Sights in Aberystwyth
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Marine Terrace
A stroll along Marine Terrace, the walkway overlooking North Beach, is the most genteel pursuit on offer and one that harks back to the town's erstwhile halcyon days as a Victorian resort. When you reach the bottom of the 1.5-mile prom, it's customary to kick the white bar, although the locals can't seem to explain the rationale behind this ritual.
North Beach is lined by faintly shabby Georgian hotels, albeit with a couple of notable exceptions. The top-heavy Royal Pier lumbers out to sea under the weight of its cheerfully tacky amusements arcade. North Beach is also the main swimming beach as South Beach has few facilities, although both beaches have lifeguards and an E…
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Constitution Hill
At the northern end of North Beach is Aberystwyth's headland, 430ft Constitution Hill . From the wind-blown balding hilltop there are tremendous, long coastal views - 60 miles from the Llŷn to Strumble Head - and you can spot 26 mountain peaks including Snowdon. The site has been redeveloped in recent years with new children's attractions, including gold panning and go-karts. The erstwhile Victorian tearooms have been rebuilt in line with environmental considerations and the resulting Consti Café is a café by day and licensed steakhouse three nights per week. It also features displays of the wildlife you can spot on a, ahem, constitutional around the hill. One relic of th…
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B
National Library of Wales
Half a mile east of town, the National Library of Wales is an imposing hilltop spread of a building, with great views. It holds superb, intelligent, innovative exhibitions - at one of these, visitors were invited to graffiti their comments on the walls - and a visitor centre.
Founded in 1911, the library holds more than five million books in many languages - it's a copyright library so it has copies of every book published in the UK. Among its ancient manuscripts is the oldest existing Welsh text, the 12th-century Black Book of Carmarthen. The turn is off Penglais Rd, taking a right just beyond the hospital.
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C
Ceredigion Museum
The Ceredigion Museum, sharing a building with the tourist office, is located in the Coliseum, which opened in 1905 as a theatre and served as a cinema from 1932 onwards. It has a wonderful spacious, elegant interior, complete with stage, and features entertaining exhibitions on Aberystwyth's history - everything from pianos played for silent films to old chemist furnishings and hand-knitted woollen knickers.
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D
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
One of the largest arts centres in Wales, Aberystwyth Arts Centre has excellent opera, drama, dance and concerts (all of which can also be booked at the tourist office), plus a bookshop, an art gallery and a good, albeit slightly uncomfortably stylish, café. The cinema in particular shows a good range of world and foreign-language cinema. The centre is half a mile east of the town centre.
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