Cinematic Cardiff Tour: Doctor Who and other filming locations

(90 reviews)

Cardiff audio tour: Cinematic Cardiff Tour: Doctor Who and other filming locations

This is a 2.7mi walking tour

It takes an average of 120 mins to complete.

Cardiff

The United Kingdom

$11.99

Access all 64 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

Buy for a Group

Reviews

About the Tour

Cardiff is packed full of television locations, if you know where to find them. On this walking tour of central Cardiff, you’ll see several different locations from the BBC Sci-Fi drama F, from the ninth to the fifteenth doctor.

You’ll have the chance to enter many of these iconic locations and, with my help, be able to picture the scenes that took place here. Along the way, I’ll also point out locations from Torchwood, The Sarah-Jane Adventures, the BBC’s Sherlock, and a few more surprising television productions.

Our tour starts at the iconic Cardiff Castle, where you’ll find out just how versatile it’s been as a TV location. As you walk around the new Canal Quarter, you’ll hear about directors and CGI enhancements, along with a few film shoot stories – like why it was tricky filming a particular scene with Kylie Minogue. I’ll also share some of Cardiff’s war-time tales, its medieval history, and tell you how it grew from a small town to a massive coal exporting city.

Our tour ends at Cambrian Tap, a popular pub that you may recognise from Sherlock, where you’ll have the option to sample local food and drink, armed with the confidence to know what to ask for.

Other highlights include:

Discovering the exact spots where Sherlock’s Moriarty tries to steal the crown jewels, Sarah-Jane finds the last of the Gorgons, and the Tardis’s library really is (hint: they’re all in Cardiff Castle)
Finding out about Winston Churchill’s offices at Cardiff City Hall
Grasping just how many film productions have been shot at National Museum Cardiff
Visiting one of the locations from Watson’s famous stag do, the Cambrian Tap on St Mary Street
Popping into Cardiff Market to make a discovery about witches, and browsing at the world’s oldest record store, Spillers Records
Seeing the location of St Luke’s University Bristol and Sherlock’s Mind Palace at the University of Wales
Wandering through the famous Castle Arcade in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff
Hearing about the Gorsedd Stones in the Gorsedd Gardens

On this Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah-Jane Adventures and Sherlock-themed walking tour of Cardiff, you’ll also have the benefit of walking with a licensed tour guide. When you finish this tour, you’ll have seen all of Cardiff’s top central locations, and learned what makes the city tick.

Tour Producer

Sarah Salter

10 tours

Sarah Salter is an experienced professional tourist guide and founder of Sarah's Wales. She welcomes guests from across the world as they discover the very best Wales has to offer. Sarah combines elements of history, culture, humour and storytelling to conjure up an unforgettable experience.

Her mission is to make every tour educational, enjoyable and above all entertaining. She enjoys researching the unusual and unexpected details about any destination. She particularly enjoys social history weaving stories of people through the ages into her tours. Alongside this she throws in a careful blend of contemporary culture and everyday Welsh life to demonstrate the real Wales.

Sarah is based in the capital city of Wales, surrounded by beautiful beaches, rolling green hills and castles - there are over 640 in Wales! She spends her spare time tramping footpaths, clambering over castle ruins and beach combing with her family and dog as they explore beautiful Wales together.

Preview Location

Location 8

City Hall - Civic Centre

Stop when you reach the tree between the monument you can see ahead and slightly to your left and the slope coming up on your right.

The statue honours the victims of the Second Boer War. You might recognise it from Doctor Who, series 3, episode 10, "Blink". You might r... Stop when you reach the tree between the monument you can see ahead and slightly to your left and the slope coming up on your right.

The statue honours the victims of the Second Boer War. You might recognise it from Doctor Who, series 3, episode 10, "Blink". You might recognise a lot of statues from around Cardiff's streets from this episode.

Ahead of you is what was going to be the new town hall. Look at its large dome complete with a Welsh dragon on top and a tall clock tower. When they started building city hall in 1904 Cardiff was a town. By the time it was completed in 1905 Cardiff became a city and this building became City Hall.

Both BBC Sherlock and Doctor Who have been filmed in this impressive building. You'll see it in Doctor Who series 6, "The Wedding of Riversong. Time is all over the place in this episode with dinosaurs, Winston Churchill and Dickens all appearing at the same time. Inside this building is a room called the Hall of Marbles that was used as the building in which Winston Churchill was based. The clock tower of this building can be seen in Series 10, episode 1, "The Pilot". Other episodes that have been filmed here include The Doctor's Daughter, Voyage of the Damned, The End of Time, Nightmare in Silver, The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar and Once Upon A Time.

