Cardiff Castle Hosts Movie Nights, Concerts, and Festive Markets Right in the City Center

Imagine living in a city with a fairytale castle at its center where royalty, politics, and pop culture mingle. That’s what the 300,000 inhabitants of Cardiff — the capital of Wales and just a short train ride from London — get from the young city’s historic castle. This exquisite and eclectic destination hides an ever-changing cast behind its Romanesque walls.

Its story goes back centuries. Originally a Roman fort, then a Norman stronghold, in the 19th century, it became a Victorian Gothic revival mansion owned by one of the world’s wealthiest families. Since the 1950s, it has been a museum. However, in recent years, it’s been morphing into a vibrant cultural hub that hosts live concerts, festive markets and even movie nights (as well as Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, and King Charles, the latter just days after becoming monarch in 2022). Cardiff Castle is back at the center of the UK’s youngest capital city — and it’s got big plans for 2025.

Related: 16 Fairy-tale Castles in Wales to Inspire Your Next Trip

Walk through its grand south gate during wintertime, and you’ll find a winter wonderland, with an undercover ice rink on its main lawn surrounded by Arctic-themed lanterns. Nearby are stalls selling local crafts, hot cocoa, mulled wine, and roasted marshmallows. It’s all set against the stunning backdrop of the original keep, built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a third-century Roman fort. From the top, there are panoramic city views.

Related: This Destination Is the Surprising Backdrop to Your Favorite TV and Movies

Paddington sits on a bench at the grounds’ center, one of 23 statues marking the release of the new movie “Paddington In Peru.” He’s just the latest star of the screen to visit the castle, which has been used as a backdrop in movies like “Becoming Elizabeth” and BBC productions including Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock, and Wolf Hall, most of which are produced in the city’s TV studios.

Fittingly, the castle regularly morphs into a cinema for feel-good classics. In winter, its medieval, stone-vaulted Undercroft hosts an Underground Cinema (this holiday season, it showed “Elf,” “Home Alone,” and “The Muppet Christmas Carol”). In summer, its outdoor Luna Cinema shows classics on a screen erected between the keep and the castle’s fabulously odd mansion. However, the most popular events at Cardiff Castle each summer are live concerts, which take place on the castle’s vast green; Elbow, Sting, James, and Alanis Morissette are confirmed for 2025.

Another event, Depot in the Castle, scheduled for July 26, 2025, will see Cardiff’s pop-up food and drink scene — something the city has become famous for in recent years — converge on the castle.

Its peculiar blend of ancient architecture and modern entertainment makes Cardiff Castle a must-visit destination in Wales, but don’t miss a guided tour of the actual buildings. You’ll be taken through the 15th-century mansion, which underwent a lavish Victorian Gothic transformation during the 19th century when John Crichton-Stuart, the third Marquess of Bute, owned the castle. His riches, gleaned from his ownership of Cardiff’s coal port — then the most lucrative in the world — were spent on bizarre and opulent creations, such as a statue of a lion in full armor with a dragon on its head, a carved monkey stealing an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, and a gilded alligator chasing a cherub. There’s a winter smoking room, the Moorish fantasy Arab room decorated in $11 million of gold leaf, and a clock tower designed to be a lavish bachelor pad.

A blend of the ancient, the eclectic, and the contemporary, Cardiff Castle is a must-see for any visitors as it reclaims its place at the heart of the city’s daily life.