A day and night out in Cardiff – Wales

When you start a holiday, you’re always eager to see as many sights as you can, but if you get too excited, you end up seeing them all, and if you’re holidaying over the course of a week or fortnight, you find yourself bored with a few days still to go. Fortunately, when visiting Cardiff, you won’t have that problem.

Many people don’t have the time to go on a week-long break, but day and night breaks can be just as relaxing. You can take in plenty of sights, with time left to have a meal at one of the Welsh capital’s outstanding restaurants before retreating to one of those comfortable, welcoming Cardiff hotels for a great night’s sleep.

As you would expect from a capital city, Cardiff is jam packed with attractions. It has numerous parks, sporting and cultural venues, historical sites, top-class shops and eateries, all of which make the city a fantastic place to spend a weekend in.

The Millenium Stadium, the home of the Welsh national rugby union team, is one of Europe’s largest purpose-built sporting venues. As well as hosting top-class sporting events, the stadium also hosts concerts for rock and pop groups, plus the amazing Welsh National Opera.

Cardiff plays host to Wales’ National Museum and Art Gallery, which puts on various exhibitions with relevance to both the local area and the wider world. Admission is free, so if you’re holidaying with children, this is an ideal place for the whole family to visit.

Parks are plentiful in Cardiff, and if you’re looking for a peaceful weekend, then a stroll through Bute Park on the edge of the city centre, or Roath Park, which lies within its leafy suburbs could be the answer. Cardiff has more parkland per capita than any other major city in the UK, so you’re spoilt for choice.

Other attractions of note include St. David’s Hall, which is one of the country’s best concert halls, the magnificent Cardiff Castle and the inspiring St. David’s Cathedral. Shopping in Cardiff is a joy, particularly around precincts such as St. David’s, Royal Arcade and the Capitol Centre.

Once you’ve taken in all the sights, then why not cap off your day by having a meal at one of the many top-class restaurants in the breathtakingly modern Cardiff Bay area. Eateries such as Signor Valentino’s, Bosphorus Turkish Restaurant and Miller and Carter Restaurant and Bar offer flavours from South Wales and beyond, and are guaranteed to re-energise you after taking in all the sights of this wonderful, underrated city.

When you’ve finished your meal, then you’re able to retreat to a quality hotel such as the Ibis Hotel Cardiff Gate and sleep soundly in a freshly-made bed knowing that you’ve had the best day break imaginable, and if there’s anywhere you didn’t see, you can always come back for another trip.

Photo Credits: All photos by cardiffandco

More Things to see in Wales

Walking In Wales – 10 Easy And Inspirational Day Walks
Camping in sunshine and showers – on the Gower in Wales
A snowy break at Laswern Fawr holiday in the Brecon Beacons, Wales – video

My thanks for this sponsored post to Eurobookings.com, the European booking specialist

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Getting to and from the airport in Gothenburg (and what to do while you’re there)

If you’re flying into Gothenburg you’ll probably land at Landvetter airport if you’re flying with Scandinavian Airlines or British Airways and at the City Airport if you’re flying with Ryanair. Neither airport is very far from the city centre and although you can easily get a taxi, the cheap and efficient way to get into the centre is with the Flygbussarna coach service.

Flygbussarna service from Gothenburg Landvetter Airport

• 3 departures per hour every 20 minutes
• The journey takes 25-30 minutes
• The bus stops at Korsvagen (near Liseburg Amusement Park), Park Avenue (On the Avenue near the Museum of Art), Kungsportsplaten (by the canal and main tram stop), Nils Ericson terminalen (near the main train station)
• You can pick up a handy leaflet at the airport with a map of all the stops or check the Google maps on the Flybussarna website
• The costs is 80SEK (€9, $12, £7.50)  one way, 150SEK return (€17, $22, £14)
• You can book in advance or pay on the bus. I probably wouldn’t book the journey from the airport but I might book the return journey just in case the bus was full.
• The bus does not take cash but takes major credit cards
• More information on the Flybussarna website

For the Flygbussarna service from Gothenburg City Airport

We flew to Gothenburg with SAS who have a couple of flights a day to Gothenburg from London Heathrow which is ideal if you’re planning a short break as we were. Of course getting to and from the airport is only a means to an end and if you want some ideas on what to enjoy in Gothenburg why not;

