Even though Cardiff has grown in the last few years it has managed to keep that small town feel, maybe it's the architecture and the green parks but everything is easy to get to, each part molds into each other, there is so much to explore.

There must be something in the air we breathe as well because Cardiff and Wales are winning everything!

Information on Cardiff can be found on various websites, my favourites are www.visitcardiff.com/ and www.cardiffontheweb.com

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There are not many cities where you would recommend the centre of local government as a place to while away an hour or two, but Cardiff is one of them. This area, less than a mile from the hustle and bustle of the Queen Street shops, has an air of calm dignity about it as befits the site of the very moving war memorial, with its fountains and quiet places to sit. It's very different from the buzz of the Bay.

Cardiff's Civic Centre has some of the most beautiful Portland stone buildings in Britain, classic architectural delights, and not at all besmirched by the sooty signs of the area's industrial past I had expected when I came here to university twenty years ago! It's also home to the National Museum of Wales (free admission, of course), a museum befitting its title and thus all things Cambrian, but also hosting some terrific travelling exhibtions from time to time - the Dinosaurs still linger in my memory two decades after I saw them.

Even though it's also next to the main buildings of Cardiff University, this is an area ideal for a lunchtime picnic or stroll - but if you prefer, there are a couple of excellent pubs such as "The Woody" [ properly, The Woodville, if I recall rightly] on Woodville Road and within staggering distance of Cathays Halt station with a fine selection of real ales.

Boulevard de Nantes, Cathays (pronounced Kataze), Cardiff. Nearest station, Cathays, Park Road (next to university union: services to Cardiff Central and the valleys).

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Five victorian shopping arcades which run off St Mary Street and High Street. The arcades are shopping centres as Jules Verne might have imagined them; beautifully ornate yet ever-so-slightly ramshackle. Full of interesting independent shops and cafes.

Walk along St Mary Street and High Street and you can't miss them!

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For a cheesy activity you can take an open-top bus tour of Cardiff, which is said to point out the grim 1960s edifice of the NCP car park as an architectural highlight.

www.city-sightseeing.com/

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