{ "schema_version": "1.0", "generator_version": "2026-05-11-v223-metadata-version-polish", "generated_at": "2026-05-12T15:41:34.743057", "generator": { "function": "get_record_from_intelligence", "version": "2026-05-11-v223-metadata-version-polish", "template": "standard", "article_tone": "normal", "additional_search": "n/a", "research_quality": "limited" }, "geonameid": "2653822", "name": "Cardiff", "alternate_names": [ { "name": "카디프", "lang": "ko", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "カーディフ", "lang": "ja", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "คาร์ดิฟฟ์", "lang": "th", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Caerdydd", "lang": "cy", "isPreferredName": true, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Caerdydd", "lang": "ga", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Caerdydd", "lang": "gd", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Cairdiff", "lang": "sco", "isPreferredName": false, 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"isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "คาร์ดิฟฟ์", "lang": "th", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Caerdydd", "lang": "cy", "isPreferredName": true, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Caerdydd", "lang": "ga", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Caerdydd", "lang": "gd", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Cairdiff", "lang": "sco", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Cardiff", "lang": "is", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Cardiff", "lang": "no", "isPreferredName": true, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Cardiffa", "lang": "la", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "Cayr Deeth", "lang": "gv", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false }, { "name": "GBCDF", "lang": "unlc", "isPreferredName": false, "isShortName": false } ], "region": "Wales", "country": "United Kingdom", "country_code": "GB", "page_url": "https://worldtownguide.com/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb.html", "json_url": "https://worldtownguide.com/data/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb.json", "same_as": [ "https://www.geonames.org/2653822", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff" ], "coordinates": { "latitude": 51.48, "longitude": -3.18 }, "population": 372089, "population_note": "", "elevation_m": 17, "timezone": "Europe/London", "summary": "Cardiff announces itself with a confidence that surprises many first-time visitors. This is a capital city that spent over a century as one of the world's great coal-exporting ports, then reinvented itself as a modern European capital without losing its particular Welsh grit and warmth. Compact enough to feel navigable, ambitious enough to feel alive, it sits at the southeastern corner of Wales where the River Taff meets the Bristol Channel, and it rewards anyone who takes the time to look closely.\n\nFirst Impressions and Setting\n\nArriving in Cardiff, the first thing that strikes most visitors is how walkable the centre feels. The city sits on low-lying ground close to the coast, which gives it an open, uncluttered skyline for a capital. The surrounding landscape rises toward the South Wales valleys to the north, while the coast and the towns of Penarth and Dinas Powys lie just beyond the city boundary to the south. The broader Cardiff urban area spills into these neighbouring settlements, and the wider Cardiff Capital Region ties the city economically and administratively to much of southeast Wales. It belongs to the Eurocities network, placing it alongside established major European urban centres, which says something about how the city now sees itself.\n\nHistory, Identity and Local Stories\n\nCardiff's transformation from modest market town to major city is one of the more dramatic urban stories in British history. As recently as the early nineteenth century, it was a small and unremarkable settlement. Coal changed everything. When the mines of the South Wales valleys began producing at scale, Cardiff's position as a port made it the natural outlet for exports, and the city expanded at extraordinary speed. By the early twentieth century it had grown into a major industrial port and was granted city status in 1905. Fifty years later, in 1955, Cardiff was officially proclaimed the capital of Wales, cementing a status that its scale and administrative role had long implied. It is today the eleventh largest city in the United Kingdom, with a population approaching 380,000 and growing.\n\nThe city's older identity as a coal port is part of local memory, woven into the fabric of certain districts and into the civic pride of a place that built itself through hard work and heavy industry. That industrial past has not been erased but absorbed, and it gives Cardiff a grounded quality that distinguishes it from capitals built primarily on administration or finance.\n\nDaily Life, Economy and Culture\n\nModern Cardiff functions as a significant centre for financial services, higher education, public administration and media. Admiral Group, the FTSE 100 insurance company known for brands including Confused.com, is headquartered in the city, illustrating the kind of professional services sector that has grown here since the decline of heavy industry. Cardiff University, established in 1883 and now a leading public research university, is a major civic institution that shapes the character of large parts of the city. The university's Cardiff Business School has developed recognised expertise in areas including automotive industry economics, reflecting a broader tradition of applied research tied to real industrial questions. The Welsh Government, the National Assembly for Wales, and a range of public bodies also base their operations here, making the city a centre of Welsh political and administrative life.\n\nThe regional economic framework sits within the Cardiff Capital Region, one of four city deal areas in Wales that channels long-term investment into infrastructure and economic development. Cardiff sits at the heart of this arrangement, and its growth trajectory is tied to the wider regional ambitions of southeast Wales.