• Explore the Gothenburg Christmas markets and shop for unusual food and design gifts – we especially enjoyed the Haga market, but Liseburg is the biggest and most sparkling.
• Watch the Christmas Julfilm projected on the facade of the Gothenburg Museum of Art and if you’re lucky you might get to hear the singing Christmas tree choir in Bältesspännarparken (sadly we missed it due to the windy weather)
• Visit the Feskekörka (Fish Church ) where you can admire all the fresh fish and buy tasty deli dishes as well as trying the seafood in one of the two restaurants – we loved Restaurant Gabriel where the owner Johan Malm introduced us to the delights of West Swedish oysters.
• Try the fried herringwith mashed potato and lingonberry sauce – the classic Swedish combination at the Strömmingsluckan herring cart in Magasinskarten
• Enjoy a Fika break with a steaming mug of coffee and enormous cinnamon bun in one of the cosy coffee shops around town.
• Treat yourself to a gourmet blow-out at one of the five Michelin star restaurants in Gothenburg – we loved our meal at Basement where I interviewed the head chef Camilla Parkner.
• If you’re there at Christmas, enjoy an extended Christmas buffet or Julbord at one of the many restaurants and hotels, such as Elite Plaza where we stayed, that serve all the traditional Christmas dishes throughout December
• Warm yourself with a hot chocolate with chili at Cafe Kanold and stock up on Gothenburg truffles topped with sea salt at their shop nearby on Viktoriapassagen
• In summer visit the Maritiman Maritime Museum in the port area and wander around the courtyard of the Kronhuset nearby – an old artillery store that’s one of the oldest buildings in Gothenburg
• Pop into the Gothenburg City Museum or Stadsmuseum to learn all about Viking history and see the remains of an old Viking longboat – the museum shop has some pretty gifts too.

More Visitor Information for Gothenburg or Göteborg

• The local tourism site Göteborg.com is full of information on the best things to see and do
• For information on West Sweden visit the West Sweden Tourism site or follow them on Twitter @WestSwedenTB or on their Facebook page and you will find their blog at ExploreWestSweden.com
• Another useful site for all things Gothenburg is I Love Göteborg
• If you plan to do a lot of sightseeing it’s worth getting the Gothenburg City Card which will allow you entrance to all the major attractions as well as public transport. Look out for the deals that some hotels offer that include a Gothenburg Card with the hotel booking.
• We stayed at the classic 5 star hotel, Elite Plaza Hotel which is in the Inom Vallgraven district and walking distance from most of the sightes of Gothenburg.
• We took flights to Gothenburg from London Heathrow with Scandinavian Airlines who have 2 flights a day to Gothenburg’s Landvetter airport, a 30 minute taxi or bus ride from the city.
• If you’d like to use a guidebook during your visit to Gothenburg I’d recommend the conveniently sized Thomas Cook Gothenburg Pocket Guide which we used.
• Visit the Flybussarna website for more information on getting to and from the airport

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Sweden – Gothenburg photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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The Christmas Film in Gothenburg – video

There seems to be a trend in Europe for painting public buildings with light shows, so we were pleased to find that Gothenburg hosts a Julfilm or Christmas film projected onto the facade of the Museum of Art. We were in Gothenburg in West Sweden for a short break in December to get into the Christmas spirit and were hoping to enjoy a couple of free Christmas activities at either end of the main thoroughfare of Kongsportsavenyn or Avenyn – The Avenue for short.

On the facade of the Gothenburg Museum of Art or Konstmuseum a Christmas film is projected after dark throughout December and at the appointed time we walked down the Avenue with trees garlanded in blue lights and light-painted buildings. The snow that had covered the airport runway when our SAS flight touched down had melted away, giving way to rain and wind and we had to give up on our umbrellas as they kept being blown inside out. Guy managed to embarrassingly destroy two umbrellas this way that had been kindly lent to us by our Hotel Elite Plaza – oops!

I hope you enjoy the video below of the Christmas film at the Museum of Art in Gothenburg

If you can’t see the video above of the Gothenburg Christmas Film, please view it on my blog here

As we reached the Museum of Art, crowd of people had gathered, sheltering sensibly under the overhanging roof of the building to one side to watch the film, while I bravely set up my camera and tripod right in front of the facade where I hoped to get a good view of the light show. We watched while Chinese dancers twirled, eighteenth century characters got off the tram to serenade us and aliens landed from the space ship – all in good Swedish fun.

I imagine that the two cartoon figures towards the end are politicians or public figures that are being poked fun at – perhaps you can enlighten me if you are from Gothenburg. If the film is a bit shaky in places it’s because the gusts of wind kept threatening to blow me over!

At the other end of the Avenue at Bältesspännarparken the winter wonderland of amusements was looking decidedly damp and the performance of the ‘Singing Christmas tree’ had been cancelled. I was rather disappointed, as I thought that this choir performing Christmas songs, dressed in green coats and red santa hats standing on a triangular stand (hence the Christmas tree name) sounded very jolly and just the thing to listen to while beating off the cold with a glass of steaming Glögg.

Visitor Information for Gothenburg or Göteborg

• The local tourism site Göteborg.com is full of information on the best things to see and do
• For information on West Sweden visit the West Sweden Tourism site or follow them on Twitter @WestSwedenTB or on their Facebook page and you will find their blog at ExploreWestSweden.com
• Another useful site for all things Gothenburg is I Love Göteborg
• If you plan to do a lot of sightseeing it’s worth getting the Gothenburg City Card which will allow you entrance to all the major attractions as well as public transport. Look out for the deals that some hotels offer that include a Gothenburg Card with the hotel booking.
• We stayed at the elegant 5 star hotel, Elite Plaza Hotel which is right in the centre of Gothenburg in the Inom Vallgraven district and walking distance from most things.
• We flew to Gothenburg from London Heathrow with Scandinavian Airlines, who have flights to Gothenburg daily from London into Gothenburg Landvetter airport.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Sweden – Gothenburg photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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