Detailed Review
St David’s Hotel & Spa is a luxury hotel landmark on Cardiff Bay. Its glass-backed atrium stretches from floor to ceiling and is an immediate assertion of the luxury hotel’s modern design credentials.
St David’s is not only great for its service and style, but also its Cardiff Bay location. Business and leisure travellers alike can find plenty of useful venues on their doorstep: the Welsh Assembly, the Wales Millennium Centre, the Millennium Stadium, plus plenty of shops, bars and restaurants that make the Bay area the place to be.
The facilities
St Davids’ luxury spa has a huge variety of pampering options. The pool, sauna, steam room and gym are all the usual glossy, glassy portals of wellbeing – turn up and chill out. Then, choose from a vast array of powerful treatments: Oxygen facials, Thalgo and E’SPA marine mud wraps, aromatherapy massages, Hydrotherapy baths with underwater massages...you’ll be in heaven.
This luxury hotel is not just all about its spa: it has the complete package of good service, good design and good food. Two yummy restaurants keep guests satisfied, with the Tides Bar & Grill specialising in grilled meat and fish as well as local produce, and Waves spa restaurant serving up healthy options inside and al fresco on the water-facing terrace.
The rooms
St David’s luxury hotel has 132 guestrooms, including 20 suites. Decor is cool, clean and contemporary, with goodies including satellite TV, internet access and sweeping views of the Bay. We recommend splashing out on one of the top three floors’ suites, to take advantage of the extra space and a private balcony.
Independent Reviews
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"Slick and businesslike in Cardiff"
St David’s Hotel & Spa
By Matthew Barker
Gleaming post-post modern landmark overlooking the brave new world of Cardiff Bay. Space age lobby and atrium aside, the interiors have a fresh, comfortable, woody functionalism, and each room comes with its own deck looking out to sea. 107 rooms (25 suites). Member of the Leading Hotels of the World. Hotel Attractions: Top-notch spa treatments, including anti-stress busters, all-day detox programmes, body polish, Indian head massage and a marine hydropool. The modish Tides restaurant has a good-looking menu making plenty of use of local ingredients, while the bar is a swanky hang-out for residents and spruced-up locals alike. Local Attractions: The Welsh capital has undergone a bit of renaissance lately (thankfully all that talk of it being the new Seattle/Reykjavik/wherever seem to have been put to rest): witness the new Millennium Stadium, Welsh Assembly and reborn waterfront - although Cardiff Bay itself disappointingly remains a rather soulless work-in-progress. The Welsh National Opera (who move to the Bay in 2003) remain one of the UK’s more enterprising opera companies; the interactive Centre for Visual Arts and the New Theatre both worth a visit.
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