Photo: Lucy Sheers (CC BY-SA 4.0)A free, atmospheric Welsh castle in the trees above Nevern — one of the few in Wales built by Welsh princes, excavated and explained on-site.
Things to do in Dinas Cross
Within about 5 miles of Dinas Cross we list 45 places to go — 4 castles, 5 attractions, 2 museums and galleries, 2 nature reserves and viewpoints, plus 6 beaches and 5 walks.
The ones we've written up in full are Nevern Castle (Castell Nanhyfer), Dyffryn Fernant Garden, Ffald-y-Brenin Christian Retreat Centre — start there if you only have a day.
For a wet day there are 2 indoor options nearby: London House Gallery, The Last Invasion Tapestry Gallery. Opening hours shrink hard out of season.
Everything below is ordered by distance from Dinas Cross, with the places we've written about in full listed first. Nothing on this page is paid for.
Castles and ruins near Dinas Cross
Pembrokeshire has more castles per mile than almost anywhere in Britain, because for four hundred years it was a frontier. Some are ticketed and roofed; some are a gatehouse in a field with nobody taking money.
Photo: Lucy Sheers (CC BY-SA 4.0)4 miles from Dinas Cross
Photo: ceridwen (CC BY-SA 2.0)Newport Castle
Castle2.7 miles from Dinas Cross
Newport Castle (site)
Castle2.8 miles from Dinas Cross
Fishguard Fort
Castle3 miles from Dinas Cross
Attractions and days out near Dinas Cross
The paid days out — the ones that fill a whole morning and have a car park and a café.
Dyffryn Fernant Garden
AttractionSix acres of exuberant modern garden conjured from a boggy valley between Fishguard and Dinas — one of Wales's most admired private gardens, open in season.
- Website
- dyffrynfernant.co.uk
1.6 miles from Dinas Cross
Ffald-y-Brenin Christian Retreat Centre
AttractionPontfaen, SA65 9UA
- Phone
- +44 1348 881419
- Website
- ffald-y-brenin.org
3 miles from Dinas Cross
3 miles from Dinas Cross
Theatr Gwaun
AttractionFishguard's community-run cinema and live venue on West Street — films, live theatre and music in the north county's only picture house.
- Website
- theatrgwaun.com
4 miles from Dinas Cross
Photo: Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)Sea Môr Aquarium at Ocean Lab
AttractionSea Trust Wales's small aquarium on Goodwick seafront — local marine life in touch-tank range, run by the people who count the Strumble porpoises.
- Website
- seatrust.org.uk
4 miles from Dinas Cross
Museums and galleries near Dinas Cross
Mostly indoors, which on this coast is a category of its own. Opening hours narrow sharply out of season, so ring before you drive.
London House Gallery
GalleryIndependent gallery in Fishguard — part of the town's quietly thriving arts corner.
4 miles from Dinas Cross
Photo: Eirian Evans (CC BY-SA 2.0)A 30-metre embroidered telling of the 1797 French landing near Fishguard — the last invasion of Britain — stitched by 77 local volunteers, free to see.
4 miles from Dinas Cross
Nature reserves and viewpoints near Dinas Cross
Free, open whenever you turn up, and where a lot of the best of Pembrokeshire actually is.
Dinas Head
ViewpointThe summit of Dinas Island — a 463 ft headland-top with the whole north coast laid out from Fishguard to Newport; the circular walk round it is a county classic.
1.7 miles from Dinas Cross
Gwaun Valley Waterfall
ViewpointSmall waterfall in the deep oakwoods of the Gwaun — a quiet cascade stop along the valley's lanes and paths.
- Website
- howwetravel.co.uk
4 miles from Dinas Cross
Ancient and historic sites near Dinas Cross
Burial chambers, standing stones, holy wells and iron-age forts. Most are on open land with no gate and no charge; a few sit on working farms, so use the marked access.
