Looking for a UK staycation? This guide will help you find the best things to do in South Wales.
1. Rhossili Bay Beach, Wales
Voted best beach in Britain, 3rd best beach in Europe and 9th best beach in the world. If you have the travel bug but don’t want the agro of travelling abroad at the moment then this is a must-do for you! For my trip around South Wales I staid at my brother’s house in Swansea which was a really great base but it’s best to have a car to drive to places like Rhossili which is about a 30 minute drive away from the city centre. The first week in June 2021 we had gorgeous weather and spent the day sunbathing but if the weather isn’t above 20 degrees when you visit, just walking along the 3 mile stunning coastline is still worth the trip.
https://www.visitwales.com/attraction/beach/rhossili-bay-beach-1843187
2. Swansea Beach
Locally known as the “worst beach in South Wales” is tongue in cheek as it’s still much better than any beach you can easily reach from London. Especially if you’re basing yourself in Swansea you need to visit the beach every day even if it’s just for a walk. If you’re lucky enough to have great weather, then grab a BBQ from Wilko’s in the city centre and have dinner on the beach. At night the beach is lined with groups of friends around Beachwood fires which has a really cool, fun but chilled vibes (compared to Wind Street!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swansea_Beach
3. Tenby, Wales
Tenby is 1-2 hour drive from Swansea and is a holiday destination in it’s own right. If the weather is great you can sunbathe on the beach. Salty’s is great for a beach side lunch or dinner (the mussels and lobster are super yummy and much more reasonable than London prices). If the weather isn’t great when you visit you can still enjoy the cobbled streets, the view of the castle and the pretty coloured buildings along Tenby Harbour.
https://saltysbeachbarandrestaurant.co.uk
4. Church Doors
You can’t park too close to Church Doors, but the walk from the car is still beautiful and you can see little coves like Shrinkle Haven Beach. It’s only a 20 minute drive from Tenby so definitely worth a quick stop if you’re doing a day trip.
4. Four Falls Walk, Brecon Beacons
Again, somewhere you can drive to from Swansea. There’s lots of walks/hikes you can do in this area but we were so impressed with the amount of stunning views you got in a few hours with this trail. It’s popular too so you can follow the crowd to not get lost/ make sure you see all of the waterfalls. One of the falls, you can even walk behind which was a great experience. It felt like being in Costa Rica or Iceland, after being stuck at home for over a year, it was great to have more of an adventure day out.
5. Broughton Bay
On the top end of Rhossili Bay past Spaniards rocks is Broughton Bay. You can park at Broughton Farm Caravan Park which is £5 for the day (although there was nobody there to collect on the day I went so I got it for free!).
The drive itself from Swansea is very picturesque through the Gower area of outstanding beauty and quaint villages.
From the caravan park car park you can go through the sand dunes directly from the car park. This walk is about 10-15 minutes and takes you to Spaniards Rocks on the Rhossili Bay top end side. This is a quite beach very popular with surfers.
For Broughton Bay, walk through the caravan park and you’ll see signs for Broughton Bay Beach and for Broughton Blue Pools. The Blue Pools are a natural rock pool which you can swim in. Unfortunately when I visited the tide was well in but I saw a cove along the way which I went back to. This cove was stunning, muddy “steps” to get down and just me and a swan to share it with.
6. Three Cliffs Bay
This might be my favourite beach in South Wales. There’s a car park by Three Cliffs Coffee Shop and then a beautiful coastal walk to this beach (definitely recommend wearing the Tevas for this one.
During the walk you go past Pobbles Bay. We walked down to this and crossed over to Three Cliffs by walking through the cave. You have to be very careful with what the tide is looking like as it’s a lot deeper than you would think. And once you’re through the cave you have another river to wade through to get to the beach.
After a cold water dip and drying off in the early summer sun (maybe the only sun we got in this UK summer of 2024) we walked up towards Pennard Castle which you can see from the beach. This walk took as past some cows too which was cute. During this walk to the castle you get stunning panoramic views of the beach, the golf course which backs off the castle too (this is why you can’t drive up to Three Cliffs beach because there is a fancy pants golf course).
The castle itself you can walk right through. There were a few others up there too just sitting and taking in the view.
This is something that I do miss when I’m in Australia, we are so luckily in the UK to have all of these English Heritage Sites including castles and forts.
We walked back next to the golf course which was quicker but less scenic than walking along the coast. But this meant we could get a coffee and a cake quicker from Three Cliffs Coffee Shop which was delicious!
As I said, Three Cliffs has been my favourite beach so far- caves, castles and cows what more could you want?