Getting Around Pembrokeshire Without a Car

Pembrokeshire does car-free better than most rural British counties, and the reason is a small set of coastal bus services built for walkers rather than commuters. Used properly they change what a week here can be. Used carelessly they leave you on a clifftop at six o'clock with eight miles to go.

The four coastal services

These are the long-standing ones, and between them they cover the parts of the coast the trains don't reach.

The Puffin Shuttle works the St Brides Bay coast — the St Davids end down through Solva, Newgale, Broad Haven and Little Haven towards Marloes and Dale.

The Strumble Shuttle runs the north-west corner between Fishguard and St Davids, out around Strumble Head and through the small quarry harbours at Trefin and Porthgain.

The Poppit Rocket covers the north coast, roughly Cardigan and St Dogmaels through Moylegrove and Newport towards Fishguard.

The Coastal Cruiser loops the Castlemartin peninsula in the south — Pembroke, Pembroke Dock, Angle, Freshwater West, Bosherston and Stackpole.

Always check current timetables before you plan a day around one. Frequencies, routes and operating days get revised, and a service that ran four times a day two summers ago may not now.

The trick they exist for

The Coast Path is linear and your car isn't. The classic problem is that a good day's walk finishes fifteen miles by road from where you parked.

So: bus out, walk back. Catch the bus in the morning to the far end, then walk home along the path at whatever pace you like. Do it in that order rather than the other way round, because a missed bus at nine in the morning costs you an hour, and a missed bus at five costs you the evening.

Stretches this opens up include Abereiddi to Porthgain, Whitesands to Solva, Solva to Newgale and Stack Rocks to St Govan's.

Tell the driver where you're going. On the rural services they know the path access points better than the stop names suggest.

Seasonality, plainly

These are seasonal services. In high summer they run properly. In spring and autumn they thin out. In winter some are reduced to a couple of days a week and some don't run at all.

That isn't a criticism — they exist because a national park subsidises them, not because there's a commercial market for a bus to Strumble Head in January. Plan a February walking trip around a car or around linear routes you can retrace.

Trains

The Tenby to Pembroke Dock branch is the best public transport in the county for walkers, because the stations sit on the coast. Manorbier to Tenby and Amroth to Tenby both work as train walks with no timetable anxiety at all. Some of the small stations are request stops.

Taxis

Scarce, and not something to improvise. Outside Haverfordwest, Tenby and Pembroke Dock there is no rank to walk to, no reliable app coverage and nothing to flag down. Book ahead, book the return leg at the same time, and expect to be turned down on a Saturday night in August. Your accommodation will have the number of whoever actually turns up locally.

Cycling

The lanes are quiet and the scenery is the reward, but they're narrow, walled with high earth banks that kill visibility, and the hills are short and unreasonably steep. The Celtic Trail national route crosses the county for a signed option. Space for bikes on the trains is limited — reserve it.

Where to base yourself

Car-free works best in a town you can walk out of: Tenby, St Davids, Newport, Solva, Saundersfoot or Fishguard. A cottage down a farm lane is a different proposition entirely.

More in practical information and getting to Pembrokeshire.