\n\nWhat Visitors Notice\n\nWalking around Cardiff, visitors tend to notice the mix of eras and registers. There are civic buildings from the Victorian and Edwardian periods that reflect the wealth generated by the coal trade, set alongside more recent architecture from the city's post-industrial reinvention. The city has a genuinely youthful population, shaped in part by its large student community. Welsh is present in public life, on signage and in conversation, a reminder that this is not simply a British regional city but the capital of a distinct nation with its own language and institutions. The coastal and estuarine setting means that water and low skies are part of the atmosphere, especially in the areas closest to the bay and the old docklands.\n\nGetting There and Around\n\nCardiff is well connected by rail, sitting on the main line that links it to London Paddington and to other major cities across England and Wales. Rail services also connect it to the South Wales valleys to the north, which historically formed the economic hinterland that made the city. The M4 motorway corridor provides road access along the southern edge of Wales, connecting Cardiff to Bristol and London to the east and to Swansea and west Wales beyond. For those arriving from further afield, transport and access details are best confirmed directly with local operators, as services and routes can change. Within the city, public transport connects the centre to surrounding districts, and the compact core is navigable on foot.\n\nPractical Notes\n\nCardiff uses UK sterling and operates on Greenwich Mean Time, shifting to British Summer Time in the warmer months, in line with the rest of the United Kingdom. The US State Department currently advises Level 1 normal precautions for the United Kingdom as a whole, with no specific restrictions applying to Cardiff. Standard urban awareness applies, as it does in any city of this size, but there are no elevated security concerns associated with Cardiff specifically. Welsh is an official language alongside English, and while English is universally spoken, a few words of Welsh are always warmly received. Visitors with knowledge of Cardiff's neighbourhoods, hidden corners, or local history are warmly invited to contribute that knowledge and help this guide grow.", "images": [ { "url": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki4.jpg", "original_url": "", "srcset": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki4-640.jpg 640w, https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki4.jpg 800w", "source": "wikipedia", "title": "Cardiff", "credit": "Image: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons" }, { "url": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki3.jpg", "original_url": "", "srcset": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki3-640.jpg 640w, https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki3.jpg 800w", "source": "wikipedia", "title": "Cardiff", "credit": "Image: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons" }, { "url": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki2.jpg", "original_url": "", "srcset": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki2-640.jpg 640w, https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-wiki2.jpg 800w", "source": "wikipedia", "title": "Cardiff", "credit": "Image: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons" }, { "url": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb.jpg", "original_url": "", "srcset": "https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb-640.jpg 640w, https://worldtownguide.com/images/settlements/cardiff-wales-gb.jpg 800w", "source": "wikipedia", "title": "Cardiff", "credit": "Image: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons" } ], "nearby": [ { "geonameid": "2644160", "name": "Llandaff", "country": "United Kingdom", "population": 8776, "has_page": false, "page_url": null }, { "geonameid": "2634127", "name": "Whitchurch", "country": "United Kingdom", "population": 13974, "has_page": false, "page_url": null }, { "geonameid": "2640496", "name": "Penarth", "country": "United Kingdom", "population": 23437, "has_page": false, "page_url": null }, { "geonameid": "2651248", "name": "Dinas Powys", "country": "United Kingdom", "population": 7738, "has_page": false, "page_url": null }, { "geonameid": "8604543", "name": "Rhiwbina", "country": "United Kingdom", "population": 11369, "has_page": false, "page_url": null }, { "geonameid": "2634525", "name": "Wenvoe", "country": "United Kingdom", "population": 1155, "has_page": false, "page_url": null } ], "weather": { "temp": 14.9, "desc": "Partly cloudy", "icon": "⛅", "wind": 15.8, "humidity": 48 }, "faqs": [ { "question": "Is Cardiff worth visiting?", "answer": "Cardiff is worth considering when its main sights, local character and transport links match the trip you are planning. Use the practical sections above to judge whether Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom fits your route." }, { "question": "What should first-time visitors know about Cardiff?", "answer": "First-time visitors should check the transport, seasonal and practical sections above, then decide whether Cardiff suits the pace and style of trip they want." }, { "question": "How do visitors get around Cardiff?", "answer": "Use the transport section to decide whether Cardiff works best by train, bus, car, ferry or local taxi, then confirm current routes and fares with the official operators before travelling." }, { "question": "When is the best time to visit Cardiff?", "answer": "For Cardiff, use the seasonal notes in the guide to choose between better weather, lower crowds and local events, then check current conditions close to travel." } ], "sources": [ "GeoNames (population, coordinates, elevation, timezone)", "Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (images, summary context)", "Open-Meteo (weather snapshot)", "OpenStreetMap (map)", "Additional article research sources (linked below)" ], "research_sources": [ { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff", "title": "Wikipedia", "type": "wikipedia", "relevance": "" }, { "url": "https://travel.state.gov/content/tsg_aem/us/en/home/international-travel/travel-advisories/destination.gbr.html", "title": "US State Department travel advisory", "type": "official_advisory", "relevance": "Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution" }, { "url": "https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/united-kingdom-travel-advisory.html", "title": "US State Department country advisory reference", "type": "official_advisory_reference", "relevance": "United Kingdom has official travel advisory context. 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