Moving to Cardiff. What do I need to know about where to live?

[Plastictattoo]

I've accepted a job based near the University and am starting in September.
Lockdown means that everything has been done virtually and I never been to Cardiff! I intend to rent initially and would like to have potentially use public transport or walk to worh although I do have a car.

I'm picturing a small coastal cottage with easy access to the city centre and the countryside. Is this possible??

What areas should I be looking in and which should I avoid?

No young children to consider now so schools aren't an issue. Just a friendly community in a good location....
TIA

First of all: which university?

If it is Cardiff Uni (I assume it is) then you will need to change trains if you live in either Barry or Penarth - from that home station to Cardiff central - to Cathays which is the station by the uni. You can walk to the uni from Cardiff central train station but it's a good twenty minutes at least and it rains A LOT in wales!

This will make quite a short journey (in distance) a bit of a faff and longer time-wise, although probably nothing as bad as a London commute.

Further afield there are a number of beaches around VoG/Bridgend where housing is cheaper than Cardiff, and are only about 15 miles away, but they would be really hard to get to Cardiff uni via public transport. If you're thinking of staying you might want to look at getting a car and looking at those areas in a year or two.

If it's Cardiff Met then it's harder again to get to on public transport.
If it's University of South Wales (Cardiff campus) then it's easiest of all three as that's right in-between two two train stations.

Good rail connections and only a 20 minute commute from Radyr, Llandaff North, Whitchurch and Rhiwbina to the Centre and Uni.