Guides & inspiration

Written by people who actually walk these paths and drink in these pubs. Our editorial policy is simple: honest advice first, bookings second — read how we work.

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Where to Stay in Tenby: An Honest Local Guide

Inside the walls, on the Esplanade, or out by the golf links. What each part of Tenby costs you in parking and stairs, and when to book.

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Pembrokeshire Cottages With Hot Tubs: How to Choose Well

The best hot-tub week here is usually in February. What to check before you book, why nearly all of them are inland, and what owners will tell you if you ask.

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The Best Dog-Friendly Beaches in Pembrokeshire (and Where to Stay)

Four beaches take dogs all year. Most of the busy ones ban them from 1 May to 30 September. Plan around that and the rest of the week looks after itself.

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Walking the Pembrokeshire Coast Path: Where to Stay, Section by Section

186 miles, about 35,000 feet of ascent, and one section that shuts for live firing. Fixed base or nightly moves, the buses, and the stretches worth planning around.

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The Pembrokeshire Pubs Worth Planning a Walk Around

Twelve pubs where the setting is the point — tidal tracks, quarry harbours, front-room bars and beer served from a jug.

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Dog-Friendly Pembrokeshire: Beaches, Pubs and the Rules That Catch People Out

Which beaches ban dogs in summer, which never do, where you can actually get a pint with a wet spaniel, and how to plan a week around it.

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Pembrokeshire With Kids: The Twenty-Minute Triangle

Almost every big family attraction in the county sits inside one small triangle. Base yourself in it and the wet-weather plan is a short drive, not a day trip.

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Barafundle Bay: Getting There, and What to Do Afterwards

No road, no car park, no facilities — that's the whole point. The walk in, the tide, and the pub at the end.

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Pembrokeshire in the Rain: A Wet Day, Solved

It will rain at some point — this is west Wales. The castles with roofs, the sheltered walks, the museums, the cathedral, and the case for getting wet on purpose.

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The Pembrokeshire Islands: Skomer, Ramsey, Caldey and the Rest

Puffins, shearwaters, gannets and monks. Which island to pick, when the boats run, and why Skomer permits vanish in minutes.

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Pembrokeshire Month by Month: When to Come for What

Puffins land in April and leave in July. Seals pup from late August. The lilies flower in June. Here's the year.

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Skomer Island: Puffins, Permits and the Boat That Might Not Run

The best puffin colony in Britain, reached by a short crossing that gets cancelled constantly. What's on the island, and how to give yourself a real chance of landing.

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A Week in Pembrokeshire: Day by Day, With Two Bases

Seven days, split between the south and the north, so you never drive more than half an hour to the day's walk. Includes what to do when the boat is cancelled.

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Getting to Pembrokeshire: Roads, Trains, Coaches and Airports

The drive takes longer than the satnav says, and here's why. Plus which trains go where, and the honest position on arriving without a car.

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Getting Around Pembrokeshire Without a Car

The coastal buses exist so walkers can do one-way stretches of the Coast Path. How the walk-out-bus-back trick works, and what it can't do in winter.

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Pembrokeshire in an Emergency: Coastguard, Tides and Where to Get Help

For anything on the coast, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. Most visitors don't know that. Plus tide cut-offs, rips, cold water and where A&E is.

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The Best Beaches in Pembrokeshire, and Who Each One Is For

Forty-five beaches, and no single best one. What each of the great ones is actually good at — and which to avoid with a toddler, a dog or a rough forecast.

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Where to Stay in Pembrokeshire: Choosing an Area, Not a Postcode

The county is bigger than it looks and the roads are slower than the map says. Which area suits which holiday — and the mistake almost everyone makes first.

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The Pembrokeshire Coast Path: What It's Actually Like

186 miles, more ascent than Everest, and the best day-walks in Britain if you never do the whole thing. How it's structured, which sections to pick, and what catches people out.

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The Best Walks in Pembrokeshire, by How Much Time You Have

An hour, half a day or a full one — the walks worth driving for, with honest grading. Pembrokeshire's easy walks are easy and its moderate ones are not.

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Puffins in Pembrokeshire: When and Where to See Them

Mid-April to late July, and almost entirely on one island. When the puffins are on Skomer, how landing tickets work, and what to do when the boat is cancelled.

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Dogs on Pembrokeshire Beaches: The Rules, Beach by Beach

Only two Pembrokeshire beaches ban dogs completely in summer. Eleven restrict part of the sand. Fifty don't restrict anything at all. Here's the full list.

