The Pembrokeshire Coast Path: What It's Actually Like

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs about 186 miles from St Dogmaels in the north to Amroth in the south. It opened in 1970 as one of Britain's National Trails and now forms part of the Wales Coast Path.

Two numbers explain it better than the mileage. It has roughly 35,000 feet of ascent — more than Everest from sea level — and almost none of that comes in hills. It comes in the hundred-odd valleys the path drops into and climbs straight back out of, most of them between fifty and two hundred feet, one after another, all day.

That is the single thing walkers get wrong. It is not a flat coastal stroll.

You don't have to walk all of it

Most people never do, and the path is arguably better as a series of day walks than as a through-hike. The bus network along the coast is built for exactly this: walk one way, ride back.

Our walks are split into three kinds, and the walks index filters them:

• Coast Path stages — linear sections between two points on the path
• Circulars — out along the coast, back inland, no transport needed
• There-and-back — short linear walks to a specific thing

The best day sections

Stack Rocks to St Govan's Chapel — four miles, easy, and the most spectacular limestone coast in Wales: the Green Bridge of Wales, the Elegug Stacks and a thirteenth-century chapel wedged into a cleft in the cliff. It crosses the Castlemartin firing range, so check the range is open before you set off — it closes for live firing and the notices are published in advance.

St Davids Head from Whitesands — four miles, circular, an Iron Age promontory fort, a neolithic burial chamber and, on a clear day, Ireland.

Abereiddi to Porthgain — three miles each way, easy, past the Blue Lagoon, the ruined slate workings and Traeth Llyfn, finishing at a harbour with a pub in it. Probably the best short walk in the county.

Solva to Newgale — five miles and graded strenuous despite the distance, which tells you everything about how this path measures difficulty.

Marloes Peninsula and the Deer Park — six miles, circular, with Marloes Sands, the Skomer boats at Martin's Haven and seals below the cliffs from late summer.

Ceibwr Bay to Newport — seven strenuous miles along the emptiest, highest section of the whole trail. Witches' Cauldron, Foel-y-Ffridd, and very few people.

Walking the whole thing

Most people take 10 to 15 days. Twelve is common; fewer than ten means long days with a lot of ascent.

Direction. South to north (Amroth first) puts the prevailing south-westerly at your back and saves the wildest scenery for the end. North to south gets the hardest sections done while you're fresh. Both are defensible; more people go south to north.

When. April to June is the best of it — wildflowers, seabirds on the cliffs, long light and dry ground. September is the quiet alternative, with seals pupping. July and August mean full accommodation and busy beaches. Winter is possible but the days are short and sections get genuinely dangerous in wind.

Accommodation is the constraint, not the walking. There are long stretches with nothing, the Castlemartin range section has no facilities at all, and rooms in the honeypots book out months ahead. Walking the Coast Path: where to stay works through it section by section.

What catches people out

The valleys. Covered above, and worth repeating. Budget on the ascent figure, not the mileage.

Tides. Several beach crossings and low-level alternatives are tide-dependent — Sandy Haven and the Gann near Dale are the classic ones, and getting them wrong means a long inland detour rather than a soaking. Check before you plan the day, not on the morning.

Wind. The cliff edge is unfenced almost everywhere. In a strong westerly, sections that are trivial in calm weather are not.

Dogs. Fine on the path, but much of it crosses grazed clifftop with sheep and cattle, and the drop is right there. Lead on, without exception. If cattle approach and you're with a dog, let it go — it will outrun them and you won't.

Water and food. Assume nothing between villages. Several sections have no tap, no shop and no phone signal for hours; the mobile signal guide is blunt about where.

Safety

The path is safe if treated seriously and unforgiving if not. Every year people are cut off by tides, blown over on cliff edges, or caught out by how much longer a section took than they expected.

On this coast, 999 and ask for the Coastguard — not an ambulance, not mountain rescue. The emergency guide covers what to say and where the nearest help actually is.

Getting to the start

There's no station at either end. The nearest railheads are Fishguard and Haverfordwest for the north and Kilgetty or Tenby for the south, with coastal bus services linking the path. Getting to Pembrokeshire covers the routes, and getting around without a car covers the buses that make day sections work.