Cardiff Bay is a sheltered inlet covering about 200 hectares on the Bristol Channel at the mouths of the Rivers Taff and Ely.
The Cardiff Bay Barrage itself is 1.1km long and extends from Cardiff docks in the north to Penarth in the south. This major civil engineering construction project has created a freshwater lake with over 13km of waterfront.

This 220 million pound project has been the catalyst for the 2 billion pound regeneration of the old docklands of Cardiff and Penarth.
The barrage includes locks and bridges, sluice gates, and a fish pass. Follow the links above to find out more about these structures. The landscaped embankment for example is a public open space where visitors can promenade and picnic with excellent views out over the sea and the Bay.
Over 1,000,000 visitors have experienced the barrage so far – so why not you!
If you are a mariner wishing to navigate through the barrage locks please see ‘harbourmaster’ section above.

The Cardiff Bay Barrage lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s.
The barrage has played an important role in the regeneration of the area. Attractions such as the Wales Millennium Centre, the National Assembly for Wales, shopping and watersports have since moved onto the waterfront. In 2000 the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was dissolved, and the Welsh Assembly awarded a contract to Cardiff County Council to manage the barrage, as the Cardiff Harbour Authority.

The Cardiff Bay Barrage is one of the largest investment and engineering project undertaken in the U.K.
The 1.1km Barrage impounds the rivers Taff and Ely, creating a 500-acre freshwater lagoon with a new permanent waterfront of 12.8km.

Cardiff Bay has a tidal range of 14m. At low tide the Bay was inaccessible for almost 14 hours a day with only the vast exposed mudflats visible. The factors have severely limited public use of the Bay an development of the surrounding land.