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| Cardiff
Tours - Excursions |
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Walking
tours
Group walking tours can be booked through the Cardiff Bay Tours
(telephone: (029) 2070 7882). A two-hour guided tour departs from
the Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre (telephone: (029) 2046 3833).
WalesLink Visitor Services (telephone: (029) 2052 2202; fax: (029)
2052 9310; email: info@wales-vs.com)
has guides for planned itinerary tours of Cardiff and Wales.
Bus Tours
Guide Friday (telephone: (01789) 294 466) runs frequent circular
'hop-on, hop-off' open-top bus tours of Cardiff leaving the castle
every day from Easter to October. The bus stops at major sights
around the city and at Cardiff Bay and the full trip takes a little
under an hour.
City
Sightseeing (telephone: (01708) 866 000) operates a similar
service all year round.
Excursions
for half day
Castell Coch
Situated in woodland at Tongwynlais, just outside the city on the
A470, this is a memorial to the imagination of the third Marquis
of Bute, his skilled architect William Burges and the Victorian
idealisation of things medieval. Built on the site of a 13th-century
fort, Castell Coch (telephone: (029) 2081 0101)
has all the trappings of a fairytale castle.
Opening hours are daily 09:30-17:00 hrs(March-October) and Monday-Saturday
09:30-16:00 hrs, Sunday 11:00-16:00 hrs (November-February).
Big Pit (Pwll Mawr) - National Mining Museum of Wales
Cardiff's past glory was the coal industry of the Valleys and at
Blaenafon, about 40km or 25 miles northeast of the city. Visitors
can now take a guided trip, led by an ex-miner, 90m or 300ft underground
to see a coal mine. Blaenafon is a designated UNESCO World Heritage
Site. As with other national Welsh museums, admission to Big Pit
is free of charge. A visit lasts about two-and-a-half hours and
warm clothing is recommended. Children under five, or less than
one metre tall or three feet, are not allowed underground. Big
Pit (telephone: (01495) 790 311; fax: (01495) 792 618) is open
daily from March to November, 09:30-17:00 hrs (tours from 10:00-15:30).
Public transport is by train to Newport. Direct buses to the museum
- about a 20-minute walk from the centre of Blaenafon - leave from
Newport bus station three times every morning. By car take the M4,
which runs east to Junction 25A, then the A4042 to Pontypool and
the A472/4043 into Blaenafon.
Excursions
for a whole day
Brecon Beacons National Park
This area of mountains, moorland and forest is one the treasures
of South Wales. Brecon
Beacons National Park (telephone: (01874) 624 437; fax: (01874)
622 574; email: enquiries@breconbeacons.org) is located to the north
of Cardiff and transport (by train from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil
plus bus connection to Brecon) is almost as pleasurable as the visit
itself. Drivers should take the picturesque route via the Usk Valley.
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