Cardiff is a location I have been wanting to visit for some time as it is home to the Dr Who Experience and is where much of Dr Who and Torchwood were filmed, however the length of time to travel there from our home in Dorset meant that a day trip with the children would be too much. You can read my review of the attraction here.
We were invited to stay at a Novotel of our choice to promote Novotel’s partnership with Quinny which provides families with Quinny YEZZ buggies and make travelling with young children easier, so we chose Cardiff as our destination.
Situated in Cardiff City Centre the family-friendly 4-star hotel is a 15-minute stroll from the castle, Cardiff Bay, Millenium Stadium and the high street so is the perfect base to explore everything the city has to offer and also has plenty of onsite parking for a reasonable £10 for 24 hours for hotel residents.

As a larger than average family with 4 children in tow the family rooms are not big enough for us all, so we booked an extra interconnecting bedroom which meant we could all stay together and each child was given a gift on our arrival which was a lovely touch.

Each standard room had a Queen size bed, a sofa bed, work area, bluetooth speaker, TV with freeview as well as pay movies and that all important free wifi and a large space perfect for playing in.

Each room also had an en-suite complete with a bath / shower and some gorgeous Fair Trade Cane Sugar toiletries for us to use. Having two bathrooms certainly made getting organised in the morning much quicker than normal.

I was concerned that being in the City Centre would mean the hotel was noisy, but with the windows closed we didn’t hear any traffic noise at all and the air conditioning kept us cool and comfortable.

Novotel have really thought about making the hotel comfortable for both families and business people and their lobby is filled with gadgets and gizmo’s to keep the kids entertained for hours – in fact ours didn’t want to leave. This interactive table had games suitable for toddlers right through to teens and adults.

I did lose Hubby and Kian to spot of FIFA on the XBOX 360.

If you are there on business or you just fancy updating your facebook page there are also Apple Computers too.

If fitness is more your thing, Novotel Cardiff also has a Sauna, Jacuzzi, Fitness centre and an indoor heated pool which is open to families until 7pm. Thankfully I remembered our swimsuits and we spent over an hour splashing about in the pool after getting back from the Dr Who Experience.

We chose to eat outside the hotel the evening we arrived but breakfast was included in the price of our rooms. We had the choice of a buffet type breakfast with both hot and cold options of cereal, pastries, pancakes and the good old full english.

The hotel itself was spotlessly clean and well maintained throughout.  The rooms were all homed in the new glass fronted part of the building, and Sebby loved the glass lift as he could see everything going on outside and below.

Elements Restaurant is set in a beautiful old red bricked building which combines modern comfort with traditional looks.

The high ceilings and ornate windows let light flood in which gives a really warm and welcoming atmosphere.

The bar on the other hand is situated back in the modern glass building but looks well stocked and inviting.

We were really impressed with our visit to Novotel in Cardiff and with rooms costing from £72 per night, they are really competitive with the budget brands especially as you get free use of the facilities on site too.
My only grumble about the whole visit is that they didn’t have a buggy we could borrow, but thankfully I had brought our own with us anyway as we were going to need it the next day on a visit to Bristol.
 
 

• Cardiff
• Novotel
• review