Bath Forum: How to get from Bath to Cardiff castle?

Thanks Phil-the-Bus.

For some reason i thought the castle was about 30mins away. Is there anything else we can do with a shorter commute. we love places with history.

Bristol is nice and it's only about 15 minutes away on the train. The faster trains take 11 mins and the slower trains take 17 mins and are very frequent - about every 15 minutes.

Lots to do in Bristol - you could visit the SS Great Britain, walk around the harbour or take a ferry ride around the harbour, go up to Clifton Suspension Bridge and see the Avon gorge. There's also Bristol Zoo and there will be a big ferris wheel in Broadmead by the end of the month.

http://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do

You could take a bus to Wells, England's smallest city.

...although the journey by bus to Wells would actually take longer than the train to Cardiff !

If it is a half day visit you are looking for, then realistically Bristol is probably the only option.

Cardiff Castle is much closer than a mile to Cardiff Central station. It's between a quarter and half a mile away - about a 10-15 minute walk at a leisurely pace. The National Museum of Wales in Cathays Park (adjacent to the Castle) has two very good historic exhibitions: "Origins" which covers early civilisation in Wales; and "the evolution of Wales" which covers the country's natural history, and includes features on earthquakes, volcanoes, dinosaurs and mammoths. In addition the museum in March will be hosting the touring exhibitions of portraits of the Queen to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

On the edge of Cardiff, a 20 minute bus ride away from the city centre is the top tourist attraction in Wales: the National History museum at St Fagans, a 100 acre park filled with rescued and restored houses, farms, shops, churches etc from all over Wales, some of which are up to 800 years old.

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/cardiff/

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans/

thanks so much. I think we will make Cardiff castle happen. I love castles. Wells looks nice too but it is further away. thanks eveyrone!

Make sure you do the guided tour of Cardiff Castle - you will see many things you would otherwise miss (the interiors are fantastic) and the guides are very friendly and chatty - particularly so with international visitors.

Hi

I am guessing that you will be travelling with a buggy or a toddler scooter so the walk from Cardiff station to the Castle should be manageable. If you don't use them very often, toddlers seem to get very excited about buses (so that is another transfer option. There are hourly direct trains between Bath and Cardiff and the journey takes about 70 minutes (including a short stint under the River Severn).

Pricewise, it will probably be cheaper to restrict yourselves to particular trains and buy an ADVANCE ticket (up to 12 weeks www.fgw.co.uk). I've just had a quick look and singles seems to start at £4 each way (your toddler travels for free). Alternatively an off-peak day return is £18/person (but you can chose which train with one of those tickets).

I don't know how long you have, but you can be stood outside Cardiff Castle around 1hr 10 minutes after you leave Bath, so it's pretty close. The castle is lovely and has a great mix of architecture.

There are 3 castles in the Cardiff area. Cardiff castle, Castell Coch, and Caerphilly Castle.

Caerphilly castle is easily accessible from Cardiff central station, several trains an hour run and it will cost a few pounds and take 15 mins or so. Castell Coch is not really accessible by train.

Have fun.