Venue

The GECON 2014  Conference will take place at the School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University, UK. 

The conference will be in Trevithick Seminar room 1.

Please enter "Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK" into Google maps (including the quotation marks) to find the location. 

Some photos of the University and the city can be found via the Flickr stream. This a crowd sourced resource (and not officially provided by the University).

Wireless Network

Cardiff University has a wireless network using "eduroam". If your institution already has eduroam, you should be able to use this during the conference.

Getting to Cardiff University

See location information  (which describes how you can get here by air, train or bus). Cardiff and Bristol are the two closest airports. London Heathrow is approximately 2.5 hours by train (or 3.5 hours by bus). Details about these airports can be found at: 

All of these airports are served by low cost airlines (e.g. EasyJet, Ryan Air, Vueling). Cardiff airport is approximately 11 miles (19km) outside the city and served by a bus connection. Bristol and London Heathrow airports also have a direct bus connection to Cardiff. Bus information can be obtained from National Express . 

The University is situated in the city centre and walking distance from Cardiff Central train station (about 20 to 30 minutes walk). The closest train station is Cardiff Queen Street (about 5 to 10 minutes walk away). A taxi from the train station to venue takes approximately 10 minutes (cost approx. ?6). Train times, ticket pricing (and on-line booking) and information can be obtained from:

It is much cheaper to purchase a ticket in advance (rather than on the day of travel). Return fares are generally not significantly higher than a single fare. 

Near the venue

There are various cafes, restaurants etc near the conference venue. These are all within walking distance. These include global brands (Starbucks, Costa coffee, etc) along with regional brands (Coffee #1) and family run businesses. 

A variety of food options (at quite reasonable prices) are also available within walking distance of hotels and the conference venue -- ranging from European (Italian, Greek, French), Middle Eastern (and halal), vegetarian and South Asian (Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani, Korean, etc) restaurants.

Local Hotels 

(Please contact the hotel directly to make a reservation)

** Recommended Hotel is Mercure Holland House (special rate has been negotiated with the hotel for this conference). To book, you need to call the hotel directly on +44 (0) 2920 435 043 and quote Block Reference: GECON150914. All reservations need to be guaranteed with credit/debit card details at time of reservation. 

There are a number of other options also -- such as Best Western Plus/Maldron Hotel, Travelodge, Radisson Blu, Cardiff Marriott, etc. 

As the University is located in the city centre, most hotels are approximately 15 to 20 minutes walk from the conference venue. 

Please check rates via Booking.com  or Hotels.com

The UK also has a number of Guest Houses  available (generally B&B accommodation). You may want to investigate those based near the city centre. 

Other travel related information

Cardiff is served by a bus network. Although you probably will not need this (as most of the city centre is walkable) -- you may still want to explore! Bus information (and a map) is available on the Cardiff Bus  Web site (this site also has a mobile app which allows day tickets to be purchased on-line). 

Car parking is available in the city centre -- there are various car parks  in and around the conference venue (ranging from 5 to 20 minutes walk). You will (probably) not need a car if you remain in the city centre. There is also (limited) street level parking available near the venue.

Sight seeing

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and a beautiful city to visit. More details about Cardiff, Wales and Britain can be found at: