The players' tunnel
Walking from the dressing room down the tunnel to the edge of the turf, recorded crowd roaring, is the real climax of the tour.
Few capitals keep their national stadium a five-minute walk from the main railway station, wedged between the market and the shopping streets rather than out in a suburb. Cardiff does. Principality Stadium, still called the Millennium Stadium by half the city, seats close to 74,000 on the bank of the River Taff, and its closing roof was the first of its kind in Britain when the ground opened for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. The new name arrived with a sponsorship deal in 2016; the old one never quite left. This is the cathedral of Welsh rugby first, but it holds a chunk of English football memory too: the FA Cup finals were played here from 2001 to 2006 while Wembley was being rebuilt, and Real Madrid beat Juventus here in the 2017 Champions League final with the roof shut. The guided tour lasts about an hour and opens with a head-coach team talk in the home dressing room, takes in the Ray Gravell press conference suite, then builds to the set piece: the walk down the players' tunnel to the edge of the turf, with recorded crowd noise rising as you go. It is a good hour for anyone who follows rugby or football, tolerable for those who do not because it is short and well drilled, and not by itself a reason to come to Cardiff. Adults pay £19.50, students and over-60s £16.50, children aged 5 to 15 £12.50, under-fives free. Tours run Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00 (last tour) and on Sundays and bank holidays from 10:15 to 15:45, but they stop entirely on match and concert days and can be suspended for whole weeks in summer when big shows are in, so check the official calendar before you build a day around it. The route involves stairs, so say so when booking if you need step-free access or are bringing a pushchair. Travel light: big-stadium bag rules tend to be strict. One warning that matters for anyone planning Cardiff, not just the stadium: on Six Nations weekends in February and March the city fills with supporters, hotels sell out at steep prices and the central streets close. Either steer the family clear of those dates or come deliberately to watch a whole city sing. On an ordinary day the riverside walk around the outside is free and pleasant, not worth a separate trip but easy to fold into the stroll between the castle and the bay.
Walking from the dressing room down the tunnel to the edge of the turf, recorded crowd roaring, is the real climax of the tour.
Britain's first fully closing stadium roof, though there is no promise it will be open or shut on the day you visit.
It sits on the Taff beside the station and the market, so it slots easily into a walk between the castle and the bay.
Westgate Street, Cardiff CF10 1NS
Honestly, not especially. Children enjoy the tunnel and the dressing room for ten minutes; the rest is rooms and commentary. If nobody in the group cares about sport, walk the free riverside loop around the outside and put the money towards Cardiff Castle or the bay.
It does if it coincides with a Six Nations match: hotels sell out at much higher prices, the central streets are closed and no stadium tours run. Check the fixture list before booking, or choose those dates on purpose if you want the city at its loudest.