Away-day guide
Cardiff City Stadium, the Bluebirds.
Quick takeaways
About the place
Cardiff City Stadium sits to the west of the city centre in the Leckwith/Ninian Park area. Opening in 2009, it replaced the historic Ninian Park ground, just a short distance away.
Outside the ground, a statue of Frederick Keenor commemorates the man who led the club to FA Cup glory in 1927.
With a capacity of more than 30,000, it's one of the larger Championship grounds and a regular international venue. The spacious concourse is built to handle a full house.
It's got all the ingredients for a good atmosphere: an enclosed, bowl design creates a wall of sound, while the away end is mainly safe standing.
Away fans are housed in the southeast corner, between the Grange and Ninian Stands.
Club info
Section 02
By train
Cardiff Central is the city's hub. From there, it'll take 30 minutes to walk to the stadium.
Cardiff Central has direct local rail connections to both Grangetown and Ninian Park stations.
Ninian Park is the closest option for the stadium, with the journey taking around 3-4 minutes followed by a 5-minute walk to the away end.
Grangetown is an alternative option, with the journey taking about 5 minutes. It is slightly further away — 15 minutes to the stadium.
Section 03
Parking options
There is secure parking at the stadium for away supporters, in the Away Supporter Compound (Sector V). It’s £10 cash on the gate, first come first served. The entrance is on Sloper Road: CF11 8AW / what3words: ///torch.retail.gaps. The area can be accessed until 30 minutes before kick-off.
Don’t park at the nearby Capital Retail Park — there is a 90-minute time limit on parking, which is strictly enforced.
Accessible parking for Blue badge holders is also located in Sector V, and costs £10. The entrance is on Sloper Road: CF11 8AW / what3words: ///torch.retail.gaps. The area can be accessed until 30 minutes before kick-off.
Near the stadium
Min walk
Secure parking at the stadium for away supporters.
Entrance on Sloper Road, Cardiff, CF11 8AW — what3words: ///torch.retail.gaps
Notes
The area can be accessed until 30 minutes before kick-off. Accessible parking for Blue badge holders is also located here, costing £10.
Min walk
The best matchday car park we’ve ever used — just 10 minutes round the corner on Lawrenny Avenue.
Lawrenny Avenue, Cardiff, CF11 8BR
Notes
And free use of a football court for a kickaround. If you’ve driven a long way with kids who need to let off some steam, it’s ideal. The bar has live football, and serves a range of hot food including pizzas, hot dogs and burgers. Everyone is really friendly, making it the perfect spot to hang out while the post-match queues subside. Book at https://golcentres.co.uk/match-day-parking-at-cardiff-city-fc/
Further out
Min walk
Multi-storey car park in Cardiff Bay with over 1200 spaces — much cheaper than the city centre, and secure.
Pierhead St, Cardiff, CF10 4PH
Notes
And you’re right by the A4232. This might be a good option if you’re making a day of it / staying over, as there’s lots to see and do in Cardiff Bay. But it’s not a bad strategic option if you simply want to get in and out while avoiding the worst of the traffic around the stadium. Despite it being 4 miles out, it’s only 20 minutes away by bus. Even quicker in a taxi / Uber. Cardiff Bus runs an hourly City Circle service that stops at Cardiff Bay. The 1/1A clock-wise service will take you from the Millennium Centre bus stop (3 minutes from the car park) to Sloper Road, next to the stadium. The 2/2A anti-clockwise service will take you back to Cardiff Bay.
Other options
As the stadium is outside the city centre, parking options are somewhat limited. There’s a large car park at the stadium, but the obvious trade-off is a slower getaway. Parking in the city centre leaves you with a 30-minute walk, unless you jump in a taxi. It can be expensive too — one central car park we looked at was charging £30 for up to 5 hours. Eye-watering.
There will of course be unofficial matchday car parks near the stadium, and bookable spots at private car parks / driveways via apps like JustPark.
We’ve narrowed it down to two options; one we’ve used ourselves, and one we’ve done the research on.
Matchday road closures
Expect temporary road closures around the stadium after matches, particularly on Sloper Road near the main pedestrian routes between the ground, retail park and nearby stations. These restrictions are designed to help manage the large number of supporters leaving the area at full-time and can slow traffic around Leckwith Road and the nearby A4232 junctions for a period after the final whistle.
