Cardiff with kids!

kez_s

Hi - we're going to Cardiff in a few weeks and staying on the outskirts for a couple of nights, can anyone suggest somewhere to eat with the kids that is not too far from the arena? Any suggestions of where to park would also be great, anytime we've been before we've parked at an NCP by the stadium and we've never had the kids with us.

Also we will have a free day so I've been looking things we can do (not the castle or Dr Who) with them - any ideas would be great!

Many thanks!

cymrumam

Not sure how old they are but techniquest is good and you could have a look at Boulders - soft play for younger ones, climbing for older ones supposed to be good but not been yet. Ice skating.

mildred1978

How old are the children?

Swimming at the international pool? Techniquest is fun but badly maintained, so lots of things don't work. New Dr Who centre in the bay. Walk across the barrage to Penarth Marina (see the boats). Boat ride round the bay. Barry Island?

The parking in town is much better since they built st David's 2 and john lewis.

daveyjp

Plenty of new restaurants in St Davids 2, including a Jamies Italian which does excellent children's meals.

MoaningMyrtle

St Fagans museum is excellent. Free entry and £3.50 to park.

I'd suggest park and ride as it is very expensive in the city centre.

bylromarha

My 7 and 5 year old loved techniquest last year. Pretty cheap for the fun science museum it is.

St Fagins kept them entertained for the day, but they got bored at parts. £3.50 for 1 days parking.

We ate at a Harvester near to the arena if looking for places to eat. There's a Frankie and Benny's there too, supermarket cafes if you're looking for kid friendly eats.

If you're looking for a good day out with young kids, you really can't beat Barry Island though - my kids had such a good day there, very sandy, shallow paddling, and the fish and chips from Boofy's are the best I've ever had - I'm a bit particular about my fish and chips too, so it's high praise from me.

mildred1978

"We ate at a Harvester near to the arena if looking for places to eat. There's a Frankie and Benny's there too, supermarket cafes if you're looking for kid friendly eats."

Near the arena?? Do you mean near ikea?

starrybee

mildred1978 wrote: »

"We ate at a Harvester near to the arena if looking for places to eat. There's a Frankie and Benny's there too, supermarket cafes if you're looking for kid friendly eats."

Near the arena?? Do you mean near ikea?

The harvester is near the castle/the hayes, just to add in another landmark for you!

The Arena (assuming you mean Motorpoint??) is very near the arcade where there are plenty of restaurants. Harvester is another 5 minutes walk from there if you cut through the arcade. Ikea is somewhere else entirely...

I think parking is cheaper by the museum than in the NCPs, it's more of a walk but not much.

kez_s

Hi - thanks for all your replies, it's really appreciated!

My kids are 5 & 7! They've never really watched Dr Who so sadly that ruled that out straight away, I'm sure dh and I would have enjoyed it as we were both brought up watching all the different doctors!

Yes, it is the Motorpoint Arena, I've been there numerous times but that was a while ago and not ever with the kids, I use to stay in a hotel just across the road so never had to think about parking, kids places to eat/days out etc., it was always "girls concert weekends".

I don't mind paying extra for parking, I know it's not cheap from the times dh and I have been to concerts at the stadium and parked in the NCP next to it, but I'd rather pay the extra than use the park and ride. Not sure which car parks though to consider that are close to the arena as no doubt once we come out the kids are going to be totally pooped but hopefully on a big enough high we can still get them to walk as it's going to be late!

I've looked at Barry Island as it's near to where we are staying but is there going to be much to do in November? It seems most of it is for the summer months?

I'll take a look at Jamies Italian - thank you! Not sure about a Harvester, we've been to a few and they don't seem to be that great anymore or perhaps that's just the ones we were close to, we love Frankie & Benny's but go quite regularly so was trying to find something different to make the day as special as possible! Do they have any of the big "theme" restaurants? We took them to Planet Hollywood in London a few months back and they loved it but I can't seem to find anything like that for Cardiff!

Techniquest looked good but what a shame if most of things don't work. Is is still worth going though as we want to make the most of our free day there as the kids have never been to Cardiff or Wales for that matter, I was born there so I'm also going to take a trip to where I was born as I've only ever seen it briefly so we've only got the one "free" day and want to make the most of it!

mildred1978

starrybee wrote: »

The harvester is near the castle/the hayes, just to add in another landmark for you!

The Arena (assuming you mean Motorpoint??) is very near the arcade where there are plenty of restaurants. Harvester is another 5 minutes walk from there if you cut through the arcade. Ikea is somewhere else entirely...

I think parking is cheaper by the museum than in the NCPs, it's more of a walk but not much.

Thanks. I was born and bred in cardiff

hamsterfan1

I can second St Fagans - when my kids were small they loved it & last time i went ( a few years ago) there were a lot more buildings & animals on the farm - Cardiff buses are really cheap so you could get day ticket & go to Penarth (although there's not a lot there other than the pier) & on to Barry Island if it's nice