Driving from Bath to Wales

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

This link gives the details of our 2017 drive tour of England and South Wales. We started in Bath and then drove to Cardiff.

There are details of what we visited as well as lodging and restaurants.

South Wales is amazing. My paternal ancestor came from Cardiganshire in 1716 and we visited the town he came from.

I'm not familiar with the area but I doubt you'll be able to drive from Bath to Cardiff in an hour. Google maps says 1 h to 1:20, and their estimated driving times are usually very optimistic. And, that is assuming no traffic. If you try to do it during rush hour, Google maps says 1:40 to 3 h. There are direct trains as well that take around an hour which would be my choice if the goal of the day is to visit Cardiff.

I stayed in Bristol and day-tripped to Bath, Cardiff and Wells, all by public transportation. Wells required a bus; the others were by train. Easy to do, and no parking hassles. A car would obviously be handy if you are also heading into the Cotswolds.

St. Fagan's Park is a must see and is near Cardiff. The train from Bath to Cardiff is really easy and then there is a bus to St. Fagan's.

We enjoyed Tintern Abbey, Coch castle and Caerphilly castle. The town of Monmouth, north of Tintern, is nice to stroll around for a couple hours. Other than Coch and Caerphilly, there are some other castles in the area, such as Grosmont, White, and Raglan. All are free to enter. One more castle is Chepstow, but you need to pay to enter it. Of course, there is Cardiff castle. For outdoor activities, there’s Brecon Beacon’s national park. If you ventured further west, Tenby is nice for a day. The roads between Bath and Cardiff are good and easy to follow, but my guess is it will take you closer to 1.5 hours to get to Cardiff, but that is dependent on where exactly you’re going first. If you do go off the main “A”roads, some of the smaller rural roads are narrow. Many extremely rural roads are really only one lane and someone will need to pull off, if two cars meet, so the other vehicle can pass.

We've driven Oxford to Cardiff to Bath, and back to Oxford. The drive to Cardiff was not difficult.
We went to Chepstow and enjoyed it. We wanted to visit a ruined castle that was significantly intact, not just a pile of stones. The location was great, right on the river Wye looking over at England. There's a neat little bridge that crosses into England just below and the town is rather cute.

Other places en route to Cardiff we had on our list that we regret not having time for include Caerleon Roman ruins and museum and the Newport Transporter Bridge (if you like unique engineering things).

Transporter Bridge:
http://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/Transporter-Bridge/Transporter-Bridge.aspx

Caerleon Roman baths
https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/caerleon-roman-fortress-and-baths.

We only had a day to briefly explore but we enjoyed it. I've got a return trip to Wales on my (ever-lengthening) future trip list. The more places I go, the more I want to return to!

Thank you all for the responses! We live in Southern California so driving 1.5 hrs is not a big obstacle for us. Besides, i’m sure we’ll have beautiful scenery to look at instead of the concrete freeways we have here. Two of my friends have Welsh ancestry so they are very eager to get to Wales. My claim to Welshness is owning an adorable Pembroke Welsh corgi 😁

For those of you who have driven, how is parking in Cardiff?

Parking is dependent on where in Cardiff you plan on parking. If you know where you’re going in Cardiff, look up the public lots near that/those locations and plug their address into your GPS. Parking machines around in Wales only took coins. Some also required you to enter the vehicle license plate number. If the pay box isn’t by your car, have the number written down. Parking garages may take CCs, but we never used a garage. In May, we had no problem parking at any of the castles or Abbeys. There is a parking garage a couple blocks from Cardiff castle (not great reviews and seems expensive) and a lot at St Fagans in front of the museum that take coins. There doesn’t appear to be any nearby street parking by Cardiff castle. if you go to Monmouth, you can park free for an hour in the Waitrose grocery store lot. At Caerphilly castle there is a busy parking lot in the center of town, by the castle, but a less busy one along Crescent road that runs behind the castle. Parking at Tintern Abbey (pay) and Coch castle (free) are right by the site.

We had no problem parking at Chepstow once we realized the parking lot was below the castle.

Cardiff was a bit tougher. We somehow got stuck in a collection of road work, one ways, "can't turn here", and "must turn heres" and ran around in circles for a bit. We were running on fumes and needing lunch at the time, though, which makes everything tougher. We ended up finding a Costco (of all things) and parking and going in just for a break. That said, I think overall Cardiff is really manageable. After lunch we had a much easier time navigating.

