What is the capital city of Wales?

The capital city of Wales is Cardiff. It lies in southeastern Wales and is both the country’s largest city and the centre of its national political and cultural life.

Cardiff grew from a Roman fort and a medieval settlement beside the River Taff. Its importance expanded dramatically during the nineteenth century, when nearby coalfields turned the city into one of the world’s busiest coal-exporting ports. That industrial growth transformed Cardiff from a relatively small town into a major urban centre.

The city received official city status in 1905 and was proclaimed Wales’s capital in 1955. Cardiff is home to the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, as well as the Welsh Government’s principal institutions. Cardiff Castle, the National Museum Cardiff, and the Wales Millennium Centre are among its best-known landmarks.

A frequent mix-up is confusing Cardiff with Swansea or Newport, both important Welsh cities. Swansea is Wales’s second-largest city, while Newport is another major city in the southeast; neither is the national capital.