Photo: Thomas Nicholls (Public domain)Upton Castle Gardens
CastleThirty-five acres of gardens and arboretum around a private medieval castle on the Cleddau — the county's quietest fine garden.
- Website
- uptoncastle.com
Things to do in Pembroke
Within about 5 miles of Pembroke we list 29 places to go — 3 castles, 6 attractions, 3 museums and galleries, 2 nature reserves and viewpoints, plus 5 beaches and 5 walks.
The ones we've written up in full are Upton Castle Gardens, Pembroke Castle, Lamphey Bishop's Palace — start there if you only have a day.
For a wet day there are 3 indoor options nearby: Pembroke Museum, Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre, Carew Cheriton Control Tower. Opening hours shrink hard out of season.
Everything below is ordered by distance from Pembroke, with the places we've written about in full listed first. Nothing on this page is paid for.
Castles and ruins near Pembroke
Pembrokeshire has more castles per mile than almost anywhere in Britain, because for four hundred years it was a frontier. Some are ticketed and roofed; some are a gatehouse in a field with nobody taking money.
Photo: Thomas Nicholls (Public domain)3 miles from Pembroke
Photo: Gordon Hatton (CC BY-SA 2.0)Defensible Barracks
Castle1.9 miles from Pembroke
Benton Castle
Castle4 miles from Pembroke
Attractions and days out near Pembroke
The paid days out — the ones that fill a whole morning and have a car park and a café.
Photo: Monkeyrustler at English Wikipedia (Public domain)Pembroke Castle
AttractionWest Wales's mightiest fortress and birthplace of Henry VII — huge round keep, wall-walks and Wogan's Cavern beneath.
Hygiene 5/5Dogs welcome
600 yards from Pembroke
Photo: Vale Holidays (CC BY 2.0)2.0 miles from Pembroke
Photo: Chris Allen (CC BY-SA 2.0)4 miles from Pembroke
Photo: Karen Sawyer (CC BY-SA 4.0)Carew Castle & Tidal Mill
AttractionNorman castle turned Elizabethan mansion on the Carew river, with Wales's only restored tidal mill and a fine circular walk.
Dogs welcome
4 miles from Pembroke
Bosherston Lily Ponds
AttractionFlooded limestone valleys of water lilies (best in June) winding down to Broad Haven South — otters at quiet hours.
Dogs welcome
4 miles from Pembroke
Photo: LinguisticDemographer at English Wikipedia (Public domain)Croes Caeriw
Attraction4 miles from Pembroke
Museums and galleries near Pembroke
Mostly indoors, which on this coast is a category of its own. Opening hours narrow sharply out of season, so ring before you drive.
300 yards from Pembroke
Photo: Jaggery (CC BY-SA 2.0)2.0 miles from Pembroke
A restored WWII airfield control tower beside Carew — volunteer-run, packed with wartime detail, and moving in a way big museums rarely manage.
4 miles from Pembroke
Nature reserves and viewpoints near Pembroke
Free, open whenever you turn up, and where a lot of the best of Pembrokeshire actually is.
Stackpole National Nature Reserve
Nature reserveThe National Nature Reserve wrapping Barafundle, the Bosherston lily ponds and Stackpole Warren — otters, all eight UK bat species recorded, and the finest limestone coast in Wales.
4 miles from Pembroke
Pwllcrochan Pond and Marshland
Nature reserve4 miles from Pembroke
Ancient and historic sites near Pembroke
Burial chambers, standing stones, holy wells and iron-age forts. Most are on open land with no gate and no charge; a few sit on working farms, so use the marked access.
Henry VII Statue, Pembroke
Historic siteStatue of Pembroke's most famous son beneath the castle where he was born in 1457 — the Tudor dynasty started here.
500 yards from Pembroke
Brunel Statue, Neyland
Historic siteStatue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel at Neyland marina — the town was the great engineer's Atlantic railway terminus, and the waterfront trail tells the story.
2.5 miles from Pembroke
Greenala Point Iron Age Fort
Ancient siteGreat banked promontory fort at Greenala Point on the Stackpole coast — the Coast Path between Stackpole Quay and Freshwater East runs through its ramparts.
- Website
- coflein.gov.uk
3 miles from Pembroke
The Harold Stone (Bosherston)
Ancient siteBosherston's own Harold Stone, standing in a field near the lily ponds — same name, same legend, different millennium of quiet.
4 miles from Pembroke
Lawrenny Castle
Historic siteSite of Lawrenny Castle, the great Victorian mansion demolished in the 1950s — the terraced viewpoint above the Cleddau survives, and it's some view.
4 miles from Pembroke
Photo: ceridwen (CC BY-SA 2.0)Scoveston Fort
Historic siteThe only inland fort of the Haven's Victorian defence ring, moated and massive, north of Neyland — currently closed to entry but a striking presence on the footpath map.
4 miles from Pembroke
The Hanging Stone
Ancient siteBurial chamber hidden in a hedgerow near Burton on the Daugleddau — a proper dolmen in deepest farm country, for completists who've done the famous ones.
- Website
- megalithic.co.uk
4 miles from Pembroke
Compass
Historic site2.0 miles from Pembroke
cowshed
Historic site3 miles from Pembroke
Flamish Chimney
Historic site4 miles from Pembroke
Activities, golf and the water near Pembroke
Coasteering, surf schools, kayaking, boat trips, and the two things everyone forgets to book until it's too late.
Outer Reef Surf School
ActivitiesLong-running surf school teaching the south county's beaches — lessons, camps and coasteering out of Pembroke.
- Website
- outerreefsurfschool.com
300 yards from Pembroke
2.2 miles from Pembroke
Brunel Quay, Neyland, SA73 1PY
Step-free access
- Phone
- +44 1646 601601
- Website
- yachthavens.com
2.8 miles from Pembroke
The upper, tidal basin of Neyland's marina on the Cleddau — boats, Brunel history and the start of the riverside trail.
3 miles from Pembroke
Enterprise Cycles
Activities4 miles from Pembroke
Beaches near Pembroke
Dogs all yearFreshwater East
A sheltered, dune-backed crescent facing south — easy parking, safe paddling and far fewer people than Tenby.
Dogs all yearStackpole Quay
Reputedly Britain's smallest harbour, with a National Trust car park, café and toilets — and the start of the walk to Barafundle.
Dogs all yearBarafundle Bay
The golden cove with no road — half a mile's clifftop walk from Stackpole Quay, and regularly voted among Britain's best beaches.
Dogs all yearSwanlake Bay
A sandy bay between Freshwater East and Manorbier with no road access at all — usually empty, and entirely tide-dependent.
Dogs all yearBroad Haven South
White sand, Church Rock offshore and the lily ponds behind — Bosherston's beautiful back door to the sea.
Compare every beach near Pembroke — dogs, lifeguards, parking →
Walks from Pembroke
Pembroke Castle and the Mill Pond
A short, level loop round the water beneath one of the great castles of Britain, good for an hour with a pushchair or a dog.
2 miles · 1 hour · Easy
Pembroke to West Angle Bay
The longest and least-walked stage: quiet shores of the Pembroke River, the industrial edge of the waterway, then the birdlife of Angle Bay and the forts at the harbour mouth.
13.5 miles · 6–7 hours · Moderate
Freshwater East to Manorbier
A short, sharp stage between two good beaches, taking in a bay you can only reach on foot and finishing under a Norman castle.
4.5 miles · 2½ hours · Moderate