Car Park 1

Five-minute walk from Cardiff T1, treated like short stay

Car Park 1 sits about 0.3 miles from Cardiff Airport’s T1 terminal, and regulars basically treat it as the on-airport short-stay option even though it’s sold as long stay. You walk it in around 5 minutes on a marked pedestrian route, so there’s no waiting around for a shuttle bus on departure or return.

Pricing comes in at £15 per day and about £75 for a week, so it’s usually best value for 1–3 days rather than a long holiday stretch. For genuinely short trips of a few hours to a couple of days, people pick Car Park 1 over the more distant long‑stay fields because they want that guaranteed walkable spot next to T1.

Access is straightforward: barrier entry on arrival, ANPR cameras, and you keep your keys, which matters if you’re away for 1–2 nights and don’t want your car moved. One reviewer specifically called out good wheelchair access, so if you’re rolling bags, pushing a chair, or managing kids, the short, flat walk from Car Park 1 to departures is less hassle than dealing with a minibus.

Watch out for breakdowns: one customer reported trouble starting their car on return and needed staff assistance, and the comment hinted that support exists but isn’t rapid. If your battery is suspect, sort it before paying £15 a day to leave the car in an open long‑stay bay with limited on-the-spot help.

What regulars do: they nearly always pre-book Car Park 1 online with the rest of Cardiff on-airport options to dodge higher drive-up prices at the barrier. If your flight is early out of T1, aim to park 60–75 minutes before departure so the 5‑minute walk doesn’t eat into your check-in buffer.