Coast Path Stays in St Davids

The St Davids peninsula holds the Coast Path's most celebrated miles, and a base here means walking them from the door rather than a car park. The classic circuits: Caerfai–St Non's–Porthclais (the saint's coast, gentle, superb evening light), Whitesands–St Davids Head–Coetan Arthur (wilder, heathery, an Iron Age landscape barely changed), and the full Solva to Whitesands traverse using the seasonal Celtic Coaster shuttle to close the loop.

Walkers' logistics matter here: the city's compact centre restocks and feeds you without a drive, and the peninsula's paths radiate so you can pick a leeward coast on windy days. The stays below are chosen for walkers — drying space, early self-catered starts, path access on foot — and each listing notes its distance to the nearest path junction. April–June brings the wildflowers and seabird traffic; September–October the seal pups below the cliffs.

The sections, from the door

Two of the stays here sit on a small development a mile from the city where the path is a short walk: St Davids Long House (single-storey, two king bedrooms, a walled garden) and St Davids Farmhouse (five bedrooms, a former harbour master's residence), both with Porthclais harbour down the lane and the pebble cove at Porthlysgi by lane and field. From Porthclais the classic evening loop runs east past St Non's to Caerfai Bay and back through the city; west, the path rounds the peninsula to Whitesands, where the RNLI patrol from Easter through to October half term and the Authority is explicit about the currents beyond the flags. The Whitesands to Solva and St Davids Head walks are written up with distances and tide notes. North of the city, Tresare Barn at Square and Compass puts Abercastle, Porthgain and the Blue Lagoon on the Porthgain to Whitesands section, with a pub within half a mile.

Walkers' logistics

The Celtic Coaster bus closes the loops in season so you can walk one way and ride back; the Coast Path guide has the timetable links and the where-to-stay-for-the-path guide covers the county end to end. Two things to plan around: the National Park car parks at Whitesands and Porthclais charge a flat tariff, so a base you can walk from saves a daily fee, and the city's shops shut early out of season, so the self-catered start is the reliable one. April to June for the flowers and seabirds; September to October for the seal pups below the cliffs and the emptiest path of the year.