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Pembrokeshire in Autumn: Seal Pups, Empty Beaches and Half Term

September's warm sea and quiet sand, seal pups on the beaches, every dog ban lifting on 1 October, and what actually works for October half term.

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The Castles of Pembrokeshire: Which Ones Are Worth Your Day

A Tudor king's birthplace, a castle with its own tidal mill, free Welsh ruins and a fortress you can sleep in — the county's castles, ranked by what they give you.

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Train, Bus and Ferry Times in Pembrokeshire: Where to Check

Live departure boards for every Pembrokeshire station, who to trust for Welsh bus times, and how the Irish ferries and island boats actually work.

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The Complete Guide to Pembrokeshire

Britain's only coastal national park, explained properly: which coast suits you, the twelve places that define the county, the best of 64 beaches, the Coast Path, the wildlife calendar and where to stay.

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Pembrokeshire's Coastal Buses: Walk One Way, Ride Back

The Coastal Cruiser, Puffin Shuttle, Strumble Shuttle and Celtic Coaster exist so you can walk the Coast Path without walking back. How the network works in 2026.

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Haven in Pembrokeshire: Kiln Park, Lydstep Beach & Penally Court

Three very different Haven parks share the Tenby corner of the coast: the full-resort Kiln Park, Lydstep with its own private bay, and tiny, quiet Penally Court. Which is yours?

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Hotels in Pembrokeshire: Where They Are and What to Expect

Pembrokeshire is a cottage county, so its hotels are few and clustered. Where they are, town by town, and how to choose between a seafront Victorian, a country house and a chain.

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Camping in Pembrokeshire: The Coastal Sites, Area by Area

Clifftop farm fields above Whitesands and Caerfai, the big family parks behind Tenby, quiet sites on the north coast. Where the campsites are and how the areas differ.

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Where to Stay in St Davids: The Peninsula, Area by Area

In the city, out at Whitesands, on a clifftop campsite or down the road in Solva. What each part of the St Davids peninsula gives you, and what it costs you in walking.

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Pembrokeshire in Winter: Christmas, New Year and What's Open

Short days, rain on about half of them, and a lot shut — but free National Park parking, every beach open to dogs and an empty Coast Path. The practical guide to a Pembrokeshire winter, with this year's dates.

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Bluestone: An Honest Guide to the Resort at Canaston Wood

Five hundred acres of wood between Narberth and the Cleddau, a subtropical waterpark, and not a beach in sight. What Bluestone actually is, what a break includes, and who it suits.

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Where to Stay in Solva: Harbour, Hill or the Farms Behind

Lower Solva by the boats, Upper Solva on the hill, or a farm three miles inland with the whole peninsula in reach. What each gives you, and what the tide does to the harbour.

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Where to Stay in Marloes: The Village Behind Marloes Sands

One street, one pub, and Marloes Sands a mile and a half down the lane. Where the beds are on the Marloes peninsula, how far the Skomer boats are, and what a stay here is actually like.

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Where to Stay in Little Haven: The Cove, the Pubs and the Tide

A cove village of painted cottages with three pubs and a beach that vanishes at high tide. Where the beds are in Little Haven, and why Broad Haven next door is the honest answer for many trips.

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Where to Stay in Trefin: The North Coast Village a Field from the Path

A Welsh-speaking village on the quiet north coast, with a pub, a hostel, a campsite and Porthgain and the Blue Lagoon along the Coast Path. Where to stay in and around Trefin, and how it differs from St Davids.

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Where to Stay in Dale: The Watersports Village and St Ann's Head

A sheltered bay, a pub on the sea wall, and the open Atlantic fifteen minutes' walk across the peninsula. Where the beds are in Dale, out at St Ann's Head lighthouse, and back at St Ishmaels.

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Hotels in Narberth: The Grove, Plas Hyfred and the Beds Within Fifteen Minutes

Narberth has one country-house hotel outside it, one small hotel in it, and a High Street of guest rooms. What each is, what's within a quarter of an hour, and the cottages and lodges people book instead.

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Where to Stay in Lydstep: The Private Bay, the Headland and the Cottages Behind

A sheltered south-facing bay inside a holiday park, a National Trust headland that is free to anyone, and the caverns under it. What staying at Lydstep actually gets you, and what it doesn't.

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Where to Stay in Manorbier: The Castle, the Surf Beach and the Train Halt

A Norman castle above a red-sand bay with a dependable break, a pub, a shop and a station. Where the beds are in Manorbier, and why you can do it without a car.

