Walking Tongwynlais and Castell Coch in north Cardiff

Castell Coch and the wood behind it

William Burges built the castle in the 1870s on a 13th-century base, a Victorian fantasy with a working drawbridge and portcullis at the gate. Walk in across the bridge and you get the domed Banqueting Hall and Lady Bute's gilded octagonal Moorish bedroom. Junior entry is £7.20 and a family ticket is £33.30. Under-5s go free.

The scaffolding comes from a multi-year water-ingress conservation project, so plan for it in your photographs. Cadw runs discounted group rates and pre-booked guided and education visits; book a group visit in advance, because the courtyard and the tower stairs are tight. With the castle café shut, eat down in the village at either end of the visit.

Fforest Fawr Woodland & Sculpture Trail covers the same hillside, free, open access and with no booking. Ten chainsaw-carved figures stand among mossy beech and conifer trunks on a 1.3-mile waymarked loop, a dragon, an owl and a giant hand among them, all cut from one felled giant redwood. Come in spring and the floor carries bluebells and wild garlic.

Sir Henry's Trail links the wood straight to Castell Coch. Park once, walk the sculpture loop first and finish at the castle. The free car park off the Castell Coch approach road fills early at weekends, so arrive before the coaches. The Sculpture Discovery Trail ends at a viewpoint over the Taff valley, and the paths are muddy outside summer.

The Taff Trail through Tongwynlais

The Taff Trail runs through the village on flat tarmac and gravel, shadowing the River Taff between wooded banks and old tramroad embankments. Look up from the path and the conical roofs of the castle sit on the ridge above you. The route is traffic-free from Cardiff Bay, open at any hour and free.

Tongwynlais is the standard stop-off on the stretch between Radyr and Taff's Well, and cycling clubs and family rides meet here. Road cyclists in club kit stream past from first light. By 9 a.m. the village cafés are full of people in lycra and walking boots.

Forest Farm Country Park & Glamorganshire Canal Local Nature Reserve lies 1.5 miles south down the trail, open at any hour with free entry and free parking. The last watered stretch of the Glamorganshire Canal sits still and green under overhanging alders, with kingfishers and herons working it. At the southern end is the restored 1790s Melingriffith timber-and-iron beam water pump, left from the valley's ironworks era. The paths are flat and take a pushchair, and birdwatching groups use them.

The Garth and the spring at Taff's Well

The Garth is 2 miles west of Tongwynlais, a broad grassy ridge of 307m with four Bronze Age round barrows along the top. The Ordnance Survey trig pillar is planted on the largest burial mound. From there the view runs over the Taff valley to the Bristol Channel and the Somerset coast. This is the hill from the 1995 film 'The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain'.

Access is free open land with no gate and no booking. Walking groups use the Taff Ely Ridgeway route up from Taff's Well; the pull from Gwaelod-y-Garth is shorter. The ridge is exposed and windy, so carry a layer even when the village below is still.

Taff's Well Thermal Spring & Taff's Well Park is 1 mile north of Tongwynlais, across the river. It is Wales's only thermal spring and averages 21.6°C. The small 19th-century brick and stone well house stands grilled and padlocked on the riverbank edge of a flat grassy park, with the Garth rising behind it.

Bathing has been closed since 2020 and the restoration plans have gone nowhere. You view the well house from outside; it opens occasionally for Open Doors events. The park is free and open at any time. Walk up if you are already heading north along the river. On its own the spring is skippable.

St Michael and All Angels on the village street

St Michael and All Angels Church sits right on the Tongwynlais village street, a small Gothic Revival building of coursed grey and red sandstone with pale ashlar dressings. A single west bellcote crowns the gable, with a south porch and a lower, narrower chancel behind. It opened in 1877 to a John Prichard design, paid for partly by the Melingriffith Tin Plate Works. Entry is free and donations are welcome.

The building opens for services and by arrangement. Contact the Garth Ministry Area before you bring a group, as the church is small.

