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

Three days is not enough to see Pembrokeshire, and trying will ruin it. Pick one end of the county, stay put, and accept you'll come back.

This plan uses the south, because the concentration of good things per mile is highest there and the driving is shortest.

The driving reality first

The map lies. Pembrokeshire roads are single-carriageway, often single-track with passing places, and frequently behind a tractor. Crossing the county takes an hour and a half in practice, not the forty minutes it looks like.

The pinch point is the Cleddau bridge between Neyland and Pembroke Dock. It's the only crossing of the estuary; miss it and you're going the long way round through Haverfordwest. Everything in this plan stays on one side of it.

In August, car parks at the popular coves fill by mid-morning. Barafundle, Broad Haven South and Whitesands are all capable of being full by ten. Go early or go after four.

Where to stay

Tenby if you want to walk to dinner and don't mind the crowds. Manorbier, Lydstep or Freshwater East if you'd rather have a garden and a car space and be five minutes from the coast. Saundersfoot splits the difference and has more parking than Tenby.

For three nights, stay somewhere you can walk out from in the evening. Driving to dinner twice will annoy you.

Day 1 — Tenby and the walls

Morning. Arrive, park once, leave the car. Walk the walled town, the harbour and Castle Hill, and give Tenby Museum an hour if the weather is poor.

Afternoon. South Beach — a huge stretch of sand, so it takes a crowd better than most. Walk south towards Giltar Point and the numbers thin out fast.

Evening. Eat in town. Book if it's summer; the good places fill by seven.

Bear in mind most Pembrokeshire beaches restrict dogs from 1 May to 30 September, and the town beaches are among the restricted ones.

Day 2 — Stackpole

The best single day in south Pembrokeshire, and it barely involves the car.

Morning. Park at Stackpole Quay early and walk over the headland to Barafundle Bay. There is no road to it, which is exactly why it's still good.

Afternoon. Carry on to the Bosherston lily ponds and loop back — the Stackpole, Barafundle and lily ponds walk is the route. The lilies flower in June. Add Broad Haven South at the end if you've got the legs.

Evening. Freshwater West for sunset — a huge Atlantic beach, dangerous for swimming, superb for standing about. Eat back at your base.

Day 3 — castles, or the Green Bridge

Morning. Pembroke Castle is enormous and largely intact, and you want two hours for it.

Afternoon. Either Carew Castle and the tidal mill — the walk round the mill pond makes it an afternoon rather than a stop — or drive out to the Green Bridge of Wales and Stack Rocks on the Castlemartin range.

Important: Castlemartin is a live firing range. The road to Stack Rocks and the Green Bridge is closed when firing is on, which is most weekdays in practice. Check the published firing times before you set off, and have Carew as the backup.

Evening. Manorbier for the castle above the beach if there's light left, then home.

Longer trip? See the week-long itinerary or the northern long weekend.