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Which Pembrokeshire Beaches Have the Cleanest Water? Eleven Years of Data

Twenty-one of Pembrokeshire's twenty-nine designated bathing waters have been rated Excellent every year since 2015, and none has ever been Poor. But four are below their own best, and one has been Sufficient for three years running.

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Romantic Weekend Breaks in Pembrokeshire: The Considered Guide

Off-season is the good season for two. Harbour villages, an early dark, a fire that works, and a table booked before you set off.

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Sea View Stays in Pembrokeshire: Where the View Is Real

Which coast faces the sunset, where the genuine view properties are, and how to tell a sea view from a sea glimpse before you pay for it.

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Where to Eat in Tenby

Twenty-three pubs and dozens of kitchens inside a walled town of 4,700 people. How to choose, and when to book.

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Pembrokeshire's Castles: A Two-Day Route

The Landsker line explained, and a route through the five castles actually worth your time — plus the Victorian sea forts nobody visits.

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The Preseli Hills: Where Stonehenge Came From

The bluestones were quarried here, and a dismantled circle at Waun Mawn may be where they stood first. A day among Britain's densest prehistory.

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Pembrokeshire on Screen: Where They Filmed What

Shell Cottage from Harry Potter, Snow White's beach, Dr Who's alien coastline. Where to stand, and what else is there.

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Reading the Map: Welsh Place Names in Pembrokeshire

Aber, cwm, carn, traeth, llan. Learn eight words and half the map explains itself — plus how to say the hard ones.

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Ramsey Island: Choughs, Seals and the Tide Race Off St Davids

An RSPB island of high cliffs and autumn seal pups, reached across one of the fiercest tidal races in Britain. What to expect, and when to go.

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Caldey Island: A Monastery, a Beach and the Easiest Island Day Here

Twenty minutes off Tenby and a completely different pace. A working Cistercian monastery, a good beach, and the one island trip that works with small children.

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Skokholm and Grassholm: The Two Islands You Can't Just Turn Up To

Britain's first bird observatory, and a bare rock eleven miles out that turns white with gannets. One takes planning; the other you can only look at.

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Boat Trips in Pembrokeshire: Which One to Book

Landing trips, wildlife cruises, gannet runs and fast boats through the tide races. What each type is like, and what actually gets cancelled.

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Three Days in Pembrokeshire: A Plan That Doesn't Waste Them

One base, three days, no long drives. A day-by-day plan for the south, with an honest note on how slow the roads really are.

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A Long Weekend in North Pembrokeshire

Three days based around St Davids or Newport: cathedral, cliffs, a quarry harbour and the Preselis. Written for a Friday-night arrival.

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A Long Weekend in South Pembrokeshire

Three days around Tenby, Stackpole and Pembroke: the best beaches in Wales, two enormous castles, and a firing range that decides one of your afternoons.

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A Rainy Week in Pembrokeshire: The Day-by-Day Version

The forecast is bad for seven days. Here's a plan that isn't just soft play and retail parks — with the walks that improve in the wet.

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Pembrokeshire Ferries to Ireland: Fishguard and Pembroke Dock

Two ports, both sailing to Rosslare. What the terminals are actually like, foot passenger versus car, and why Fishguard suits people without one.

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Where to Stay for the Pembroke Dock Ferry to Rosslare

The Irish Ferries sailings from Pembroke Dock leave at 02:45 and 14:45, and the evening boat from Rosslare gets in at 00:46. Where to sleep either side of the awkward ones.

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Mobile Signal and Wifi in Pembrokeshire: An Honest Assessment

Fine in the towns, genuinely poor in the north-west, the Preselis and most of the coves. What to download before you leave, and why cottage wifi varies.

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Driving and Parking in Pembrokeshire

Passing place etiquette, farm traffic, the Cleddau bridge bottleneck, and the plain truth that coastal car parks are full by mid-morning in August.

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Where to See Seals in Pembrokeshire (and When)

Grey seals pup in Pembrokeshire from August to December, busiest in September and October. Where to see them, how to watch without harming them, and when they have gone.

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Free Things to Do in Pembrokeshire That Are Actually Worth Doing

The best of Pembrokeshire — the coast, the beaches, the burial chambers, a cathedral — costs nothing. What's genuinely free, and where the car park catches you.

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Wild Swimming in Pembrokeshire: The Blue Lagoon and Beyond

The Blue Lagoon, sheltered coves that behave like pools, and the beaches you should never swim from. Where to get in, and the safety part read first.

