National and first-class venues, for watching and participating, are found in Cardiff as well as the usual distribution of neighbourhood leisure centres and sports clubs.  The proximity of the coast, the rural Vale landscape, the nearby Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains offer a scope for outdoor activities of enormous variety. 

Top class venues include the Welsh Institute for Sport in Sophia Gardens which is open to the public, and the Welsh National Ice Rink is home to Cardiff’s own ice hockey team, the Devils. For spectator sports, the Millennium Stadium with its retractable roof and seating for 74,500 cannot be bettered. It is a central feature on the Cardiff City skyline and hosts rugby internationals and many other sporting and entertainment events.

There are nine covered swimming pools in the city and surrounds and two open-air pools.  Cardiff has seven leisure centres including the Eastern and Western Leisure Centres, with another three in Newport, catering for squash, badminton, netball, table tennis, weightlifting, five-a-side soccer, martial arts, aerobics, bowls, boxing and on and on.

Unexpectedly, perhaps, more people play football in Wales than rugby.  Cardiff City is the local professional club, but there are opportunities for players of all levels of ability in numerous Saturday, Sunday and mid-week leagues throughout the county.

Glamorgan County Cricket Club provides county and international cricket and there are numerous leagues and the game is played at most local schools. There are numerous good quality golf courses in South Glamorgan and many more within easy reach.  The closest municipal course to Cardiff is the one at Castle Heights to the north of the city but for pure golfing theatre, visit the Celtic Manor Resort which will host the 2010 Ryder Cup and is only a  20 minute drive from Cardiff.  Bowls too, is a very popular sport, with many public and private club facilities including indoor greens. For 10-pin bowling, Megabowl is a 26-lane venue, which also has side attractions of dodgems, a combat zone and video games and there’s also the Hollywood Bowl at Atlantic Wharf.

The numerous other sporting opportunities include: cycling at the National Velodrome in Newport and at Maindy Swimming Pool & Cycle Track; skiing all year round on a 100-metre dry slope at the Cardiff Ski & Snowboard Centre in Fairwater Park; athletics with Cardiff Athletic Club, now based at Cardiff Arms Park; tennis with any of the many clubs in South Glamorgan playing match tennis in the South Wales League or on any of the numerous public courts in the parks throughout the county.

An International Sports Village is planned to complement the Cardiff Bay development and barrage. It will take seven years to complete, but when finished will offer a 50m swimming pool, real snow centre, and ice rink and an Olympic standard canoeing and white water rafting centre.

The Cardiff Bay Barrage created a 500 acre freshwater lake which is host to sailing, canoeing, water skiingand power boat racing the name a few of the watersports on offer. The coastline of South Wales offers more tremendous opportunities for sailing, water skiing, surfing and windsurfing.  Sailing can be enjoyed from marinas all along the South Wales coast and inland sailing is available on the reservoirs at Llanishen and Llandegfedd and on Llangorse Lake.  Rowing is popular on the River Taff above the weir at Llandaff and on an international course within the lake created by the barrage.

The rich and varied coastline and rural landscape offers great scope for walking, horseriding and fishing. There are also plenty of opportunities for climbers and potholers.

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