Cathays Library

What it’s like

Free local library with rhyme time sessions and a heritage collection of old Cardiff maps and photos to dig through.

Story and Rhyme Time sessions run here for the under-fives, and there are regular parent and toddler groups too, so it's a decent stop if you've got a small one who needs a change of scene that isn't a soft play centre. It's free to get in, which counts for something when you're trying to fill an afternoon without spending anything.

Beyond the toddler sessions, the Cardiff Heritage and Local Studies Collection is the bit worth knowing about if you've got an older child interested in local history. Historic documents, maps and photographs of Cardiff are there to look through, which is a nice way to make a school history project feel less like homework.

Opening hours shift through the week. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday it opens at 9am and shuts at 5pm. Tuesday and Thursday it opens later, at 10am, but stays open until 6pm, so those are your evening options if mornings don't work. There's wifi, toilets and indoor seating, all useful if you end up staying longer than planned.

Christmas throws the routine off a bit. It closes at 12pm on Christmas Eve and reopens on 28 December, running usual hours right through until 12pm on 31 December. From 28 to 30 December branches that normally open 10am to 7pm switch to 9am to 6pm instead, and the library reopens on the normal schedule from 3 January.

Facilities

Plan your visit

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