watch out for the speed camera just before the tolls on the severn bridge where the limit drops to 50mph. not always there but worth keeping your eye out.

Wood St multi storey will also put you in the right spot for lunch! As well as a Weatherspoons at either end and O'Neills across the road in Wood St, there's a variety in the Old Brewery Quarter through the alley that faces Wood St at the St Mary Street traffic lights.

Dumfries Place is a large multi storey car park, it's the other side of the centre from the stadium and it costs a fortune - thanks NCP,. I would also check closing times - many car parks are not open 24 hours, if the concert ends late you may end up not being able to get your car.

In a similar vien but not wanting to start another thread (unless I have to) can anyone recommend a decent Cardiff taxi firm. We have a couple of journeys for five people we'd like to pre-book before next week. Just to/from Central Station/Cathedral Road/Queen Street Station area, so pretty central.

Cheers

Karen - Have a look at parking in Sophia Gardens. It's not a long walk into the centre and its huge.

Taxi. We always use Capital Cabs - 029 207 77777.

Cheers daveyjp

Karen - just thought I'd let you know, a friend went to see the concert last night, and said it was fantastic.

I went to see Take That last night , it was the best concert ever.

Judith

Helen it was last night we went also

Fantastic and great weather all day prior to concert.

But oh what a nightmare with the traffic after leaving Cardiff. We did 6 miles in 3 hours! It was shocking! Congestion for hours.
We were due home by approx 1am, give or take a while, we arrived indoors at 4.40am!!!

Lovely shopping centre, it was my first visit.

Concert was A1

The NCP nearby the stadium was 24hrs and cost £12, it was just getting out which was the problem.

Sorry Karen, with my pc being out of action for over a week I didn't notice the date on your post. Glad you had a nice time & liked the city. It's always a nightmare coming out of Cardiff at peak times. When we visit hubby prefers to "let the train take the strain"

I was walking past the stadium on Tuesday when they were doing the Morrisons advert song - sounded to me like someone was struggling to reach the notes...........

Cardiff traffic always seems to be worse than it ought to, their highways "Planning" staff seem to have some odd ideas (the on-off pedestrianisation, maybe buses only, how about buses in one direction shambles in St Mary Street has been a farce). And it's been worse than this week. When Wembley was shut and the football was moved to Cardiff, supporters from Manchester were arriving back home on the train before those on coaches had reached Newport!! Tip - how do you get a Cardiff taxi driver to stop talking about diesel prices - ask him about the traffic lights...!

Using trains works well for afternoon events but not for evenings if you're going further than Bristol/Hereford/Birmingham. This doesn't stop the rugby organisors from scheduling their 6 Nations games in the evening to maximise the TV money.

Steve, a lesson well learnt, never drive to Cardiff for a large event!

Odd thing was on Weds my friend went, parked exact location, and yet was home 4 hr prior to our time!

There was a lane closed off though on our night.

Steve - Not sure where you live, but there is a train down to West Wales around 11 pm which my daughter often catches. You would think though that as we are being encouraged to travel by public transport that more trains would be laid on for major events - they are for the rugby internationals.

Hello Helen

your late train west is useful but if the concert doesn't end until 22:30ish and there's 40-50,000 people trying to get out of the stadium there's no guarantee of catching it. And it's all very well for those who organise events to "encourage" people to use public transport but who pays for it? In Britain most trains and buses are run by PLCs (let's not get started on a political rant over who's fault that is!) and PLCs are legally required to look after their shareholders interests. If the event is something like an FA Cup final then the majority will be travelling from just 2 core centres so it's fairly easy to work out something that won't lose money. But at a concert the crowd comes from all over the place so there's not much that can be done. The problem with Cardiff is that the redevelopment seems to have been done inside out! The stadium should have been at the Bay and the National Assembly, Millenium Centre etc. should be in the centre. Having got that wrong the traffic planners took over and made things worse. I now know all the different ways from Central to Leckwith Rd (better than some of the taxi drivers!) and they all take longer than they should because of the lights, even on a wet Wednesday afternoon! In this case they put the event Park and Ride on the west side of the city when most people came from the east and I bet nothing was done about the lights on Newport Rd.

I've noticed that for some reason the first England-Australia cricket test is being held in Cardiff (presumably the little known English part of the city) in 3 weeks time. That'll be fun! Cricket matches don't have set finish times -the last day may not even happen - so it will be impossible to plan accurately for what to do at the end. In this case it should be possible to run some extra trains without losing money but at what time? What happens if bad light stops play early, or delays it during the afternoon so they play later in the evening? And Sophia Gardens seems even more badly placed for the M4 than the car parks on the east side of the centre.

I like Cardiff, it's one of the better cities in Europe for tourists - just don't go there by car or on an event day!

Can anyone recommend a B&B near Cardiff Central, looking for a double room for one night.

We are off to see Lynyrd Skynyrd

Thanks

I only know of one B&B near to Central Station and when passing it never seemed very welcoming. The bulk tend to be over to the west of the city centre beyond the cricket ground. There is a Travelodge next to the station, only a couple of minutes walk and not much further to the CIA for the gig. Also handy for eating places. Make sure you check for Cardiff Central , they have a few in Cardiff.

Thanks Steve,

I will look at the Travelodge. Do you know of any good Mexican restaurants there too?

Cheers

Now you're getting specific! There are a couple of Mexican/Latin American themed places very close by - both from chains so I've no doubt quality varies from day to day. The only thing I'd recommend is that you walk round the area and check everywhere out on the day. One of the good things about Cardiff is most of the mid-market cafe/restaurants are clustered in the same small area so it's dead easy for a tourist to find them. Especially if you stay at the Central Travelodge because it's actually at one corner of the zone! From the hotel front door look across the road and you see a street with tables and chairs outdoors. Follow that street to the next junction and turn left towards the new shopping centre for a short distance then turn left down the narrow street until the gateway on the right that leads through "the Old Brewery Quarter" and out to St Mary's St and almost back to where you started. If you still can't find anything you like turn right and go a couple of hundred yards along St Marys St for a selection of Italians (some down the street with Greggs on the corner) or go straight across onto the right side of Wood St and there are a couple of Chinese/ Thai facing what's left of the bus station. You could stay there a fortnight, eat somewhere different every day and still not go more than 5 minutes from the front door!