Why Cardiff is the Welsh city perfect for runners

From Wales’ biggest half marathon and a parkun alongside the River Taff, to road and trail routes around some of Cardiff’s most popular tourist attractions, Cardiff is the perfect destination for runners.
Whether you’re visiting Cardiff to take part in a running event or you’re fitting in a quick run around the rest of your sight-seeing, there’s something for all distances and terrains.

The Cardiff Half Marathon is undoubtedly the city’s flagship running event, with 27,500 runners – from world elites and club runners to social runners and charity fundraisers – taking on the annual 13.1 miles/21km. It’s the second biggest half marathon in the UK after The Great North Run and one of the Superhalfs, alongside Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen and Valencia.

The predominantly flat and fast run (although watch out for the hill at mile 12!) is well supported along the entire route as runners take in iconic Cardiff landmarks including the Principality Stadium, Cardiff Bay Barrage, the Norwegian Church, the Senedd, Wales Millennium Centre, Roath Park Lake and the grand Edwardian buildings of the city’s Civic Centre.

The 2025 event on Sunday 5 October is sold out, although several local charities have fundraising places available.

The Brecon Carreg Cardiff 10K is another iconic Cardiff event, with 8,000 runners taking part. The route passes Cardiff Castle, the Principality Stadium, the River Taff, the Grade 2 listed parkland of Llandaff and Pontcanna Fields, Sophia Gardens, the home of Welsh cricket, before a grandstand finish in the Civic Centre. Organised by Run4Wales and taking place this year on Sunday 7 September, it’s one of a series of road races which also includes ABP Newport Marathon Festival (Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K) on 13 April, Barry Island 10K on 15 June, and Porthcawl 10K on 6 July, as well as Cardiff Half.

For a shorter distance, the Cardiff 5K Race for Victory event sees 1,500 runners take to the streets of the leafy suburbs of Whitchurch. The event hosts both Welsh 5K Road Racing Championships, although it’s just as popular with social runners, not least because every entrant receives a t-shirt featuring the names of everyone who enters. The 2025 event takes place on 4 May.

As every runner knows, it’s great to combine your run with a little sight-seeing – and Cardiff is filled with beautiful locations you can run to or around, with many of them flat too.

Roath Park and lake with its famous lighthouse dedicated to Captain Scott who began his ill-fated Antarctic voyage from Cardiff, is one of the most popular routes in Cardiff. A full circular loop of the lake and parkland comes in at 3 miles/5km, with options to shorten the route, toilet facilities and a café to refuel when you’re done.

Lisvane and Llanishen Reservoirs offers a 1.5 mile/2.4km water-side loop, with many runners choosing to do two or more, or extend the run by adding in nearby Nant Fawr Woods. The café offers beautiful views across the waters while you refuel – or combine with cold water swimming or kayaking/paddleboarding.

Cardiff Bay Barrage is another popular flat and scenic route. Don’t forget to take a selfie with the Enormous Crocodile, based on Roald Dahl’s famous character – the author was born in the city.

For a trail vibe, you can’t go wrong with the Taff Trail. The full trail is 55 miles from Brecon to Cardiff Bay, but you might like a more manageable 6.5 miles/13km from Cardiff Bay to Castell Coch, via Bute Park, the impressive Llandaff Cathedral and Forest Farm nature reserve – make sure to grab a selfie with the famous Taff Snail mural.

Fforest Fawr, with its wooden sculpture trail and the magical Castell Coch is a wonderful place to explore. Stop by First Light Coffee – run by local runners – for post-run refreshments. First Light is also the start and end point for The Dennison Round, a self-guided hilly trail run of around 11 miles and 2,000ft of elevation where you have to run to The Garth, Craig yr Allt, Caerphilly Mountain and Castell Coch, in any order, with the fastest times making the café’s leaderboard.

Cardiff is home to five parkruns. The free, weekly social runs take place every Saturday at 9am and welcome runners, joggers and walkers of all paces and, if your travel companions don’t fancy running, volunteers are very welcome.

Cardiff parkun is the city’s biggest, regularly attracting 600 to 800 participants. A scenic out and back route along the River Taff and through Bute Park, it’s where top athlete Charlotte Arter set the world parkrun record (twice in fact, although it’s since been beaten). Famous faces who have been spotted on the route include Olympic athlete Dame Kelly Holmes, Welsh Commonwealth champion Iwan Thomas, and Welsh TV celebrity Derek ‘the Weatherman’ Brockway.

Trelai parkrun loops through Trelai Park on the west bank of the River Ely. Grangemoor is a two-lap T shaped run on the east bank of the Ely, Tremorfa is a figure of 8 run through Tremorfa Park while Llanishen parkrun is 3¾ loops around Llanishen Park.

Within easy access of Cardiff, you can take on a seaside run at Barry Island parkrun or Porthcawl parkrun, enjoy country park vibes at Cosmeston Lakes parkrun in Penarth or the scenic grounds of Tredegar House at Newport Parkrun.

Cardiff is also home to two Junior parkruns – Cardiff Juniors at Llandaff Fields, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday and, new-for-2025, Cardiff NIAC, around the athletics track and football pitches of the National Indoor Athletics Centre in Cyncoed. Both take place on Sundays, with Llandaff Fields at 9.30am and NIAC at 9am and are open to young runners aged four to 14. Youngsters can also run or walk at Barry’s Romilly Park and Newport’s Tredegar House.

Many of Cardiff’s biggest events also welcome families. The Cardiff Half marathon event features a family running festival the day before, with races for toddlers, children and ‘future challengers’ who want a more competitive run. Cardiff 10K also has a family 2K, as do the other Run4Wales events such as the 10Ks in Barry Island, Newport and Porthcawl.

Cardiff and the surrounding areas are home to several trail events which showcase the mountainous and coastal terrains of South Wales.

Radyr Trail Races, organised by Ridge Runners each May, offers a scenic half marathon and marathon which take in the nature reserves of Forest Farm, the river Taff, the Garth mountain, Castell Coch, and surrounding woodlands. Described as 'beautiful and brutal', it is part of a series of events which also includes the Caerphilly Trail Races in February, Brechfa Trail Races in March and Machen Trail Races in November.

If longer distances are your thing then the 43-mile Brecon to Cardiff Ultra, from Run Walk Crawl events, sees participants running the Taff Trail from Brecon to Cardiff, while Pegasus offers the annual 30 mile Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Ultra Marathon across the ridge tops of the Caerphilly Basin, and the 40-mile Vale of Glamorgan Ultra Marathon along the Heritage Coast.

If you’ve forgotten your shorts or shoes, or fancy something new, Cardiff has a number of independent running shops. Moti has branches on Albany Road in Roath and Queen’s Arcade in the city centre. Run and Become and Runners Need are also in the city centre, and Up and Under, which specialises in trail running and other outdoor sports, is just outside of the city centre on Cowbridge Road East. The city centre is also home to a huge SportsDirect with a dedicated area for running gear.

So what's stopping you? Lace up your trainers for a running adventure in Cardiff.