Date Night Ideas in Cardiff

Setup.Warm layers, comfortable shoes and an hour of light left before sunset. Meet at Mermaid Quay in Cardiff Bay.

1. Start with a short detour along the northern shore to the Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve and spend ten quiet minutes on the boardwalk over the water, looking for grey herons and, if you are lucky, a kingfisher.
2. Double back and follow the Bay edge walkway out to the Barrage.
3. Cross slowly. Stop at the locks, and if a boat is coming through, watch it pass between the still Bay on one side and the Severn Estuary on the other.
4. At the Penarth end, find a bench by the marina and watch the light go.
5. Walk back across as the lights come on around the Bay.

Talk about:What is one thing in our life right now that feels like it is waiting in the lock, and what would let it through?

Setup.A morning with nothing booked after it, proper shoes, a waterproof and a picnic. Entry is free and the car park charges by the day; Traveline Cymru will help you plan public transport if you would rather leave the car.

1. Arrive near opening and head into the open air site before it gets busy.
2. Walk the terrace of six ironworkers' houses from Merthyr Tydfil, each furnished for a different year between 1805 and 1985. Each of you picks the year you would live in and argues for it.
3. Find St Teilo's Church, a medieval parish church refurbished as it may have looked around 1530, before the Reformation, and sit inside for five quiet minutes.
4. Find a spot for your picnic, then walk the terraced gardens of St Fagans Castle, the manor house the whole museum sits around.
5. Finish at Kennixton, a farmhouse from 1610, or the Iron Age roundhouses; whoever lost the year argument chooses.

Talk about:Which of these homes would your grandparents have felt most at ease in, and which would have scandalised them?

Setup.A rainy afternoon. Book the free day ticket online if you want updates before you go (it is recommended, not required), then meet outside the museum in Cathays Park.

1. Split up at the entrance. Twenty minutes alone in the art galleries, each looking for the one painting you would hang at home.
2. Meet in front of Renoir's La Parisienne, one of the museum's most popular works, and compare notes.
3. Walk each other to your picks and explain them without using the word nice.
4. Before you leave, find Van Gogh's Rain at Auvers, one of Monet's water lilies and the bronze cast of Rodin's The Kiss.
5. If you still have energy, drift through the natural history galleries on the way out.

Talk about:What did your pick say about you that you would not have said out loud?

Setup.Two bikes, water, snacks and a dry day. Castell Coch is a Cadw site with an admission charge, and a long conservation project is under way inside, so check hours, prices and which rooms are open before you go.

1. Pick up the Taff Trail by the river next to Bute Park and follow it north past Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields and Llandaff Fields.
2. Take a short detour to Llandaff Cathedral, which the trail passes close to, and look up at Epstein's Christ in Majesty, raised above the nave on a concrete arch.
3. At Tongwynlais the trail splits. The low path is gentle tarmac along an old railway line but runs below the castle; the high path climbs steeply right up to it. For the castle you want the climb, so push the bikes if you need to.
4. Lock up and go inside. Look for the Aesop's Fables murals in the Drawing Room and the carved monkeys and pomegranates on the ceiling of Lady Bute's Bedroom.
5. Walk one of the waymarked trails through Fforest Fawr, the woods around the castle, then ride back down the trail.

Talk about:If money were no object, what completely ridiculous room would you build into our home?

Setup.A Tuesday afternoon you can both get free. Book seats for First Minister's Questions ahead through the Senedd, bring as little as you can, and allow about fifteen minutes for the airport style security check.

1. Start at the Pierhead, the Grade I listed building from 1897 that was once the Cardiff Railway Company's headquarters, and look at its displays on life in Tiger Bay and the docks.
2. Cross to the Senedd, clear security and take your seats in the public gallery above the round chamber.
3. Keep a private scorecard each: best answer, best dodge, best line.
4. When you have had enough, compare scorecards on a bench looking out over the Bay.

Talk about:If you had the power to change one thing about the place we live, what would you change first?

Setup.Book a day trip through the Flat Holm pages on the Cardiff Harbour Authority site. Pack a waterproof, layers, water, lunch and sturdy shoes. There is a landing fee on top of the boat fare, paid to the warden when you arrive.

1. Board at Mermaid Quay. The boat locks out through the Barrage into the Bristol Channel, and it is the hold on tight kind, so sit together.
2. Climb the steps from the jetty and pay the landing fee.
3. Walk the island: the lighthouse, the Victorian barracks and wartime bunkers, and the gull colonies.
4. Eat lunch looking back at the Welsh coast, across the water Marconi's signal crossed to Lavernock Point.
5. Head back to the jetty when it is time; the tides decide how long you get.

Talk about:If we could send one message to ourselves a year from now, what should it say?

Setup.An antiquarian or used bookshop in a literary city. Cash for small purchases. A budget.

1. Each picks the section they would never otherwise visit.
2. Spend 30 minutes there. Pick one book.
3. Reveal at the till.
4. Read at a café for 30 minutes before walking on.

Setup.A restaurant doing weekend bottomless brunch. Reservations.

1. Order water alongside everything, important.
2. Eat the eggs first, the cocktails second.
3. Walk for at least 30 minutes after.

Setup.A pick-your-own orchard within an hour's drive. Autumn weekends.

1. Go early to skip the queue.
2. Pick more than you think, they keep.
3. Cider doughnut and hot apple cider before driving home.

Setup.A pair of indie record shops. A budget, one record each, no more.

1. Each picks one record for the other based on cover and sleeve only.
2. Reveal at the till of the second shop.
3. Buy them. Walk home.
4. Listen to both end-to-end that evening, in order.

Setup.A Sunday roast pub for lunch. A second pub within walking distance for after.

1. Reserve the roast, Sundays book up fast.
2. Walk slowly to the second pub.
3. A half-pint and a dessert at the second.
4. Quiz night if you happen on one, stay.

Setup.A pumpkin patch (October only). Boots, it gets muddy.

1. Walk the whole patch before picking.
2. Hayride if available.
3. Carve at home that evening.

Setup.A farm-to-table restaurant within driving range. Booking essential.

1. Drive out late morning.
2. Order whatever the chef recommends.
3. Walk the farm or grounds afterwards.

Setup.Off-peak return ticket to a coastal town. A backpack with layers, a book each.

1. Catch a train before 11am.
2. Walk the seafront. Eat fish and chips.
3. Spend an hour on the beach reading.
4. Train back before sunset.

Setup.A fringe or off-off theatre. Cheap tickets, usually under $20.

1. Read the synopsis at the door, not before.
2. Stay for the whole show even if it loses you.
3. Drink at the theatre bar afterwards. Most fringe places have one.
4. Walk home rating it on a scale of "great" to "great in a different way".

Setup.Whatever you were going to eat. One candle. A drawer in a different room.

1. Cook your usual dinner, no need to be fancy.
2. Both phones into the drawer. Close the drawer. Walk away.
3. Light the candle. Sit. Eat slower than usual.
4. Stay at the table after the food. Do not get up to clean.

Talk about:What is something you have been thinking about that you have not told me yet?

Setup.A walking route that is usually busy during the day. Layered clothes for late hours.

1. Leave around 11:30pm. The streets thin out around you.
2. Stay close to lit streets.
3. Walk a long loop, 60–90 minutes.
4. End at a 24-hour spot for chai or coffee.

Setup.A blank doc, two laptops or one shared. Snacks. Two hours.

1. Five rows: career, money, place, family, health.
2. One column each, plus a "shared" column.
3. Pick three near-term actions for the next 90 days.