Coffee and breakfast before the climb

First Light Coffee (Merthyr Road) opens at 7:30 a.m., in the dark for much of the year, in a small room behind a terrace. Runners, dog walkers and cyclists come in at the counter for flat whites and cake. Coffee is £3 to £4 and cake is £4. Drink your coffee here before the woods.

The room seats a handful of people, with outside seating for anyone who does not fit. They take no bookings; turn up.

Kerbside Cafe works from a hatch counter in the grounds of Tongwynlais village hall, with picnic tables out on the tarmac. The hatch hands bacon rolls and burgers to walkers on their way up to the castle, and breakfasts and burgers run £5 to £9. The family-run servery is entirely open-air with no indoor seating.

It closes on Mondays and Tuesdays. Check the day before you build a morning around it.

Pubs and dinner within reach

The Lewis Arms (Mill Road) is the village's one surviving pub, a modernised Georgian building on the corner in the centre of Tongwynlais, pale rendered frontage with hanging baskets. Brains cask pumps run along the bar, Brains SA among them, and muddy boots and bikes end up propped outside after the Taff Trail. Mains are £13 to £20.

Sunday lunch fills, and the roast is the reason people book. Take a table online in advance for it. The pub is dog friendly with a garden and parking. The 'Hotel' in its old name is historic and there are no rooms upstairs.

The Gwaelod y Garth Inn is 2 miles west, stone-built on a steep narrow lane in a hillside village at the foot of the Garth, the valley dropping away below the windows. A long row of cask ale pumps and a whisky back-bar fill the inside. The kitchen and the ale selection are the strongest within reach of Tongwynlais, and mains are £18 to £28. Rooms start at £100 if you want to sleep in a village instead of beside a road.

Booking is essential at weekends, as this is one of north Cardiff's busiest food pubs. Time your descent off the Garth to land here.

Fagins, Glan-y-llyn (Cardiff Road) is at the northern end of Taff's Well, 1.5 miles north of the village. Three handpulls on a small bar pour two cask ales and a cider, the beer comes from small independent brewers, and artwork hangs on the walls above a crowd of regulars. Pints are £4.50 to £5.50.

Food is served Thursday to Saturday evenings and Sunday lunch only. The opening hours are weighted to the evening. Check them before you walk up, and book if you want a table for a group meal, because the room is small.

Ty Nant Inn (Tynant Road) is in Morganstown, 1.5 miles down the trail towards Radyr, a low whitewashed village pub with a large beer garden and a children's play area out back. Mains are £12 to £18 and app ordering keeps the queue down. Of the pubs here, this is the one set up for children. Expect pub classics. A Cask Marque plaque hangs by the door, and walkers and dog owners come straight off the Taff Trail into the garden.

Where to stay

The Holiday Inn Cardiff – North M4, Jct.32 by IHG (Merthyr Road) is the only hotel inside Tongwynlais, which puts the castle, the woods and the pub within walking distance of the door. It is a low modern brick block with a big free car park, set directly beneath the wooded ridge, and Castell Coch's conical towers appear above the treeline from the grounds. The 95 rooms run £59 to £100, with meeting and function space and coach parking for anyone arriving by the busload. Check the leisure facilities before you book, because the pool is shut for refurbishment until February 2027.

Village Hotel Cardiff sits at the Coryton interchange, 1 mile from Castell Coch, a large four-storey contemporary hotel with a glass-fronted leisure club. The big heated indoor pool and the sauna are working, the in-house Pub & Grill has darts bays, and a Starbucks counter sits in the lobby. It holds 118 rooms at £63 to £100, plus conference and function rooms and ample free parking for sports teams and events. This is a motorway-junction hotel, so take it for the pool and the parking.

Planning notes

Book group visits to Castell Coch with Cadw in advance, a Sunday table at the Lewis Arms, and any weekend meal at the Gwaelod y Garth Inn. Kerbside Cafe shuts on Mondays and Tuesdays, Fagins serves food from Thursday to Sunday only, and the Fforest Fawr car park fills early at weekends.

See the Cardiff guide and the Cardiff hotel search.