Cardiff is a city in the UK that our writer Rachel McAlley had never visited and it was on her 2019 bucket list, so when she was asked if she would like to stay at the contemporary voco St David’s on behalf of House of Coco Magazine she jumped at the chance.
The drive from Yorkshire took a whopping 7 and half hours, but when she arrived she couldn’t have asked for a better welcome.
I arrived with my fiancé and our daughter to a very warm welcome from the check-in team. We were offered Welsh Cakes as a gift upon arrival, which were super tasty and a wonderful treat to enjoy at reception.
The Christmas decorations adorned the front of the hotel and inside the main lobby area, with a number of stunning Christmas trees dotted around the seating and lift areas, all twinkling and bright.
We were offered a hand with luggage to our first floor room, and once on the first floor we realised how stunning the atrium was, with a view overlooking the entire atrium from the ground floor to the top floor, and once in the room our view was of the waterfront at Cardiff Bay and all the boats moored in the bay area.
After checking out the gorgeous room, with two double beds, large flat-screen TV, good-sized table and excellent wardrobe space, we decided to unpack and head straight to the leisure facilities and have a swim in the voco St David’s swimming pool.
Plenty of fun was had in the pool, a relaxing swim and a little time spent in the Jacuzzi before heading into the changing rooms to get ready for dinner. We popped our swim gear back in the hotel room and went for a pre-dinner drink in the hotel restaurant followed by dinner. It was filled with happy revellers at their annual Christmas party, which meant that the atmosphere was electric and buzzing with talk of shopping, presents and Santa.
The restaurant was a seriously comfortable place to dine with large sofas and wide relaxing chairs at each table, with oodles of space between tables, and even though every single table was taken, there was never a sense of chaos or being rushed to leave, we spent a good 2 hours at the table enjoying dinner.
We opted for salt and pepper calamari, a bread basket, and san choy bow (lettuce and spicy beef wraps) to start with, followed by a rib eye steak, house burger, and kids chicken lollipops, and we were too full for dessert! The lettuce and spicy beef wraps and the steak were the standout dishes from the meal.
Back to the room, for an evening of TV, a cup of tea, and a great night’s sleep in the comfiest of beds.
Breakfast was served in the restaurant and was one of the best we have had in a long time, the selection was vast and spanned across two different restaurant rooms with breads and pastries being served on the bar, fruit, cereal, cheese, juices and yoghurts from a large table in the bar area, and hot food including the full Welsh breakfast, pancakes, and waffles in a side restaurant room.
The breakfast really was something to rave on about, and the choices were immense, plus an extra menu for all the dishes not served on the hot plates including; eggs Benedict, porridge, kippers, vegan dishes and more from the on table menu. What a great way to kick start the day.
We decided to venture into Cardiff for a browse and to do some sightseeing. We started the day by taking a lovely brisk walk from voco St David’s across to Mermaid Bay where we caught the water bus around the bay area into Cardiff Castle gardens, where we embarked and enjoyed a stroll into the city.
After a day spent Christmas shopping, visiting St David’s shopping centre, and the gorgeous quaint streets of High Street Arcade, Royal Arcade, and Castle Quarter Arcade, we spent the late afternoon wandering the Cardiff Christmas Market which was filled with the smell of mulled wine, and German hot dogs – and a wonderful Christmassy atmosphere.
Once back at voco St David’s we dressed for dinner and booked a table at the hotel restaurant for our final evening in Cardiff Bay. There was a lovely singer performing an ambient selection of songs in the restaurant whilst we dined and watched the Saturday evening go by.
Post dinner we took a sneaky peak at the Christmas party room that was in full swing, and it looked fantastic, each table was covered with pretty festive place settings and Christmas crackers.
Back to the hotel room for a little Saturday night TV, and an emotional 8 year old who didn’t want to leave Voco St David’s the following morning.
Checkout was as easy and wonderful as check-in, with the reception team chatting about our visit to Cardiff and our thoughts on the hotel, which I can honestly say were excellent.
Perfect for business, ideal for a couples getaway, and fantastic for families – what more you do you need from a hotel in the capital of Wales.
If you are thinking of visiting Cardiff in the near future we can’t recommend the 5-Star voco St David’s highly enough, from the friendly and welcoming staff to the comfortable spacious room, and the tasty restaurant food to the remarkable Cardiff Bay location, this really is a stunning hotel with breathtaking views and an unbelievably relaxed and contemporary ethos.
Visit https://stdavids.vocohotels.com to book your stay today.
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