St Brynach's Ruined Church, Cwm-yr-Eglwys
Ancient siteThe storm-broken church on the beach at Cwm-yr-Eglwys — only the belfry wall survived the great gale of 1859, and it makes the cove one of the most photographed corners of the coast.
0.8 miles from Dinas Cross
Parc-y-Meirw
Ancient site'Field of the Dead' — the longest prehistoric stone row in Wales, four stones still standing in a Gwaun valley hedgebank near Llanychaer.
2.0 miles from Dinas Cross
Carn Briw
Ancient siteLarge Bronze Age cairn on the shoulder of Carn Ingli above Newport — the mountain's summit marker for four thousand years.
2.9 miles from Dinas Cross
Photo: Lis Burke (CC BY-SA 2.0)Carreg Coetan Arthur
Ancient siteNeat Neolithic dolmen tucked among Newport's bungalows — a 5,500-year-old tomb in a residential cul-de-sac, capstone still balanced. Free, Cadw, always open.
2.9 miles from Dinas Cross
Gorsedd Circle
Ancient siteFishguard's gorsedd stone circle — raised for the National Eisteddfod, the modern druidic tradition's answer to the county's ancient rings.
4 miles from Dinas Cross
Trellyffaint Burial Chamber
Ancient siteDolmen near Nevern whose capstone is pocked with mysterious cupmarks — the 'toads' town' chamber of local legend.
5 miles from Dinas Cross
Garn Wnda Burial Chamber
Ancient siteBurial chamber high on the rocks above Goodwick — a short scramble to a tomb with the whole of Fishguard Bay below.
5 miles from Dinas Cross
Trellwyn Fawr Standing Stone
Ancient site2.0 miles from Dinas Cross
Parc Maenhir
Ancient site2.0 miles from Dinas Cross
Carn Ffoi Hillfort
Ancient site2.2 miles from Dinas Cross
Photo: ceridwen (CC BY-SA 2.0)Newport Castle Ruins
Historic site2.7 miles from Dinas Cross
Carn Llwyd
Ancient site3 miles from Dinas Cross
Showing the 12 closest of 31.
Activities, golf and the water near Dinas Cross
Coasteering, surf schools, kayaking, boat trips, and the two things everyone forgets to book until it's too late.
Links golf beside Newport Sands with the estuary and Carn Ingli for a backdrop — one of Wales's older courses, founded 1925.
2.9 miles from Dinas Cross
Beaches near Dinas Cross
Dogs all yearCwm-yr-Eglwys
A tiny sheltered cove with the ruined bell tower of a storm-wrecked church standing on the beach — the most photographed spot on this coast.
Dogs all yearPwllgwaelod
A small sheltered cove on the west side of Dinas Island, with parking, a pub and the easiest good walk in north Pembrokeshire.
Dogs all yearAberfforest
A wooded, stream-fed cove between Newport and Cwm-yr-Eglwys that most visitors walk straight past.
Dogs all yearNewport Parrog
Newport's town-side shore — old shipping quays, estuary sand at low tide, and the best sunset bench in town.
Dogs all yearNewport Sands (Traeth Mawr)
The north's golden mile across the Nevern estuary — big sky, big sand, dogs welcome on the main sweep all year.
Dogs all yearGoodwick Sands
A sheltered town beach in Fishguard Bay beside the ferry harbour — handy, calm, and a good dolphin-watching spot.
Compare every beach near Dinas Cross — dogs, lifeguards, parking →
Walks from Dinas Cross
Dinas Island Head
A short, steep circuit of a headland that isn't quite an island, with the ruin of a storm-wrecked church at one end and a beach pub at the other.
3 miles · 1½–2 hours · Moderate
The Gwaun Valley Woodland Walk
A sheltered walk through ancient oak woodland in a glacial meltwater channel, in a valley that still keeps the old New Year in January.
3.5 miles · 1½–2 hours · Easy
Newport to Fishguard
A long day linking two towns, over Dinas Head or through the valley behind it, finishing in the harbour where Under Milk Wood was filmed.
12 miles · 6–7 hours · Strenuous