Coasteering in Pembrokeshire
Swimming, scrambling and jumping along the foot of a sea cliff — invented on the St Davids coast in the 1980s and still best done there.
- Season
- April to October
- Experience
- No experience needed
- With children
- Yes, with care
- Dogs
- Leave at home
Coasteering is a made-up word for a very old idea: moving along the bottom edge of a sea cliff by whatever means the rock and the water allow. You swim the deep bits, scramble the ledges, get pushed around by the swell in the gullies, and jump back in where the depth is right. There is no boat, no board and nothing to fall off — the sea is the equipment.
It was developed here. Guides working out of St Davids in the 1980s put a name to what local climbers and surfers had been doing informally, and TYF, still operating in the city, are credited with coining the term and turning it into something you could book. That history matters practically as well as historically: this stretch of coast has more people who genuinely know it than anywhere else in Britain.
The classic ground is the St Davids peninsula and the north coast beyond it. Abereiddi's Blue Lagoon — a slate quarry deliberately breached to let the sea in when the workings closed — is the most photographed venue in the county, sheltered enough to run when the open coast is unworkable, and deep enough that it has hosted cliff diving competitions. The cliffs either side of Whitesands and around Porthmelgan give more committing, more exposed sessions, and Caerfai is the usual option when the wind swings north. Operators also run from the Tenby side, on limestone rather than volcanic rock, which feels completely different underfoot.
A session usually runs two and a half to three hours from the car park and back. You will spend a lot of it in the water and less of it jumping than the photographs suggest. Expect to be briefed on the beach, to get in early so the cold stops being a shock, and to travel maybe half a mile of coast in the time — it is slow going, which is the point. Jumps are graded and always optional; a good guide offers you three heights and doesn't ask twice.
Come between late spring and early autumn. The sea is at its warmest in late August and September, which is a month or two behind the air, so the September sessions are often the most comfortable of the year. Sessions run in rain without much complaint. They get cancelled for swell and for wind, sometimes at short notice, which is worth knowing if you have driven a long way for it.
What catches people out: how cold the first swim is even in a 5mm wetsuit; how tiring it is to be pushed about by moving water for two hours; and how different guided and unguided coasteering are as propositions. The second is not a cheaper version of the first. Tidal cut-off in a cove with vertical walls is the specific way this coast hurts people, and it is not obvious from the cliff top. Book a guide.
Go straight afterwards to somewhere with hot food. You will be hungrier than you expect.
Before you go
This is the activity that most rewards going guided. A qualified operator reads the swell, the tide and the state of the rock, knows which jumps are deep enough on the day, and carries a plan for getting you out. Unguided, the same coast is genuinely dangerous: you can be swept onto rock by a set wave, be cut off by a rising tide in a cove with no exit, or jump into water that was deep last month and isn't now. Sea temperature here runs about 8-15°C for most of the year, so cold water shock is a real risk even in a wetsuit — the first minute of the first swim is the one that catches people. Jumps are always optional and no decent guide will push you off anything. From late July, expect jellyfish, mostly harmless barrel and moon jellies but occasionally compass and lion's mane, which sting.
Kit
Operators provide the wetsuit, buoyancy aid, helmet and usually old trainers or wetsuit boots. Bring a swimming costume to wear underneath, a towel, and something warm and dry for afterwards. Nothing loose in pockets — you will lose it.
Cost
A guided half-day session with all the kit included sits in the same bracket as a decent meal out for two. Under-16 rates are usually lower.
Where to do it
Dogs all yearAbereiddi & the Blue Lagoon
Black sand, a flooded slate quarry of improbable blue-green, and coasteering's most famous jump-off.
Caerfai Bay
St Davids' walk-to beach: purple-tinged sandstone cliffs, a steep flight of steps and clean sand at low water.
Martin's Haven
The slipway for the Skomer boats rather than a beach — shingle, seals, and the gateway to Britain's first marine nature reserve.
Porthmelgan
The quiet cove ten minutes north of Whitesands — sand at low tide, no facilities, and currents that deserve respect.
Traeth Llyfn
A big sandy cove between Abereiddi and Porthgain, reached by a steel staircase bolted to the cliff — and cut off at high tide.
Whitesands Bay (Porth Mawr)
St Davids' big Blue Flag surf beach beneath Carn Llidi — sand, swell and sunsets at the end of Wales.
Towns and villages to base yourself in
Businesses near these spots
The right sort of business within a few miles of the places above. We take no commission from any of them and this isn't a ranking — check qualifications, insurance and group sizes yourself.
Tyf Adventure and Hire
Activities18 Heol Fawr, St Davids, SA62 6SD
- Website
- tyf.com
East Nolton Riding Stables
ActivitiesNewsurf
ActivitiesBrewers Army Surplus
ActivitiesMountain Warehouse
ActivitiesFishguard Road, Haverfordwest, SA61 2PY
Step-free access
Bunkers Hill Farm
ActivitiesWalks along the same coast
Abereiddi to Porthgain and the Blue Lagoon
A short, spectacular cliff walk between two abandoned quarry harbours, past the flooded slate pit everyone photographs.
3 miles · 1½ hours each way · Easy
Porthgain to Whitesands Bay
From an industrial harbour past the Blue Lagoon and round the wild north side of the St Davids peninsula to the county's most popular beach.
8 miles · 4½–5 hours · Moderate
St Davids Head from Whitesands Bay
Round the headland at the far west of Wales, past an Iron Age fort and a 5,000-year-old burial chamber, with Ramsey Island offshore.
4 miles · 2–3 hours · Moderate
Coasteering: common questions
Can children do coasteering in Pembrokeshire?
Family sessions are common and operators pick gentler routes for them, but every operator sets its own minimum age and it varies — ask when you book rather than turning up hopeful. Children need to be genuinely happy in deep moving water, not just able to swim a length in a pool.
When is the season for coasteering in Pembrokeshire?
Roughly April to October, with the warmest water and the calmest sea from July to late September.
What do I need to bring?
Operators provide the wetsuit, buoyancy aid, helmet and usually old trainers or wetsuit boots. Bring a swimming costume to wear underneath, a towel, and something warm and dry for afterwards. Nothing loose in pockets — you will lose it.
What does it cost?
A guided half-day session with all the kit included sits in the same bracket as a decent meal out for two. Under-16 rates are usually lower.
What are the risks?
This is the activity that most rewards going guided. A qualified operator reads the swell, the tide and the state of the rock, knows which jumps are deep enough on the day, and carries a plan for getting you out. Unguided, the same coast is genuinely dangerous: you can be swept onto rock by a set wave, be cut off by a rising tide in a cove with no exit, or jump into water that was deep last month and isn't now. Sea temperature here runs about 8-15°C for most of the year, so cold water shock is a real risk even in a wetsuit — the first minute of the first swim is the one that catches people. Jumps are always optional and no decent guide will push you off anything. From late July, expect jellyfish, mostly harmless barrel and moon jellies but occasionally compass and lion's mane, which sting.
Answers are generated from what we actually hold in our database and refreshed as it changes. Opening hours, dog rules and prices move — check with the venue before you travel.