“Good hotel but a little of out the way if you don't have a car”
Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Holiday Inn Express Cardiff Bay. Check‑in was easy and the room was clean – no complaints with housekeeping. We asked for a quiet room and that is exactly what we got. We found the beds very comfy and the shower great. Just around the corner, there’s a One Stop store which is very helpful if you need snacks or extras. The hotel backs out onto Bute East Dock and there is seating so you can sit outside with a beverage and watch the water for a while. One thing worth noting is that our stay coincided with the end of a recent heatwave and the first night was very, very warm in the room, making it difficult to sleep as the windows have safety locks on them to prevent them opening too far. We were under the impression that the rooms had air conditioning, but when I asked at reception the following morning, I was informed that it was “air circulation” not conditioning, though they do have tower fans you can take to your room if you ask for them and we used ours for the rest of our stay and found it very useful. Breakfasts are busy times in the hotel, but if you go early, you can often avoid the rush. Food is hot and freshly made, so no complaints there. Staff also keep on top of clearing away empty plates and cups so you don’t have to worry about anything. We only ate dinner in the hotel on the final night, but the food was great, well‑priced and filling. It was really lovely to sit in the relatively quiet food area compared to the busy areas in the city or down by the bay, so it is absolutely worth doing if you don’t fancy going out. You can also order food to be delivered to the hotel and you can eat in your room, which we took advantage of on the first night after a nightmare day of travelling. A special mention to Sam on the reception who helped us with the fan situation, spoke to us about local places of interest and who also prepared the food for us on the final night. The only minor thing about the room was that the television seemed to have a lot of channels missing, which is an issue if you have a child and an avid TV‑watcher husband. We coped with it as we were out the majority of days, but it would have been nice to have more choice of channels! Despite both Cardiff centre and Cardiff Bay being quite close, we found that there was a fair bit of walking to be done to get to buses to help us get around as we don’t drive. This was not helped by nearby building works which had closed off some roads that connect to the hotel. If like us, you rely on public transport – get the Cardiff Bus app and take advantage of the family & group tickets as this is often the cheapest way to get around. The situation with this will improve in time as there is also a tram route being added nearby too, but I should imagine there will be a number of months of disruption whilst that is all being sorted out.
Emmaمنذ أسبوع