Mountains of Things to Do in Wales This Sunday: From Italy to Nashville, Circuses to Castles and Pop Culture to Pop Music
FOR so many generations, Sunday in Wales was a quiet and uneventful day. Families dressed for church or chapel before returning home to gather around the table for Sunday lunch. In many communities the pubs were closed, most shops kept their doors firmly shut and Sunday was regarded, quite literally, as a day of rest.
Times have changed!
So what does a typical September Sunday look like in modern-day Wales 2026?
Well, this weekend, it could involve Italian food and music in Cardiff, a taste of Nashville on the Porthcawl seafront, world-class circus, Pokémon trading, thousands of runners beside Swansea Bay, a free visit to one of north Wales’ great castles – or a final night with one of Wales’ best-known singers.
Our Ewegottalove September Super Sunday, today – September 20, 2026 – has a little bit of everything – and a surprisingly international feel to it.
So, if you haven’t made plans yet, here are just a few of the many possibilities for getting out and about around Wales this Sunday.
Enjoy a taste of Italy in Cardiff
Perhaps Sunday’s most obvious international celebration is the Cardiff Italian Festival at Tiger Yard in Cardiff Bay, running from 12 noon until 6pm.
The day begins with a ribbon-cutting involving the Italian Consul, followed by live music including the Italian Radio Society and Calabrian folk music. There is a wine tasting at 3.30pm, karaoke from 4pm and plenty of Italian food from businesses including Calabrisella Group, Roma Eat and Khione Sicilian Delicatessen.
And this isn’t simply an excuse for pizza and prosecco.
Wales has a substantial Italian heritage. Italian migration helped shape communities across South Wales, particularly through the cafés, ice-cream parlours and family businesses which became fixtures of towns and valleys during the 19th and 20th centuries.
So there is a genuine Welsh story sitting beneath Sunday’s Italian celebration.
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Nashville is still partying in Porthcawl
If Italy isn’t far enough, how about Tennessee?
Country to Cymru reaches its final day at The Hi Tide in Porthcawl, completing a weekend designed to bring a little Nashville atmosphere to the Welsh coast.
Sunday includes the Hi Tide Hoedown from 12 noon until 6pm, Blue Grass Sunday, more live country entertainment and a free Honky Tonk Wrap Party to close the festival.
Country bands, cowboy hats, bluegrass and a Welsh seaside resort may sound like an unusual combination – which is probably part of the attraction.
See Ewegottalove’s full Country to Cymru guide
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Catch the final CARNATION performance in Cardiff
Another event with an international flavour comes from a company that actually calls Wales home.
NoFit State Circus celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with CARNATION, its latest large-scale Big Top production.
Sunday brings the final Cardiff performance at Sophia Gardens at 3pm, following a 2026 tour which has already visited Porthcawl, Brighton, Bristol, Galway and Carmarthen.
The production combines contemporary circus, live music, cinematic imagery and an international company of performers in a show lasting approximately two hours.
This is a nice example of Wales exporting culture rather than merely importing it: a Cardiff-based circus company whose work has travelled internationally before returning home.
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Watch 4,000 runners take on Swansea Bay
Sunday also brings the 45th Swansea Bay 10K.
The main race starts at 11am and follows the fast, flat course beside Swansea Bay. Entries have already sold out, with the official race limit set at 4,000, while the wider programme includes junior races, wheelchair racing and the traditional mascot race.
The event typically attracts around 4,500 participants across its races.
You don’t have to be running, of course. Major road races are often as much about spectators, families and atmosphere as the people wearing race numbers.
And there can be few more attractive urban running backdrops than the sweep of Swansea Bay.
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Go Pokémon hunting in Cardiff Bay
A global phenomenon takes over the Red Dragon Centre.
The Cardiff Bay Card Show runs from 10am until 4pm, bringing together Pokémon Trading Card Game collectors to buy, sell and trade cards.
There are specialist vendors, opportunities to trade with other collectors, character appearances and giveaways, with the event aimed at everyone from beginners to serious collectors.
Pokémon may have begun life in Japan, but it has become one of the great international pop-culture franchises – and Cardiff’s trading-card community is very much part of that worldwide collecting phenomenon.
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See Charlotte Church’s Pop Dungeon reach its final chapter
Sunday evening brings another very Welsh performer with a worldwide profile back to Cardiff.
Charlotte Church’s End Times Pop Dungeon takes over DEPOT Cardiff from 7pm until 11pm.
After more than a decade of Charlotte’s unconventional Late Night Pop Dungeon performances, the venue describes this incarnation as “one final chapter”.
For someone who first became internationally famous as a classical singer while still a child, Church’s journey into an experimental live show built around everything from pop to rock, rave and theatrical performance has been quite a transformation.
If Sunday daytime is Italy, Nashville, circus and running, this provides a suitably unpredictable way to finish the night.
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Visit Penrhyn Castle for free
If all that sounds slightly frantic, north Wales offers something much more leisurely.
Penrhyn Castle and Garden near Bangor is offering free admission on Sunday from 10am until 5pm as part of Cadw’s Open Doors programme.
Visitors can explore the castle, Victorian kitchens, walled garden and parkland. Last admission to the castle itself is at 3pm.
There is an added Welsh heritage attraction this weekend, with quarrymen from the National Slate Museum giving demonstrations of traditional slate splitting and dressing. Demonstrations run during the day in the Stable Block.
Read more on Welsh History & Heritage
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And some of our weekend favourites are still going…
Several events we’ve already featured on Ewegottalove continue into Sunday.
Abergavenny Food Festival runs from 9.30am until 5pm, with more than 120 producers and its extensive programme of demonstrations and talks. Sunday adult admission is £17, with under-16s free.
Up north, Mold Food & Drink Festival continues from 10am until 5pm, with its free park-and-ride operating again on Sunday.
[North or South? Two Mouth-watering Welsh Food Festivals to Savour This Weekend]
And if medieval history is more appealing than food, Llantrisant Medieval Fayre returns for its second day beside Llantrisant Castle and Guildhall, with the Medieval Combat Society among those bringing the Middle Ages back to life.
[Step Back in Time to the Middle Ages at Llantrisant Medieval Fayre This Weekend]
One Welsh Sunday – quite a lot of the world
So this no-longer-sleepy Sunday is all about variety.
Italy comes to Cardiff. Nashville comes to Porthcawl. A Welsh circus brings home a production that has travelled around Britain and Ireland. Japanese pop culture fills a Cardiff trading-card show. Thousands run beside Swansea Bay, while a Welsh singer who became a global star brings one of her most unusual projects home.
And alongside all that, Wales’ own castles, medieval history, food and industrial heritage are never very far away.
Not bad for one September Sunday!
Did Ewe Know?
Italian cafés became so familiar in parts of South Wales that the name “Bracchi” became a general term for an Italian café.
The name came from Italian migrant Giacomo Bracchi, whose family developed a network of cafés. By the early 20th century, “Bracchis” had become part of everyday life in communities across the south Wales valleys.