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

The Coast Path's one flaw is that it's linear — walk it and you either retrace every step or engineer a bus back. These eleven walks solve that: proper loops, back to the car by a different route, drawn from our full walks collection with honest distances and difficulty. Shortest first.

Pembroke Castle and the Mill Pond — 2 miles, easy. A town loop around the moat-like millpond with the castle above you the whole way. Pushchair-friendly and finishes by the cafés.

Dinas Island — 3 miles, moderate. Not an island but walks like one: a circuit of the great headland between Newport and Fishguard, seals below in autumn, and a pub at Pwllgwaelod when you land.

Carew Castle, the Tidal Mill and the Millpond — 3 miles, easy. Flat, waterside, and past two of the county's best buildings — the castle and the only restored tidal mill in Wales.

The Gwaun Valley Woodland Walk — 3.5 miles, easy. Oak woods in the county's strange hidden valley. The sheltered choice for a windy day — and Bessie's is up the road for afterwards.

St Davids Head from Whitesands — 4 miles, moderate. The most ancient-feeling loop in Wales: a Neolithic burial chamber, an Iron Age wall, and Carn Llidi's little summit if you fancy the scramble.

Foel Cwmcerwyn and the Preseli Ridge — 4.5 miles, moderate. Pembrokeshire's rooftop. On a clear day the view runs from Snowdonia to Somerset; in the mist, it's all bluestones and legend.

Barafundle Bay and the Bosherston Lily Ponds — 5 miles, moderate. The county's greatest-hits circuit: lily ponds, Barafundle, the cliffs at Stackpole Head, tea at the quay. If you do one loop from this list, do this one — our Barafundle guide covers the practicalities.

Carn Ingli from Newport — 5 miles, moderate. Up the "mountain of angels" from the town, back by lanes. The summit rocks hold an Iron Age fort and the best view of the Nevern estuary.

The Marloes Peninsula and Deer Park — 6 miles, moderate. Marloes Sands, Skomer across the Sound, and — in season — puffin rafts and seal pups below the Deer Park cliffs.

Llys-y-frân Reservoir Circular — 7.5 miles, moderate. The inland one: a full lap of the lake on a proper path, immune to coastal gales, with the country park's café at the dam.

The Dale Peninsula and St Ann's Head — 8 miles, moderate. The longest loop here: the lighthouse at St Ann's Head, the beach where Henry Tudor landed in 1485, and Dale's pub exactly where you need it at the end.

Every one of these welcomes dogs — leads near livestock and cliff edges, as ever, and check the beach dog rules where a loop touches sand. For the linear glories the loops can't reach, the Coast Path planner and its stage-by-stage accommodation guide take over.