South Wales for incentives, team building and corporate away days

Cardiff is the capital city of Wales. Discover a vibrant city centre, with attractions, arts, culture, history, a waterside bay, leading universities, innovative businesses and lush green parks. The surrounding area of South East Wales, with its gentle rolling hills, golf courses, lakes, rivers, industrial communities, influential businesses and thousands of years of history, are waiting to be explored.

Located in the heart of the capital, is the Principality Stadium, which provides a striking backdrop for business events. This magnificent stadium has played host to many major sporting events, including the UEFA Champions League Final, Rugby World Cup matches, and is the home ground for the Wales International Rugby team. 

Curated VIP behind the scenes stadium tours are available, to learn more about this impressive stadium and what motivates the teams that play here. Step into the boots of the players and walk out from the changing rooms onto the pitch, hear the roar of the crowds and feel the adrenaline build. 

The stadium has 113 hospitality suites overlooking the pitch, six lounges for up to 300 delegates each for bespoke dinners and meetings, over 11,000 sq m. of exhibition/arena space on the magnificent pitch with a retractable roof, all making this a champion venue for Business Events.

Located within a short walk from the Principality Stadium and surrounded by lush parkland, Cardiff Castle offers a history spanning nearly 2,000 years. 

This magnificent and historical venue was once a Roman Fort, an impressive Norman Castle and an extraordinary Victorian Gothic fantasy Palace, created for one of the world’s richest men the Third Marquis of Bute. The towers conceal rooms with breathtaking décor and elegance to create the perfect setting and backdrop for any event.

Curated private tours around this beautiful castle and grounds are available. Make sure to look out for the carved and painted animals throughout, designed by architect William Burgess as an alternative for a zoo for the Marquis of Bute, or so the story goes! 

The castle is also available for private hire, product launches, Welsh themed banquets, dinners and meetings -  a venue to create the wow factor.

Just a few steps from the castle is Pettigrew Tea rooms, a quirky tea shop and the starting point for a food tour. Loving Welsh Food offers exclusive experiences and tours of the capital city, its architecture, history, people and even pick up a few Welsh words along the way. Stopping at local markets, tearooms, pubs and restaurants tasting local dishes including, Welsh cakes, cheese, cockles, laverbread, local beer and other beverages. 

Tours are  available in a number of languages including English, Spanish, French, German and Welsh.

Just 2km from the city centre with impressive views of Cardiff Bay and within close proximity to Senedd Cymru / The Welsh Parliament and the beautifully designed the Wales Millennium Centre is Techniquest.  

An imaginative setting for every type of business event, with more than 120 hands-on science exhibits, a science theatre, a planetarium, working laboratory and meetings rooms, this venue is a great choice for those looking for a venue with a difference.

Techniquest have a dedicated science communicator for team building activities, to encourage creative thinking and provoke innovative ideas to solving problems. 

The venue is also available for private dinners and receptions for between 100 - 500 delegates, with private and full access to the hands on science exhibits to encourage further networking.  

Getting to Cardiff Bay from the capital city is easy either on foot, train, bus, cycle and even by water taxi.

Take just a short stroll across Cardiff Bay to IHG voco™ St David’s Cardiff, situated on the waterfront, a five-star luxury hotel with 142 guest rooms. Each room including some suites, have floor to ceiling windows and panoramic views of Cardiff Bay. The hotel also has an onsite restaurant, spa with 10 treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy pool and leisure facilities. Built on sustainability, clients can relax knowing that everything from the luxurious bed to the drinking straws are designed to reduce impact on the environment.  

Take a short stroll over to Wales Millennium Centre for an evening of theatre, music or comedy. Home to the Welsh National Opera, this beautifully designed arts venue also offers behind the scenes exclusive tours for groups.

Wales was once famous for its' coal mining and had become one of the largest coal exports in the world. Today, some of these coal mines have been transformed in to museums to preserve the heritage and history. 

Big Pit National Coal Museum is one of seven National Museums of Wales. Just 40 minutes from Cardiff city centre is Blaenavon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once an industrial valley for coal mining, the mine has been transformed into an underground museum, take an exclusive tour with a guide who once worked in this fascinating industry. Travel underground and see what life was like for the men, women, children and even the canaries and ponies who once worked here. 

Also discover the A Welsh Coal Mining Experience at Rhondda Heritage Park which is the former Lewis Merthyr Colliery and one of, what was more than 50 collieries in the surrounding area. Take a guided tour with those who once worked in the most dangerous conditions, share their memories and first hand experiences of what it was like. A real first hand experience of Welsh history. 

