Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle stands at the heart of the Welsh capital, occupying a site that has been fortified for almost 2,000 years. Within its walls visitors can trace the layers of a remarkable history: the foundations of a Roman fort built around AD 55, a Norman motte-and-bailey castle with a 12th-century stone keep crowning the mound, and the medieval lodgings that grew up around it during the centuries when the castle was held by powerful Anglo-Norman lords including the de Clare and Despenser families.

The castle was transformed in the 19th century when the immensely wealthy 3rd Marquess of Bute, the world's richest man at the time, commissioned the architect William Burges to remodel the lodgings as a Gothic Revival fantasy. The resulting interiors, including the Arab Room with its gilded ceiling, the Banqueting Hall and the Summer Smoking Room, are among the most extravagant and inventive examples of High Victorian design anywhere in Britain.

Visitors today can climb the Norman keep for sweeping views across Cardiff, explore the wartime air-raid shelters tunnelled into the medieval walls, and tour the lavish Burges interiors. The castle sits beside Bute Park and is only a short walk from Cardiff Central railway station, making it the natural starting point for any visit to the city.