Cardiff may be a relatively small university city compared to the likes of London and Manchester, but there’s still plenty to do in between lectures.
A great way to introduce yourself to the local area is to go on the open-top bus ride. For a student rate of around £6 you can see the sites of Cardiff, find your way around the city and learn a bit about the area you’ll be spending at least three years in.
One of the stops on the city bus tour is Cardiff Bay. The area, which is the former docklands, has been completely regenerated in the last ten years and now boasts a fine array of bars and restaurants and is a great place to go for a fancy evening out. Your student loan may not stretch to having a night out there every week, but you can get a bus to Mermaid Quay, the main area of the Bay, for around £2 return and have a meal for around £10 for those special occasions. And if your loan won’t stretch to a whole meal then you can always visit ‘chippy alley’, the infamous stretch of take-aways just off St Mary’s Street.
If you fancy doing something more cultural than spending your hard-earned cash (or your easily-received loan), the Welsh capital has some great theatres, galleries and museums. The Sherman Theatre, located next to the Students’ Union, often has great smaller shows while the New Theatre in town and the Wales Millennium Centre in the Bay, host huge touring shows such as Chicago and the Jerry Springer Opera. A smaller but more intimate and arty venue is the Chapter Arts Centre where you can watch foreign films and walk around their galleries.
But if you can’t afford to do these kind of activities on a regular basis, or don’t want to spend too much of your student loan straight away, there are still loads of things that you can do for free around the city. Cardiff has some of the best parks to walk around and Bute Park behind the University has won awards for it’s outstanding flowers and plants. Roath Park is worth a visit whether you’re just feeding the birds, going for a wander or hiring a boat on the lake. The Taff Trail (during the day while it’s safe of course) is also a great day out and, if you’re feeling energetic you could probably scale the 55 miles of pathway on a bike in a day or so.
This is obviously just a handful of things to do and there’s plenty more to help fill your time over the next three years.