Parking in Cardiff is a problem. We stayed in a small downtown hotel (check my link on earlier post). The hotel provided a discount rate for a nearby parking garage the worked fine.
Enjoyed Cardiff Castle and much more.
If you read my link, you will find more details on what to see and how to get there.

Firstly, I would not bother with the Newport Transporter Bridge as Newport is a dump and the roads are very congested. Secondly, although of great historical significance, I would not bother with the Roman remains at Caerleon - just north of Newport as the road access is quite complicated & there are better places to see in the time available.

I shall now refer to the following map on which I have enabled traffic flows - which will be live at the time you click it:> https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5242116,-3.1486431,19319m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1

From Bath, you take the A46 north for a few miles to join the M4 (Motorway = Interstate) and then head west for Wales. It is free to cross either of the bridges over the estuary. When you get to Newport, there is a 2 lane each way tunnel on the busiest Welsh section of the M4. This causes massive traffic jams & everyone is fed up with it but the Welsh Government who have power over road building in Wales refuse to build a new motorway to the south of Newport to sort the problem out. So, it is likely to take about 1 hour 10 minutes from Bath to Cardiff on a clear run but it is anybodies guess as to how long it would take if the road gets jammed. I would also not advise taking a car into central Cardiff due to complicated one way systems & parking can be expensive. So, you could consider going from Bath to Cardiff by train - takes around an hour and the direct trains are hourly. See www.nationalrail.co.uk
In the centre of the city is Cardiff Castle but if you wish to see St.Fagans Museum & Caslte (really a Manor House), I would do that first by taking Easyway Bus 32A from Westgate Street (northbound side). It takes about 30 minutes to reach St.Fagans & entry is free. The place is very big and would certainly take up at least half a day. On returning to the city, leave bus at first stop after crossing river for Cardiff Castle. Also consider taking Cardiff Bus 6 from city centre down to the Waterfront at Cardiff Bay (no change given).

If driving from Bath, I would stay on the M4 - passing north of Cardiff & leave at Junction 33 & take A4232 south for just over 1 mile - then HARD left turn into St.Fagans Museum/Castle. Having ‘done’ the museum, you could take the 32A (every 30 minutes) into the city centre - and back. Here is the turn off the A4232 expressway into the museum:> https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4830848,-3.2833771,3a,75y,132.95h,83.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s29UXVA30UCjz8kG2yfjgBw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

When you return, I would suggest driving back to the A4232 expressway drive S to next junction from which you loop back to M4 at J33. Then go E for 2 miles to J32 & follow signs for Tongwynlais & CASTELL COCH - which is just above the village on R. If you want to see another castle, turn hard left on coming down drive from Castell Coch & follow VERY narrow *back road up through the woods & then down to CAERPHILLY. The castle here is a huge medieval fortress surrounded by a moat. From here, you can drive E to join M4 on west side of Newport. Alternatively, go straight back to M4 from CC and back E to Bath. * A longer main road route also exists.

Mention has been made of other castles in SE Wales. I would do these as a separate trip from Bath. For CHEPSTOW CASTLE - cross estuary on M48 bridge & follow signs for Chepstow. From Chepstow, take A466 up the Wye Valley to see ruins of TINTERN ABBEY. You could then go further up the valley towards Monmouth before perhaps heading W on A40 for RAGLAN CASTLE. If you want to go down a coal mine, BIG Pit at Blaenavon is also within day tripping distance of Bath & can be combined with the above.
https://www.visitmonmouthshire.com

Google places mentioned. Also consider driving the short distance from Bath to Castle Combe (everything you would expect an old English village to be) and also the National Trust property of DYRHAM PARK.

We live in Southern California so driving 1.5 hrs is not a big
obstacle for us.

Maybe not, but given the choice of a 1.5 h drive or a 1 h direct train I think the choice is easy.

Besides, i’m sure we’ll have beautiful scenery to look at instead of
the concrete freeways we have here.

The A46 offers some nice views, but the scenery from the M4 is nothing to write home about, apart from maybe the Severn crossing. If you want beautiful scenery you should head for the the welsh mountains, in which case a car is useful But for Cardiff I really can't see any point in driving.