Just 30 minutes from Cardiff, discover Penderyn Brecon Beacons Distillery. Exclusive behind the scenes tours are available to discover how the company produce award–winning single malt whiskies and spirits. At the end of this fascinating hour long tour refresh the pallet in the tasting room and there’s also a shop to take a taste of Wales home.

The Royal Mint is an extraordinary government-owned mint, producing coins for the United Kingdom and many other countries. It has over 1,100 years of history, including its previous Master of the Mint being Sir Isaac Newton in 1699. The Royal Mint was moved from the Tower of London to a new base in the lush valleys of South Wales just outside Cardiff, over 50 years ago, where it was opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth. VIP curated tours of the Mint are available, which houses fascinating memorabilia, go behind the scenes and observe the craftsmanship, where special coins and medals such as those manufactured for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games are made. Watch the experienced staff design and produce the coins at a very fast rate. 

The Royal Mint is available for product launches, receptions and meetings. 

The Vale Resort is set in 650 acres of lush countryside, surrounded by woodland yet just 20 minutes away from the capital city of Wales. This four-star stylish resort with 143 bedrooms, 13 versatile business suites with capacities from 10-700. It is also the official training base to the Football Association of Wales and Wales Rugby Union and boasts two 18 hole championship golf courses, which have hosted The Professional Golfers' Association (PGA). The hotel also has a state of the art gym, pool, an award-winning spa, restaurant and has conference and meeting rooms, which makes it the perfect location for business events with a relaxed and tranquil setting for client wellbeing. Enjoy a three course meal at a private table and relax in the beautiful Welsh countryside setting.

With a full range of onsite and offsite team building and incentive activities, the hotel offers 4x4 quad biking, golf, white water rafting and canyoning, The Vale Resort has something to offer all business event needs. The hotel also works with key adventure providers such as Call of the Wild.

Call of the Wild experts offer a full day adventure. The company harnesses the incredible environment on its doorstep by offering waterfall walking, caving, canyoning and other exciting outdoor activities, all set within Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park and dark sky reserve. 

Exemplars in providing activities, which combine learning skills such as delegation, problem solving, and communication with fun, they offer opportunities to companies looking to reward employees with unique experiences as well as professional development. Call of the Wild are approved by the Institute of Leadership and Management for those companies looking to deliver accredited programmes as rewards. 
 

The magnificent 17th century Hensol Castle sits on the doorstep of The Vale Resort, both within 20 minutes of Cardiff. Previous owners included Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw the build of London’s infamous clock tower ‘Big Ben’, which was supposedly coined after Benjamin Hall himself.  

Today, the castle serves as a unique conference and exclusive use venue. Six rooms are available to accommodate up to 308 theatre style, or 240 banquet style in the Courtyard Hall. All meeting rooms offer natural daylight, with beautiful views of the expansive estate, which include the lush green forest and Serpentine Lake. 

Here private dining is tailor made, offering the best of Welsh cuisine with bespoke menus and entertainment in true Welsh style. Combine a visit with an exclusive tour of Hensol Castle Distillery, school and tasting room.  
 

Test out cookery skills at Llanerch Vineyard in Angela Gray's Cookery School. These fun workshops provide the opportunity to discover the culinary skills within any group - a great way to have some fun with colleagues. Llanerch Vineyard offers dining and vineyard tours with Welsh produce on offer.

Cardiff International White Water (CIWW), the Olympic-standard, award-winning white water rafting centre located in the International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay, offers delegates the chance to participate in a range of team building activities. The centre is home to the UK's first on-demand Olympic standard White Water Rafting and Indoor Wave facility. The team at the centre are available to help tailor itineraries and experiences to suit the needs and requirements of the team and with a range of meeting rooms onsite available for hire, CIWW is a great option for rewarding and motivating staff and as an away day or out of conference activity. 

Wales hosted the prestigious Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort in 2010. The world’s sporting media heralded the country’s golf credentials while the Twenty Ten Course built specifically for the tournament challenged the world’s best golfers. Celtic Manor Resort offers four courses which can be hired exclusively and the dedicated team can help organise the ultimate corporate or team day.  The Celtic Manor is also a 5* resort with luxury exclusive lodges, seven onsite dining experiences to choose from, two luxury onsite spas,  a range of onsite team building activities such as cooking experiences, laser combat and extreme adventures, and many meeting and conference rooms with a range of capacities suiting large conferences to smaller meetings. 

This article has been designed to showcase just a flavour of the experiences on offer in the region. If you would like further ideas or information please get in touch with the team who will be happy to help.