The Davies sisters' collection
Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Van Gogh in quiet rooms that rarely fill up, and no ticket needed.
Monet's water lilies, Van Gogh's rain over Auvers, Renoir's famous lady in blue and a bronze cast of Rodin's The Kiss all sit on the upper floor of a hulking stone building in Cardiff, and nobody charges you to see them. That is the surprise of National Museum Cardiff: a city this size holds one of the richest Impressionist collections in Britain outside London, and the reason is two sisters, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, who bought these works in the early twentieth century before the prices went stratospheric and then left them to the nation. The building, officially opened in 1927 with its classical columns and pale dome, sits in the Cathays Park civic quarter next to City Hall, about ten minutes on foot from Cardiff Castle. The ground floor is natural history and geology, and this is where children spend their time: the Evolution of Wales galleries run from the Big Bang to dinosaur skeletons, a woolly mammoth and a humpback whale hanging from the ceiling that slows adults down too. Upstairs is art, far quieter, with Welsh painting and European Old Masters alongside the French names. Admission is free, funded by the Welsh Government. Booking a free ticket online is optional rather than required, though some temporary shows charge a small fee or run on a pay-what-you-can basis with a £1 minimum. The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, with galleries clearing at 16:45; it is closed on Mondays except bank holidays, which trips up plenty of visitors who plan it for the start of the week. Pushchairs are allowed everywhere, there is a buggy park in the Main Hall, the café runs until 16:00 and lockers take a refundable £1 deposit. Practically: two to three hours suits a family, ninety minutes if you are only here for the art. On a wet day, which Cardiff supplies often, it is the best thing to do in the city; in the summer holidays and half-terms the dinosaur galleries fill up at weekends while the art floor stays almost empty. Cathays station is five minutes' walk, Cardiff Queen Street about ten, and the car park behind the museum costs £6.50.
Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Van Gogh in quiet rooms that rarely fill up, and no ticket needed.
Dinosaurs, a woolly mammoth and a suspended humpback whale skeleton; this is the part children come for.
A white classical facade beside City Hall in the handsomest civic quarter in Wales, worth a short walk around.
Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP
Yes. The whole ground floor is natural history with dinosaurs, a whale and a mammoth, pushchairs are allowed and there is a buggy park in the Main Hall. Treat the art upstairs as a final half hour, or skip it if the children are flagging; nobody will judge you.
No, unless your Monday happens to be a UK bank holiday. The museum closes every ordinary Monday, so swap it for Cardiff Castle or Cardiff Bay and come back another day if you can.