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Official capital of Wales since only 1955 (hence the annoyingly ubiquitous "Europe's Youngest Capital" slogan), the buoyant city of CARDIFF (Caerdydd) has swiftly grown into its new status. A number of progressive developments, not least the new, sixty-member Welsh National Assembly, are giving the city the feel of an international capital, if not always a very Welsh one: compared with Swansea, Cardiff is very anglicized - you'll rarely hear Welsh on the city's streets.

The second Marquis of Bute built Cardiff's first dock in 1839, opening others in swift succession. The Butes, who owned massive swathes of the rapidly industrializing South Wales valleys, insisted that all coal and iron exports use the family docks in Cardiff, and it became one of the busiest ports in the world. In the hundred years up to the turn of the twentieth century, Cardiff's population had soared from almost nothing to 170,000, and the spacious and ambitious new civic centre in Cathays Park was well under way. The twentieth century saw varying fortunes: the dock trade slumped in the 1930s and the city suffered heavy bombing in World War II, but with the creation of Cardiff as capital in 1955, optimism and confidence in the city have blossomed. Many large governmental and media institutions have moved here from London, and the development of the dock areas around the new Assembly building to be built in Cardiff Bay has given a largely positive boost to the cityscape

Cardiff's sights are clustered around fairly small, distinct districts. The compact commercial centre is bounded by the River Taff , which flows past the tremendous new Millennium Stadium , inaugurated for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. In this rugby-mad city, the atmosphere in the pubs and streets when Wales have a home match - particularly against the old enemy, England - is charged with good-natured, beery fervour. Just upstream, the Taff is flanked by the wall of Cardiff's extraordinary castle , an amalgam of Roman remains, Norman keep and Victorian fantasy. North of the castle is a series of white Edwardian buildings grouped around Cathays Park : the City Hall, Cardiff University and the superb National Museum . A mile south of the commercial centre, the area around Cardiff Bay is striving to become one of the city's liveliest quarters, home to the new National Assembly of Wales and a welter of new waterfront developments which make it an ideal place for eating, drinking or just ambling about. A couple of miles north of the city centre, Llandaff Cathedral warrants a visit for its strange clash of Norman and modern styles.

The main bus station is off Wood Street, on the southwestern side of the city centre. Across the forecourt is Cardiff Central train station , for all intercity services as well as many suburban and Valley Line services. Queen Street station, at the eastern edge of the centre, is for local trains only. The tourist office , at 16 Wood St, opposite Cardiff Central (Mon & Wed-Sat 9am-5pm, Tues 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-2pm; in school holidays Mon-Sat until 6pm; tel 029/2022 7281, enquiries@cardifftic.co.uk ), will provide good free maps of the city and a copy of Buzz! , a free monthly guide to arts in the city.

Cardiff is compact enough to walk around, as even the bay area is within thirty minutes' stroll of Central station. Once you're out of the centre, however, it's best to fall back on the extensive bus network, most reliably operated by the garish-orange liveried Cardiff Bus Company. Information and passes are available from the counter next to the tourist office on Wood Street (Mon-Sat 8.30am-5.30pm). A couple of useful travel passes , which can also be bought on-board buses, include the City Rider ticket , which gives unlimited travel around Cardiff and Penarth for a day and the Network Rider , which extends the range to Caerphilly and Newport.

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