Post-match traffic
Post-match traffic around the Cardiff City Stadium can become slow fairly quickly, particularly on the roads immediately surrounding the ground and retail park area. The main pinch points tend to be on Leckwith Road, Sloper Road, Hadfield Road, and the nearby A4232 Grangetown Link junction. Lansdowne Road can be slow as people head towards Western Avenue for the M4.
Section 04
As the capital city, Cardiff has everything. It’s used to hosting big crowds, so there’s ample pubs and bars, major chains and independent places to choose from.
Around the stadium, you’ll find fast food options, as well as matchday stalls.
We’re always looking new street food places. We’ve found a couple — one’s near the city centre, one is in Cardiff Bay.
Most away fans tend to drink centrally before making the walk or short train journey towards the stadium. Closer to the ground, the pubs will be full of home fans.
Closer to the stadium
188 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff, CF5 1GW
Cool street food venue on the western side of the city, worth a stop-off on the way to the stadium. It has a range of food and drink businesses, and a covered outdoor seating area.
Hemingway Road, Cardiff, CF10 5LS
Street food venue in Cardiff Bay, serving up fresh pizza and pasta, stacked burgers and desserts. There’s also a coffee shop & bar, and outdoor seating.
71 Beda Road, Cardiff, CF5 1LX
One of the better-known pre-match options for away fans, located in the Canton area between the city centre and the stadium. Expect it to get busy on matchdays.
Quay Street, Cardiff, CF10 1EA
Traditional city-centre pub popular with sports crowds and a first stop for fans arriving via Cardiff Central station.
25 Westgate Street, Cardiff, CF10 1DD
Relaxed bar on Westgate Street known for its craft beers (one’s called Clwb Tropicana) and food, which includes burgers, wings and pizzas.
Section 05
Away fans enter the stadium via Gate 12, in the southeast corner. The first thing you notice is the size of the concourse — it’s massive. No problem finding a space at this one!
The away end is mainly safe standing, with standard seating available for those who need it. It’s modern and spacious, with a good view of the game.
Overall, a very comfortable place to visit.
There’s some decent back and forth with the home fans on both sides of the away section, as well.
Section 06
This was one of our furthest away days, so we left super-early and grabbed food on the road.
We arrived in Cardiff at about 12:30, having already eaten on the way down.
We'd pre-booked parking at the Gôl Centres Cardiff on Lawrenny Avenue. This was an incredible deal — the best we've ever experienced. £10 to park, with a £9 complimentary voucher to spend on food and drink in their bar. Plus — kids can use the 5-a-side pitches for free before the game.
We played a 2 v 1 for about an hour. The boys beat me something like 23-5, but I'm blaming it on the raging heartburn from the Leon breakfast on the M5.
This was a great way to get the long car journey out of their system. They still rank this away day as one of their favourites. We've been hoping Cardiff come back up to the Championship, just for the away day.
The walk to the stadium was straight down Lawrenny Avenue. We took a right turn, and we were pretty much there. The complex has several fast food places on the edge of the site, but we went into Lidl for donuts.
Blood sugar levels restored, we took a few obligatory pics outside the ground, and headed inside.
The concourse is huge. We grabbed hot dogs and found somewhere to settle down. My youngest stuffed something in my pocket. It was a handful of those little UHT milk pots.
"For the heartburn, dad".
Lifesaver.
We were in the safe standing section, which had a cracking atmosphere. Lots of back and forwards with the home fans, singing throughout, decent view.
After the game, we headed back to the Gôl Centre, and used the voucher for a snack and some drinks. I can't praise this place highly enough. What a deal.
My youngest wanted another kickabout, but at that point we were facing at least 4 hours in the car again. I’m not sure the football offer extends to post-match, anyway. It’s generous enough.
We play a game in the car called Top Three. Choose a category. Top 3 Crisps. Top 3 movies. Top 3 goals we’ve seen live. Anything. Everyone says theirs — there’s no right or wrong, but the debate can go on for ages.
Cardiff is always in our Top 3 away days.
If you've got more time
Take a punt
5questions, multigenerational. Some you'll know, some only a long-time fan would. No timer, no leaderboard — just for the fun of it.
Reviewed by Andy · 2 weeks ago