Porthmelgan

When the Whitesands car park is full and the beach below it looks like a bank holiday, Porthmelgan is the answer. It's a small sandy cove tucked under St Davids Head, reached by walking north from Whitesands along the Coast Path for about ten to fifteen minutes and dropping down a path at the end. That short walk filters out most of the crowd, and on a summer weekday you can have a lot of it to yourself.

Be clear about what you're getting. There are no toilets, no kiosk, no lifeguards, and no phone signal worth relying on. The sand is decent at mid-to-low tide and largely disappears at high water. Most importantly, the currents around St Davids Head are strong and the cove is more exposed than it looks — this is a paddling, rockpooling and picnic beach rather than a place to swim out. If you want a guarded swim, use Whitesands and come here for the peace.

The setting is the payoff. Carn Llidi rises behind you, Ramsey Island and the Bitches tide race sit offshore, and the headland above the cove holds the Coetan Arthur burial chamber and the ramparts of an Iron Age promontory fort. The circular walk from Whitesands over Carn Llidi and back around St Davids Head via Porthmelgan is, for a couple of hours' effort, about as good as coastal walking gets in Wales. Take water and take your rubbish home.