open to visitors. The bay itself is now a freshwater lake, ringed by restaurants and bars.
For rugby fans, the Principality Stadium in the heart of the city centre is something close to a cathedral. On match days the entire city revolves around it. The Victorian arcades weaving through the city centre — more covered shopping streets per square kilometre than anywhere in Britain — make for excellent wet-weather wandering.