Cardiff Hotels Central

Cardiff, or "Caerdydd", in Welsh, is the largest city and most populous county of Wales, UK, having a population approximated at a number of nearly 325 000 inhabitants, during a recent estimate. It became a city in 1905 and proclaimed capital of Wales in 1955. Though, at first, it had a reputation of being a rough, industrial city, Cardiff has undergone dramatic changes, today, standing as a modern capital city, drawing numerous tourists with its beauty, history and culture.

Cardiff's city centre is positioned in the southern portion of the city, just north of Cardiff Bay, and it is bounded by the Valleys and South Wales rail lines to the east and south, by the historic civic centre, park, castle and university buildings to the north, and by River Taff to the west. However, Cardiff's recent growth has pushed the city centre beyond these boundaries.

Archaeological evidences show that the site where Cardiff stands today has been inhabited since 2000 years ago. Until the arrival of the industrial revolution and the rise of coal, Cardiff has continued to grow at a slow, but steady pace, for hundreds of years, turning into a major coal exporting port, at the time, the largest coal exporting port in the world. In the following period, Cardiff saw phenomenal growth in population, as well as in economy. Given the fact that it was always historically smaller than towns such as Merthyr and Swansea, Cardiff has managed to achieve a meteoric rise to become the beautiful capital city we see today.