Photo: Gordon Hatton (CC BY-SA 2.0)Sir Benfro
Britain's only coastal national park county: 186 miles of Coast Path, over 50 beaches, castles, islands and harbour villages at the wild western tip of Wales.
Pembrokeshire occupies the far south-west corner of Wales, and almost its entire coastline lies within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park — the UK's only predominantly coastal national park. That single fact explains most of what makes a holiday here special: development has been kept in check for seventy years, so what you get is clifftop, beach, island and harbour in something close to their natural state.
The county divides usefully in two. The south — Tenby, Saundersfoot, Manorbier, the Bosherston lily ponds and Barafundle Bay — is softer, sunnier and more set up for families, with the classic seaside resorts and most of the big attractions. The north — St Davids, Solva, Fishguard, Newport and the Preseli Hills — is wilder and quieter, with bigger cliffs, darker skies and a strong Welsh-speaking culture. The Milford Haven waterway splits the two, guarded by Pembroke's medieval castle.
Offshore, the islands make Pembrokeshire a wildlife destination of international rank: Skomer's puffins (April to July) and Manx shearwaters, Grassholm's gannets, Ramsey's seals and seabird cliffs. Boat trips run from St Justinians, Martin's Haven and Tenby harbour. Add surf at Freshwater West and Newgale, coasteering (invented here, at St Davids), and the Coast Path linking all of it, and you can see why people come back annually for decades.
Tenby · Sleeps 4
Family-run boutique glamping on a headland inside the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, with sea views along the coastline near Tenby.
4.8 · 51 reviews on Hoseasons
Bookable via Hoseasons
Manorbier · Sleeps 8
Beach village with direct access onto the private sands of Lydstep Haven, an indoor pool and sweeping bay views between Tenby and Manorbier.
4.0 · 1 review on Hoseasons
Bookable via Hoseasons
Manorbier · Sleeps 4
Elegant lodges with private hot tubs, fast Wi-Fi and EV charging at Manorbier, minutes from the castle, the beach and Tenby.
5.0 · 55 reviews on Hoseasons
Bookable via Hoseasons
Narberth · Sleeps 4
Luxury lodges in secluded woodland with a nine-hole golf course, a mile from Narberth's independent shops and restaurants.
4.6 · 55 reviews on Hoseasons
Bookable via Hoseasons
Fishguard & Goodwick · Sleeps 6
Elevated holiday park with panoramic views over Fishguard Bay, a seasonal outdoor heated pool and the coast path on the doorstep.
4.4 · 79 reviews on Hoseasons
Bookable via Hoseasons
Read the full guide: Where to Stay in Pembrokeshire: Choosing an Area, Not a Postcode
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Dogs all yearThe golden cove with no road — half a mile's clifftop walk from Stackpole Quay, and regularly voted among Britain's best beaches.
St Davids' big Blue Flag surf beach beneath Carn Llidi — sand, swell and sunsets at the end of Wales.
Dogs all yearA vast, wild strand of folded rock and clean sand — many regulars' pick for the most beautiful beach in Wales.
Dogs all yearWales's premier surf beach: huge Atlantic sands, dunes, film fame — and genuinely dangerous swimming. Walk it, surf it, respect it.
Dogs all yearSt Brides Bay's most useful family beach: wide flat sand, lifeguards in season, and everything you need within a minute of your towel.
Dogs all yearA big sandy cove between Abereiddi and Porthgain, reached by a steel staircase bolted to the cliff — and cut off at high tide.
Pubs, restaurants, cafés, attractions and activities across the county.
Photo: Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)A landmark 1813 water mill on the Eastern Cleddau, rescued and reopened in 2023 as a heritage dining destination — worth the visit for the building alone.
A restored WWII airfield control tower beside Carew — volunteer-run, packed with wartime detail, and moving in a way big museums rarely manage.
Coasteering-only specialists at Abereiddy — scramble, swim and jump around the Blue Lagoon coast with a company that does nothing else.
Photo: Colin Bell (CC BY-SA 2.0)A Victorian coastal fort at Angle restored by volunteers into a working museum of the Haven's defences — guns, ramparts, café and all.
Photo: Waterborough (CC BY-SA 3.0)Twin drum towers on a crag above the Teifi gorge — the castle that launched a thousand Romantic paintings, Turner's included.
A working-farm adventure park near Slebech — woodland trails, play areas, animals and Wales's most cheerful frisbee-golf course.
A short, spectacular cliff walk between two abandoned quarry harbours, past the flooded slate pit everyone photographs.
3 miles · 1½ hours each way · Easy
The first stage of the Coast Path, through old coal country and tunnels cut for a tramway, ending inside Tenby's town walls.
7 miles · 3½–4 hours · Moderate
The best short walk in south Pembrokeshire: a cliff path to Barafundle, then inland along three flooded limestone valleys full of lilies.
5 miles · 2½–3½ hours · Moderate
A short stage with the best pub stop on the path a mile in, then quiet cliffs to a cove with a church almost on the beach.
5.5 miles · 3 hours · Moderate
A flat, waymarked circuit of the millpond with a castle at one end and the only restored tidal mill in Wales at the other.
3 miles · 1½ hours · Easy
Straight up from the town onto a 337m crag covered by an Iron Age hillfort, with the whole of Newport Bay laid out below.
5 miles · 3 hours · Moderate