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Where to Stay for Ironman Wales 2027 (Sunday 19 September)

Ironman Wales returns to Tenby on Sunday 19 September 2027. Where racers and supporters should stay, what the 2026 road closures looked like, and how to reach Tenby by train without meeting a closed road.

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Crabbing in Pembrokeshire: The Best Harbour Walls and How to Do It Right

Tenby, Solva and Saundersfoot harbours are the classic spots. What to bring, what the tide needs to be doing, and the handling rules that keep the crabs alive.

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Supermarkets in Tenby: Where to Do the Holiday Food Shop

The shops in town, the closest one to Kiln Park, and where the nearest big Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Lidl actually are when you need a proper trolley run.

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Fish and Chips in Pembrokeshire: The Chippies, Town by Town

From the Fecci dynasty in Tenby to harbour-wall chips at Saundersfoot and Goodwick — every chippy we hold a verified record for, town by town.

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The Best Circular Walks in Pembrokeshire, From 2 to 8 Miles

Eleven loops where you never retrace a step — castle-and-millpond strolls, island headlands, a mountain ridge and the county's greatest hits circuit.

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Getting to Barafundle Bay: Parking, the Walk and What to Bring

There's no road, no café and no toilets — that's the point. Where to park at Stackpole Quay, how far the walk really is, and how to do the day properly.

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The Blue Lagoon at Abereiddi: How to Visit, Swim and Stay Safe

A flooded slate quarry with unreasonably turquoise water, a Red Bull cliff-diving past, and rules worth respecting. Parking, the walk in, and how to do it properly.

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The Pembrokeshire Producers Trail: Vineyards, Gin, Rum and Seaweed

Two vineyards, a valley brewery, seaweed rum, Preseli gin, monastic chocolate and Wales's first seaweed farm — the county's makers, threaded into days out.

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Where to Stay in Saundersfoot: Harbour, Hillside or Holiday Park

The village and harbour, the spa hotel on the hill, the holiday parks behind, or Wisemans Bridge and Amroth along the tunnels. How Saundersfoot splits up and who each part suits.

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Where to Stay in Narberth: The Food Town and the Country Around It

In the town for the restaurants and shops, at the Grove or Bluestone outside it, or on a farm in the country between. Narberth is inland — here's why that's a base, not a compromise.

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Luxury Stays in Pembrokeshire: What the Word Means Here, and Where to Look

'Luxury' on a cottage listing can mean a hot tub or a glass wall over the Atlantic. How to read it, where the genuinely high-end stays cluster, and the hotel alternatives.

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Large Holiday Houses in Pembrokeshire: Sleeping 10+ Without the Arguments

Three families, a big birthday, a walking club. What to check on a big-house listing — bedrooms versus sofa beds, parking for four cars, the pub within walking distance — and where the big houses are.

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Where to Stay in Newport (Pembrokeshire): Town, Parrog or the Hills

The little north-coast town under Carn Ingli: East Street's restaurants with rooms, the Parrog and the sands, campsites on the estuary, and the Gwaun Valley behind. Not the other Newport.

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Where to Stay in Fishguard and Goodwick: Harbour, Hill or Ferry Port

Lower Town's old harbour, the Market Square up the hill, Goodwick by the ferry, and the wild coast to Strumble Head. Where Fishguard's beds are and who each part suits.

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Where to Stay in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock: Castle Town, Ferry Town, Coast

Pembroke's one-street town under the castle, Pembroke Dock for the Irish ferry, Lamphey and Freshwater East, and the Stackpole coast fifteen minutes south. Where the beds are and what each gets you.

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Where to Stay in Haverfordwest: The County Town as a Base

Nobody comes to Pembrokeshire for Haverfordwest, and that's exactly why it works: central, on the railway, every bus starts here, and twenty minutes from three coasts. The hotels, and the case for staying inland.

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Where to Stay on St Brides Bay: Broad Haven, Little Haven, Druidston and Nolton

The big flat beach at Broad Haven, the pub cove at Little Haven, the clifftop hotel at Druidston, and Nolton and Newgale to the north. The middle of the county's west coast, village by village.

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Where to Stay for Long Course Weekend Wales (2–4 July 2027)

Swim on Friday, bike on Saturday, run on Sunday: Long Course Weekend Wales returns on 2–4 July 2027. Which base suits which event, and why you don't need to stay in Tenby.

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Where to Stay for the Tenby Boxing Day Swim

Swimmers in fancy dress run into the sea off North Beach every 26 December. Where to stay, where to watch from, and what is and isn't yet known about the 2026 swim.