Newport factfile

How to get to Newport
Newport is the third largest city in Wales. It's on the banks of the River Usk, sitting between Cardiff and Bristol.

Newport is well served for transport links. The M4 comes within a mile of the city centre, Great Western Railways trains run to the station in the city centre, and the nearest airport is Cardiff International.

Shopping in Newport
Newport's city centre is home to many high-street stores for the shopper to browse. In addition to the wealth of big-brand stores, there are the richly diverse delights of the two-storey Victorian Provisions Market. Newport offers thriving Sunday shopping too.

How Newport got its name
The name Newport is just as self-explanatory as you might think. When the port in the nearby town of Caerleon could no longer accommodate the bigger ships being built, a new port was built to cater for the new, bigger ships. The city that then grew around the new port is the Newport that we have today.

Things to see and do around Newport
In the nearby town of Caerleon, there's an important Roman excavation site. Here stood a large Roman fortress, and the remains of the amphitheatre, baths and barracks can still be seen.

Tredegar House, also near Newport, is one of the best examples of a 17th-century Charles II mansion in the UK. Visitors can go on tours of the magnificent staterooms. For a look at what life was like for the poorer people of the time, you can see the servants' quarters too.

Natural beauty spots in and around Newport
At the edge of Newport lies the Newport Wetlands, over 835 acres encompassing reed beds, saltwater lagoons, wet grassland and scrub. The area attracts a wealth of bird life and a diverse selection of wildlife, including butterflies, dragonflies, otters and even orchids.

Newport's claim to fame
Famous for its nightlife fit for rock stars, rumour has it that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain proposed to Courtney Love in one of Newport's well-known alternative music clubs. It is also in Newport that the first Welsh billionaire was born—high-tech entrepreneur Sir Terence Hedley Matthews OBE.