| | | South Wales is the part of the country where most people work and live. |
| Naturally most tourists flock to Cardiff, the Principality's vibrant capital city which once relied on coal exports but has undergone huge transformation in recent years. |
| There's no shortage of things to do, places to shop and venues to eat and drink. |
Site of one of Britain's more successful Millennium projects, The Millennium Stadium - with its' retractable roof - has been widely praised as a venue for top sporting and musical events, including the FA Cup Final and Six Nations Rugby.
Cardiff is also an important business centre, esepcially as it is now home of the Welsh National Assembly. |
| The other main city is Swansea, which has more of a Welsh feel to it and benefits from being right on the coast. |
| Surfers will head for the nearby Gower Peninsula - Britain's first ever Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - with endless sandy beaches and 21 bays and coves. |
| Enthusiasts have a great choice, from Swansea Bay itself to Caswell (ideal for beginners) and Broughton Bay (for the experts). Probably the best known surfer's paradise is Llangennith Sands which is so vast there's little danger of it getting too crowded. |
| Along the coastline from Swansea is the wonderfully named seaside resort of Mumbles.The unsual name is thought to come from the French word Mamelles, meaning breasts, a cheeky description of the two islands off Mumbles Head! |
| South Wales is where many famous Welshmen and women are from. Poet Dylan Thomas hailed from Swansea where there is a museum all about his life ;actor Anthony Hopkins is from Port Talbot, just streets away from arguably Wales' finest actor Richard Burton. |
| The South Wales valleys provided rich seams of coal to be mined but the massive decline in the industry means that it's now part of the country's past rather than the future. |
See that history come alive in former coalmines now turned into museums - The Big Pit National Mining Museum in Blaenavon and the Rhondda Heritage Park in Trehafod. |
|
|
|
|
