WHY?
The Welsh capital isn't groaning under the weight of its history like many British cities. It was a tiny settlement of fewer than 2000 people before the Industrial Revolution turned it into the world's largest coal port. This relatively recent rise gives it a blank slate feel – which is filled with ambitious projects such as the vast city-centre Principality Stadium and the strikingly odd Millennium Centre in revitalised Cardiff Bay. Qatar Airways launches direct flights in May 2018,and anyone on board will discover a young,instinctively genial playground.
VISIT
The main house of Cardiff Castle is a neo-Gothic fantasy added in the 18th century by the preposterously wealthy Bute family. The rooms are predictably opulent,but the castle's atmospherics come courtesy of the semi-ruined keep in the middle and the World War II shelters in the battlement walls. See cardiffcastle.com
EAT
Cardiff has quite a trend for inventive Indian joints,and the Purple Poppadom is top of the tree. Specific regional dishes are picked out and tweaked,rather than relying on hoary old curry house staples. And the signature dish – tiffin sea bass on a bed of curry leaf-infused mashed potato – is spectacular. See purplepoppadom.com
LOOK