{"id":375944,"date":"2026-01-17T22:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/375944\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T22:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:42:08","slug":"the-principality-stadium-is-too-big-claims-travel-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/375944\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Principality Stadium is too big’, claims travel writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Principality Stadium. Image by davegriffiths is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.<\/p>\n

The Principality Stadium is too big for Cardiff and looms over the city like a \u201cbully\u201d, a travel writer has claimed.<\/p>\n

Writing in The Telegraph, Destination Expert Chris Moss gave his \u201ccandid verdict\u201d on Britain\u2019s biggest cities, ranking them from worst to best.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the pandemic, I decided to fly less and see more of the UK, especially its cities,\u201d Moss explained in the article published on 16 January. \u201cVisiting and revisiting them has been eye-opening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Cardiff landed in the middle of the ranking, taking the 11th spot with a Visitor Appeal score of 6\/10, Moss was less than impressed by the city\u2019s iconic stadium.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cThe Principality Stadium is too big for its location, looming over the rest of the city like a big corporate bully.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn match and gig days it brings crowds and energy to the Welsh capital, but when it\u2019s empty, it occupies a gigantic chasmal footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Principality Stadium was built in 1999, originally known as the Millennium Stadium. It is the national stadium of Wales and home to the Welsh rugby team.<\/p>\n

The venue also hosts sports events, and various concerts including the Oasis reunion and Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras Tour in 2025.<\/p>\n

However, Moss is not the first to level criticism at the stadium, with poor reviews citing limited access, obstructed views and a \u201cwoeful\u201d atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Despite the alleged visual imbalance caused by the \u201cbehemoth\u201d, Moss praised Cardiff for its other locations including \u201cthe castle, the Senedd, Bute Park, the 1891 market, Victorian and Edwardian shopping arcades, the excellent national and city museums, and all the waterfront airiness along the banks of the Taff and the Bristol Channel that is such an asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

The review continued: \u201cEnvious of Bristol for its perceived glamour, Cardiffians tend to be self-deprecating. But their city, though only made a capital in 1955, has a certain undeniable politico-historical heft and ranks highly in surveys for business growth, family life and overall friendliness.<\/p>\n

\u201cA major university, media and intellectual centre, it got its first Michelin star in 2025 for Gorse, in the fashionable suburb of Pontcanna. So whether you want high culture or indulgence, you\u2019ll find it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Cardiff ranked above Hull and below Leeds, with over 700 respondents to The Telegraph\u2019s \u2018Would you visit Cardiff?\u2019 poll responding in the positive, compared with 300 who said they would not visit.<\/p>\n

The city fared better than Southampton, which received a two-sentence review in which Moss described it as \u201ca minor player\u201d, and Bradford, which over 1,000 people said they would not visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagical\u201d Liverpool topped the rankings: \u201cBoasting stellar Victorian heritage architecture and the UK\u2019s two finest modern-era cathedrals, a still buzzing pub scene, improving gastronomy and a small but strong arts scene, Liverpool is a one-off. Its people are storytellers and, more importantly, stars in their own private novels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full list of \u2018Britain\u2019s 20 biggest cities, ranked from worst to best<\/a>\u2018 here.<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an
\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Principality Stadium. Image by davegriffiths is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. The Principality Stadium is too big for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-375944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}