Caerphilly Castle — Attraction in Gabalfa

Located in the centre of the town of Caerphilly (about 30 minutes drive from Cardiff), Caerphilly Castle is undoubtedly one of the mightiest fortresses in Wales – and perhaps one of the grandest Medieval buildings in Western Europe.

Dominating an impressive 30 acre (12.2 hectares) site and surrounded by two large lakes, Caerphilly Castle is Wales’ largest and Britain’s second largest castle behind Windsor. With towers to explore, a maze to negotiate, a dragon’s den and the grandness of The Great Hall to discover; Caerphilly Castle offers the perfect playground for budding historians.

This medieval fortress was built at breakneck speed, mainly between 1268 and 1271 by Gilbert de Clare. He built the castle to take control of Glamorgan and to prevent the Welsh Prince Llewellyn ap Gruffudd from achieving his southward ambitions. Even by modern standards, you’d be hard pressed to construct such a vast stone fortress in just three years.

The design of the castle is based on a concentric ring of walls, something not seen in Britain before, a style of building which rendered castles virtually impregnable. It also has an extensive ring of water defences and huge gatehouses. It influenced the construction of some of the mightiest of all fortresses in Wales.

In the late 15th century, however, it fell into decline and by the 16th century the lakes had drained away and the walls were robbed of their stone. In 1950 the castle and grounds were given to the state and the water defences were re-flooded. In the 21st century, the Welsh heritage agency Cadw manages the site as a tourist attraction.

Some photos courtesy of...

It's a great example of British castle construction. It's well looked after and a small attempt has been made to make it interactive.

However, be aware of the current issue with time slots. We booked for 11:30 got there a little after and were told we had to leave at 1pm which is not really enough time to fully enjoy and appreciate the castle. Our experience felt rushed.

Be aware of the stairs! This place is not accessible beyond the main court yard. I know it is very difficult to make these old buildings disabled friendly but this needs to be obvious when booking. I have health conditions that make stairs difficult but not impossible; however I need time to tackle them thanks to the restrictive time slot I didn't have much time. After pushing myself to rush up the first set, to the tippy top where the flags are, I felt quite ill and couldn't manage anymore.

I had to go back to my accommodation to rest once I left the castle. So if you think you might struggle I recommend setting aside a full day. Even though you won't be there that long you won't feel up to doing anything else afterwards.

In conclusion this is a beautiful and grand piece of history that is worth visiting but they need to consider how they can make it more accessible or what they can do to make it more fun for someone who can't make it up the stairs. It feels, at the moment, like they have a castle and they know they can make money from visitors because people will always want to visit a castle. But they're not putting in the effort to elevate the place into a full...

NOTE: This review is only whilst the renovations are taking place. We have been before and it was a great experience/castle

First of all it does say on the website that they are undergoing renovations however the extent really is not described well, the only accessible parts are the castle walls, the complete interior is shut off. We also brought dogs and whilst normally allowed these would have to be left at the gatehouse as they are not allowed up the stairs. Secondly the prices advertised on the website are wrong. Armed forces/veterans are listed as £7 until 2025 online but this was more expensive on arrival. When questioned about this I was told this would be “raised to management” and then finally we will give you a refund and honour the online prices Finally if you have kids, a major attraction is the dragon pit and ours were really looking forward to this but when we pressed the button to access this it didn’t work. I questioned staff and they said it currently is not working and waiting on repairs (there was no note of this on the website) The dragon pit along with the majority of the castle out of bounds really impacted this visit and the fact they still charge full prices when you are getting a castle reduced experience, in my opinion is awful.

So if you are planning on visiting anytime soon whilst the renovations are taking place I would reconsider.

However like I said earlier, we have been before when the full castle was open and everything working and it is a great castle and really good trip back to...