voco St David's Cardiff

Rooms and decor

voco St David's sits in a modern maritime building where every room comes with a balcony and floor-to-ceiling glass opening onto the bay. All 142 rooms run a contemporary coastal look with king-size beds, Egyptian cotton sheets and marble bathrooms with a bathtub — some of which look out over the water. One guest wrote that they "opened the curtains to Cardiff Bay filling the whole window — a view no other hotel in Wales gives you." The upper-tier Bay Suite adds a generous sitting area and a private balcony, and the top-floor Penthouse runs $510+ a night with a 180-degree view.

Food and amenities

The Marine Spa is what pushes this into genuine 5-star territory: an 18-metre indoor pool, hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room and a couples treatment suite, all using Espa and Aromatherapy Associates products, with treatments from $100 to $255. Tides Restaurant cooks modern Welsh food on Welsh-farm produce and Pembrokeshire seafood — a $30 set lunch or a $95 tasting menu. Afternoon tea at the Tempus Bar Lounge runs $38 to $57 per person with the bay filling the windows. The gym is open 24 hours for guests, the concierge can set up a Principality Stadium tour, a Cardiff Castle tour or the Doctor Who Experience, and Wi-Fi is free. Full IHG One Rewards service applies, with a welcome amenity for Platinum and Diamond members.

Location and getting there

The hotel is on Havannah Street, right on Cardiff Bay. Mermaid Quay, the waterfront restaurant and cafe strip, is a 10-minute walk, and Wales Millennium Centre — the country's main opera house and theatre — is about 12 minutes. Cardiff Bay Station is a 10-minute walk, with a 5-minute train to Cardiff Central, from where Cardiff Castle and Principality Stadium are another 5 minutes on foot. The Baycar B5 bus heads into town in about 15 minutes, and Cardiff Airport (CWL) is 20km away, a 30-minute drive.

Things to know before booking

The location cuts both ways: you are on the water, but about 3km out from Cardiff Castle and Principality Stadium, so the old town is a short train or bus ride rather than a stroll. Parking is not included and runs about $19-25 a day. And at roughly $157 a night to start, this is the most expensive hotel on the list — fair enough, given it is the only 5-star in the city.

Our take

If you want the one properly luxurious hotel in Cardiff and you would rather wake up to the bay than the city, this is the clear pick. The Marine Spa and the bay-view rooms are genuinely unmatched here, and it suits couples on a romantic break or business travelers who want some polish. Just go in knowing you trade a central address for the waterfront — and budget for the parking and the room rate.