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

St Davids is a city the size of a village, with a cathedral in a hollow and the whole of the peninsula's coast within a couple of miles in every direction. Where you stay decides what's on your doorstep: the cathedral and the restaurants, or the surf at Whitesands, or a cove at the bottom of a field. None of it is far apart, but the difference between a two-minute and a forty-minute walk matters when you've got a dog, a board or a pushchair.

We list every hotel, B&B, hostel and campsite we hold a record for around St Davids, from open data. This is how they sit on the map.

The city itself

Cross Square and the streets off it — Nun Street, High Street, Goat Street — are the whole of St Davids. Everything is walkable in five minutes: the cathedral and Bishop's Palace down the steps, the pubs and restaurants, Oriel y Parc at the top of town where the buses stop.

Nun Street is the traditional row of guest houses — Glendower, Alandale, Y Glennydd and Y Gorlan — and the St Davids Cross Hotel is on the square. The Coach House and The Grove are on the High Street. The two country-house hotels are on the edges: Twr y Felin, built around a windmill tower on the Caerfai road, and Warpool Court above the cliffs on the St Non's side. Ramsey House is out on Lower Moor towards Porthclais.

Best for anyone without a car (the T11 bus from Haverfordwest and the summer coastal shuttle both stop here), for eating out every night, and for a wet week when you want the cathedral and the galleries rather than a beach.

Parking in the city is the usual small-town problem: check whether a guest house has a space before you assume it. The main car park is at Oriel y Parc.

Caerfai and Porthclais: a cove at the bottom of the field

A mile south of the square, the land runs out. Caerfai Bay is the city's own beach — a walk down the lane, sand at low tide, steps at the end — and Caerfai Farm and Glan y Mor campsites sit on the cliff above it. Round the headland, Porthclais is the tiny harbour where the kayaks launch, with Porthclais Farm Campsite above. St Non's, between the two, is a retreat centre with rooms above the chapel and well.

Best for campers, Coast Path walkers, and anyone who wants to be able to walk into the city for supper and back under stars.

Whitesands and St Justinian's: the surf side

Two miles north-west, Whitesands Bay is the peninsula's big beach and its surf beach, with St Davids Head walking off the north end. The YHA St Davids is a short walk from the sand; Whitesands Camping, Lleithyr Farm, the Dunes and the Camping and Motorhome Club's Lleithyr Meadow are all on the lanes behind it. Whitesands Bay Hotel is on the beach road. West of the beach, Pencarnan Farm and Rhosson Ganol look across to Ramsey and are the nearest pitches to the boat departures at St Justinian's.

Best for surfers, families who want the beach all day, and Ramsey Island trips. The trade-off is that the city is a forty-minute walk or a drive, and the Whitesands car park is a paid one that fills.

Solva: the harbour village three miles east

Solva is the alternative base — a proper harbour village with its own pubs and galleries, Solva Camping above the harbour, and Llety Farm on the road out. The Solva to Newgale and Whitesands to Solva walks make it a Coast Path stop in its own right, and the bus to St Davids takes ten minutes.

When to book, and the honest bit

St Davids sells out earlier than anywhere in the county except Tenby, and the Cathedral Festival at the end of May and the Really Wild Festival in June push it further. Camping on the peninsula is Easter to October; the hostel and hotels are year-round.

We haven't stayed in any of these places and we don't rate them. The list is everything the map holds, with websites where it has them, so you can check a place against your own dates. For live availability there's a Booking.com search on this page and on the St Davids hotel list; it's a paid link, marked as one.