Cardiff Cruises' sightseeing trips on the Bay wind down after October; its Aquabus does not. Its 24-seat Hydro 1 leaves the Castle grounds on the hour and Mermaid Quay on the half hour, seven days a week and all year round, as long as the weather and the river allow.
Daily timetable published on aquabus.co.uk and offered in the operator's booking system for every date sampled from 26 September 2026 to 10 February 2027, read on 25 September 2026. Weather and river flow permitting. Aquabus — City–Bay link timetable and booking · 2026-09-25
Late September is when Cardiff Bay's boat season begins to close down. Cardiff Cruises, which runs the Bay's sightseeing trips, gives its opening hours as April to October and offers private hire only in the winter months. The Aquabus is the exception. The same company runs it as a waterbus linking Mermaid Quay in the Bay with the Castle grounds in the middle of the city, and both it and the Aquabus website say it sails all year round, weather permitting. Its booking system offers the same eight departures each way on every date from now until February.
What changes with the seasons is the river, not the timetable. Cardiff Council's Bute Park pages describe the water taxis as running to their normal timetable subject to river flows, and the operator is candid that the weather decides. The operator's own view is that a sailing is rarely lost, and that the Bay often has better weather than the forecast suggests; after heavy rain on the Taff, it is still worth ringing the boat before walking down to the landing.
This is a transport link rather than a tour, and it is priced like one: £9 for an adult each way, £28 for a family. It connects the castle, Bute Park and the shopping streets with the Bay's restaurants and the Wales Millennium Centre, and it does so in about half an hour on the Taff.
An adult pays £9.00 each way and a child £5.00, and a family ticket covering two adults and up to three children is £28.00 — the same as two adults and two children bought separately, so it saves money only when the third child comes along. The booking system counts adults from 17 and children from 4 to 16; children aged 3 and under travel free.
Bicycles, pushchairs and dogs go free. Aquabus.co.uk also lists return fares, £16 for an adult, but the booking system sells only single journeys, so the returns have not been confirmed in a second place and are not listed here.
| Adult (17+) | £ 9 |
| Child (4–16) | £ 5 |
| Family (2 adults, 3 children) | £ 28 |
| Infant (0–3) | Free |
| Bicycle, pushchair or dog | Free |
Fares on aquabus.co.uk and in the Cardiff Cruises booking system, read on 25 September 2026 for dates from September 2026 to February 2027. Aquabus — fares and online booking · 2026-09-25
On the map the Castle stop and Mermaid Quay sit only about two and a half kilometres from each other, going by the stop positions the Department for Transport publishes, but the Taff bends on the way down, which is why the trip takes 25 to 30 minutes. The boat runs down the Taff past the Principality Stadium and the Taff's Mead Embankment request stop, then into the Inner Bay. That bay is the work of the Cardiff Bay Barrage, 1.1 kilometres long, which Cardiff Harbour Authority says was begun in 1994 and completed in 1999 and which keeps out the Severn Estuary's tides. The Welsh section of this site has one other crossing, and it could not be more different: the boat to Ynys Enlli sails from a cove on the Llŷn Peninsula only when the sea allows.
The city end is a landing stage on the River Taff to the west of Cardiff Castle, inside Bute Park; the booking system gives the postcode CF10 3RB and the what3words address tree.words.emerge. Bute Park is run by Cardiff Council and open from 07:30 to 18:30, which comfortably covers the boat's day.
Two different water taxis use the park, and the council lists both. Tickets bought on the Aquabus website are for Hydro 1 only, so make sure the boat at the stage is the one you have paid for.
In the Bay the boat berths at Mermaid Quay, next to Cadwaladers ice-cream parlour on the lower boardwalk, near the Celtic Ring on Roald Dahl Plass; what3words sunset.fear.analogy. Look for the white and blue Aquabus flags. The Wales Millennium Centre and the Pierhead Building, both on the boat's own list of sights, are close by.
The same waterfront is the starting point for Cardiff Cruises' other boats, including trips to the Barrage and the River Ely, so check you are joining the City–Bay service rather than a sightseeing cruise.
Hydro 1 has an access ramp that the crew set up at each stop, and Aquabus describes the waterbus as fully accessible. Wheelchairs roll on.
Bicycles and pushchairs are carried at no charge. On a busy sailing, space goes first to passengers with a booking.
No charge for dogs, as long as they stay on a lead and leave the other passengers in peace.
Arrive ten minutes before the advertised time. With a booking, make yourself known to the crew so you board ahead of walk-up passengers.
If you do not get off at the far end you can stay aboard for the whole loop, about an hour back to where you started, which makes the waterbus a cheap river cruise.
The office, on 029 2034 5163, is staffed Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 14:00. For the boat itself, including the Taff's Mead request stop, call 07500 556 556.
Hydro 1 was built by Aquabus in 2006 as a waterbus for Cardiff Bay, and Cardiff Cruises bought her in 2023. She seats 24 on bus-style seats, loads over a ramp and has an aluminium catamaran hull divided into eight watertight compartments. Cardiff Cruises says its boats meet the requirements of Cardiff Harbour Authority and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The water she sails on is itself a product of engineering. Cardiff Harbour Authority, part of Cardiff Council, describes the Barrage as a £220 million project that impounded the Bay, created more than 13 kilometres of waterfront and set off the regeneration of the old docklands of Cardiff and Penarth. Its sluices control the level of the Bay and let the Taff and the Ely flow out to the Bristol Channel, and its three locks are the way in and out for boats bound for the open estuary.
Yes. Aquabus and Cardiff Cruises both describe the City–Bay waterbus as running all year round, weather permitting, and the booking system offers the same hourly departures on dates through to February 2027. Cardiff Cruises' sightseeing cruises are a separate, April-to-October operation.
No. Cardiff Council's Bute Park page lists two water taxi services from the park, run by different companies. Tickets bought on the Aquabus website are valid only on its boat, Hydro 1.
At the Aquabus landing stage on the River Taff, to the west of Cardiff Castle; the booking system gives postcode CF10 3RB and what3words tree.words.emerge. Boats leave on the hour from 10:00 to 17:00.
Yes, by request. Taff's Mead Embankment is a request stop for Central station; call the boat on 07500 556 556 to arrange it.
£28.00 one way on a family ticket, which covers two adults and up to three children aged 4 to 16. Children aged 3 and under travel free.
Yes. If you stay aboard at the far end, the round trip takes about an hour and brings you back to where you started, passing the Principality Stadium each way.
Aquabus.co.uk and the booking system agree with each other: an adult single costs £9.00, and the last boat leaves Mermaid Quay at 17:30. The Cardiff Cruises page for the service appears out of date. If a late crossing matters, book it or phone the boat first.
Yes to both. The crew set up an access ramp at each stop, and bicycles, pushchairs and dogs travel free.