If City Hall is open, it's possible to go inside and, as long as the room isn't being used for official business you can even go up to the Hall of Marbles. Oh, and look out for Peregrine Falcons who often nest on the clock tower. You may hear their screeches.

Don't forget to end the tour while you do this. When you're finished you can resume right where you left off.

When you're ready to continue, simply walk back to this spot and facing City Hall, head up the street between the magistrates court and city hall on the left side of the road.

The Third Marquis of Bute set down some rules as to how the finished area must look and be used when he sold the land to the council in 1898.

The rules were:-
Everything to be made of Portland Stone, which was fashionable at the time, even the White House in Washintgon is made of it.
Nothing taller than the clock tower.
Avenues to be wide and tree lined.
Buildings to be used for Civic, Cultural or Educational purposes.

You will see this still holds true today as we explore the area. All the buildings meet the criteria. Thanks to the Marquis of Bute and his strict rules the facilities here meant Cardiff was chosen for Wales's capital city in 1955.

Keep walking straight on. Read More

View locations and route

How VoiceMap Works

Focus on your surroundings, not the screen

The VoiceMap app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place, so you can focus on your surroundings, not the screen.

Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. That lets us give turn-by-turn directions and use context to tell a better story.

Resume playback to go at your own pace

If you'd like to stop for a drink or go into a museum, end your tour then use the Resume feature to pick up exactly where you left off.

Listen as many times as you like

You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and website.

Take virtual tours anywhere, like a podcast

Select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours like a podcast - at home or in transit.

Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync

Once you've purchased a tour, it's added to your VoiceMap library. To access it in the app, just sign in using the same account.

Do tours without paying for data

Tours work offline, so you don't have to pay roaming fees. Just download them over WiFi before you get started.

Major Landmarks

Cardiff Castle
Castle Green
Cardiff Town Wall
Glamorganshire Canal Bridge
Cardiff Crown Court
Cardiff City Hall
University of Wales
The Bute Building
Temple of Peace
Alexandra Gardens
Science Library
Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru
Gorsedd Gardens
New Theatre
Canal Quarter
Crockherbtown Lock (site of)
St John The Baptist City Parish Church
The Cardiff Market
Castle Arcade
Cambrian Tap

View all

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Castle St, Cardiff CF10 3RB, UK
Total distance

4km
Final location
51 St Mary St, Cardiff CF10 1AD, UK
Distance back to start location

488.39m

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins at the main entrance to Cardiff castle on Castle Street. This central location is easy to reach n foot if you are staying in the city centre. It is a 5 minute walk from Cardiff central and Cardiff Queen Street train stations andCardiff Bus Station.

When you're in the right place you should be able to see Cardiff castle's impressive clocktower to your left.

Show Directions

Gift vouchers

Buy tours for friends and family who delight in discovery

Buy Now

Buy for a group

Get 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group

Buy Now

License this tour

Adapt this tour to use your brand and suit your guests

Find out more

Tips

Places to stop along the way

If you fancy stopping for refreshments I recommend Barkers Gin & Fizz in Castle Arcade for coffee and cake or something stronger!. There is also a traditional Welsh cawl (Lamb soup) available at Cardiff Castle and The Bluebell public house. Fries and other refreshments can be bought at Caroline Street and we will pass one or to public houses too.

Best time of day

You can do this tour at any time in daylight hours. Be aware that you will not be able to enter Cardiff Market on a Sunday. You will not be able to enter the National Museum of Wales on a Monday. In the summer months please check with Visit cardiff for events that may interfere with the route. (For example: Pride in mid June)

Precautions

Sunscreen, an umbrella and a bottle of water would all be useful on this tour. After the start point at cardiff castle you ill have about 30 mins before you get to the National Museum of Wales (Closed on a Monday) where you can buy refreshments and another 10 mins before you will have plenty of choice for places to get refreshemnts should you need them.

Always be aware of cyclists in the city and use pedestrian crossings where available. There are no steps on this tour. There are two slopes to use the underpass.

Get The App

Download tours to use them offline

Listen hands-free with GPS playback

Get turn-by-turn directions

Scan the QR Code

“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”