St Davids (Tyddewi)
Hidden in a hollow and behind high walls, St David's Cathedral is intentionally unassuming. The valley site was chosen in the vain hope that the church…
Must-see attractions in Wales
Southeast Wales
You could be forgiven for thinking that Caerphilly Castle – with its profusion of towers and crenellations reflected in a duck-filled lake – was a film…
Anglesey & the North Coast
Majestic Caernarfon Castle was built by Edward I between 1283 and 1330 as a military stronghold, seat of government and royal palace. Designed and mainly…
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & Canal World Heritage Site
Snowdonia & the Llŷn
The preeminent Georgian engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834) built the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805 to carry the canal over the River Dee. At 307m long, 3…
Llŷn Peninsula
Set on its own tranquil peninsula reaching into the estuary, this fantastical collection of colourful buildings with a heavy Italian influence was…
Centre for Alternative Technology
Powys
A small but dedicated band of enthusiasts have spent 40 years practising sustainability at the thought-provoking CAT, set in the Dyfi Unesco Biosphere…
Anglesey & the North Coast
Caernarfon is more complete, Harlech more dramatically positioned and Beaumaris more technically perfect, yet out of the four castles that compose the…
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Beaumaris is the last and most technically perfect of the ring of great castles built by Edward I of England to consolidate his Welsh conquests. Started…
Llandudno
Sitting unobtrusively near the top of the Great Orme is the largest prehistoric mine ever discovered. Nearly paved over for a car park, this site of…
Llŷn Peninsula
The rugged, ethereally beautiful extremity of the Llŷn Peninsula is where medieval pilgrims set off to reach the holy island of Bardsey; one glimpse of…
Anglesey & the North Coast
Laid out in 1875 and painstakingly landscaped over 150 years, Bodnant is one of Wales’ most beautiful gardens. Lord Aberconway of the McLaren family …
Cardiff
There's a medieval keep at its heart, but it's the later additions to Cardiff Castle that really capture the imagination. In Victorian times, extravagant…
Cardiff
Devoted mainly to natural history and art, this grand neoclassical building is the centrepiece of the seven institutions dotted around the country that…
Southeast Wales
The haunting riverside ruins of this sprawling monastic complex have inspired poets and artists through the centuries, most notably William Wordsworth,…
Llandudno
From sea level it's difficult to gauge the sheer scale of the limestone chunk known as the Great Orme (Y Gogarth), yet it's 2 miles in circumference and…
St Fagans National History Museum
Cardiff
Historic buildings from all over the country have been dismantled and re-erected in the semirural surrounds of St Fagans village, 5 miles west of central…
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Dramatically perched atop a steep limestone crag, high above the River Cennen, are the brooding ruins of Wales' ultimate romantic castle, visible for…
Cardiff
Flanked by the castle and the River Taff, Bute Park was donated to the city along with the castle in 1947. With Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields and…
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
Edward I finished this intimidating yet aesthetically pleasing castle in 1289, the southernmost of his 'iron ring' of fortresses designed to keep the…
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire
Concealed in the rolling Tywi valley countryside, this lavish complex opened in 2000 and is still maturing. Formerly an aristocratic estate, the garden…
Snowdonia & the Llŷn
For a glimpse of the life of the British upper class in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the 'upstairs-downstairs' social hierarchy of their bygone world,…
Southeast Wales
Imposing Chepstow Castle perches atop a limestone cliff overhanging the river, guarding the main river crossing from England into South Wales. It is one…
South Stack Cliffs RSPB Reserve
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Two miles west of Holyhead, the sea vents its fury against the vertiginous South Stack Cliffs, an important Royal Society for the Protection of Birds …
North Pembrokeshire
If you've ever wondered what a Celtic village looked, felt and smelt like, take a trip back in time to this Iron Age settlement, 4 miles east of Newport…
Powys
Surrounded by magnificent gardens, the redbrick Powis Castle was originally constructed in the 13th century by Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, prince of Powys,…
South Pembrokeshire
This spectacular and forbidding castle was the home of the earls of Pembroke for over 300 years and the birthplace of Henry VII, the first Tudor king. A…
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Ascending Pen-y-Fan (886m), the tallest peak in the Brecon Beacons, is one of the most popular hikes in the park (around 350,000 people make the climb…
Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire
This idyllic, 324-hectare, beautifully landscaped estate, immediately west of Llandeilo, incorporates a deer park, pasture, woods, an Iron Age fort, the…
Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire
The western extremity of the Gower is guarded by this mile-long promontory, which turns into an island at high tide. Worms Head takes its name from the…
Ceredigion
Cardigan Castle holds an important place in Welsh culture, having been the venue for the first competitive National Eisteddfod, held in 1176 under the…
Southeast Wales
Fascinating Big Pit provides an opportunity to explore a real coal mine and get a taste of what life was like for the miners who worked here from 1880 to…
Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire
Wandering through these formal walled gardens feels a bit like walking into a Jane Austen novel. They date originally from Elizabethan times, have evolved…
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Halfway up a thickly forested hillside in the Vale of Eywas, this tiny 11th-century church is like a time capsule of Welsh faith and culture, buried too…
Anglesey & the North Coast
Funded by the vast profits from the slate mine of Caribbean sugar-plantation owner and anti-abolitionist Baron Penrhyn, and extended and embellished by…
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Plas Newydd (New House) was the grand manor of the marquesses of Anglesey. Surrounded by tranquil gardens and pastures, with fine prospects across the…
Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire
Dylan Thomas, his wife Caitlin and their three children lived in this cliff-clinging house from 1949 to 1953. It's a beautiful setting, looking out over…
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
The 28-sq-mile Gwydyr Forest, planted since the 1920s with oak, beech and larch, encircles Betws-y-Coed and is scattered with the remnants of lead and…
Barclodiad y Gawres Burial Mound
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Squatting on a headland above gorgeous Trecastle Bay, 2 miles south of the village, Barclodiad y Gawres (the Giantess' Apronful) is the largest neolithic…
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
Even if you're not enraptured by industrial museums, ignore the dull-sounding name and check this one out. At Dinorwig Quarry much of the slate was carved…
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
This excellent aquarium introduces you to the denizens of the local waters: from lobster and cuckoo wrasse to tiny brine shrimp and Picasso-painting-like…
