Cardiff packs a full night out into a walkable square mile. St Mary Street and Caroline Street — Chippy Lane to everyone who lives here — sit at the centre of it, with the Castle Quarter arcades, Womanby Street's live music strip and Mill Lane's terraces all within a few minutes' walk of each other.
The hard part was never finding somewhere. It was knowing which places are actually going off tonight. Realtime shows you live activity from venues across the city, so you can see where people are before you commit to a queue.
A selection of venues on the Realtime map. Open the app to see which are busy tonight.
Pub
Welcome to The Rummer Tavern – the oldest pub in Cardiff, pouring pints since 1713. Sat right opposite Cardiff Castle, it’s a proper local with a front-row seat to Welsh history.
14 Duke Street, Cardiff, CF10 1AY, United Kingdom
Cafe
We aim to make people smile through cake and coffee
Bloc, Cowbridge Rd E, Cardiff CF5 1JN, UK
Pub
There’s nothing better than finding a favourite spot at your local. Whether you stand at the bar for a chat or prefer settling into a comfy chair with a pint, you’ll find everything you need at The Halfway Hotel in Cardiff.
Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9JG, United Kingdom
Pub
Pub and Bar located at Henry's Cafe Bar Cardiff
Park Chambers, Park Pl, Cardiff CF10 3DN, UK
St Mary Street is the spine of a Cardiff night out — big bars, late licences and the overspill from every match day at the Principality Stadium. It gets loud and it gets busy, and on an international weekend it's the busiest street in Wales.
Womanby Street is the opposite end of the scale: independent venues, live music and a crowd that turns up for the lineup rather than the address. Mill Lane and the Hayes lean more towards food, cocktails and outside tables when the weather allows it.
Cardiff Bay is its own night out. Mermaid Quay's waterfront bars and restaurants run at a slower pace than town, and it's the obvious call for an early evening that doesn't need to end at 3am.
Match days rewrite the rules. On a Six Nations Saturday the city centre fills from late morning and stays full, so if you want a table anywhere near St Mary Street you're going in early or not at all.
Outside of that, town builds from around 9pm and peaks between 11pm and 1am. Thursdays run harder than most cities thanks to the student population, and Sunday afternoons in the Bay and around Pontcanna are quietly one of the best-kept parts of the Cardiff week.
Pontcanna and Canton do the neighbourhood thing properly — proper pubs, small plates, wine bars and a crowd that mostly walked there. Roath and Albany Road serve the student end of the city with cheaper rounds and later kitchens.
All of it shows up on the Realtime map, so you can check what's busy in Canton before you decide whether it's worth heading into town at all.
Pub
25 St Mary St, Cardiff CF10 1AA, UK
Pub
Landsea House, Stuart Pl, Cardiff CF10 5BU, UK
Pub
33 Windsor Pl, Cardiff CF10 3BZ, UK
Night Club
42-43 Saint Mary Street, Cardiff, CF10 1AD, United Kingdom
Pub
36 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LL, United Kingdom
Pub
8 Saint Mary Street, Cardiff, CF10 1AT, United Kingdom
Pub
239 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff, CF11 9AL, United Kingdom
Night Club
7 Mill Lane, Cardiff, CF10 1FL, United Kingdom
Bar
1-2 Mill Ln, Cardiff CF10 1FL, UK
Pub
4 Windsor Pl, Cardiff CF10 3BX, UK
Restaurant
60 - 62 St Mary St, Cardiff CF10 1FE, UK
Night Club
78 St Mary St, Cardiff CF10 1FA, UK
St Mary Street and the surrounding lanes — Caroline Street, Womanby Street and Mill Lane — are the centre of a Cardiff night out. Cardiff Bay offers a more relaxed waterfront alternative a short walk or taxi from town.
Realtime shows live activity from venues across Cardiff on a map, so you can see where people are heading before you leave the house. It's free on iOS and Android.
Venues on Realtime post their own offers and weekly specials, and you claim them in the app. What is available changes week to week, so check the map for the current list.
