South Coast of Wales

The dramatic and often cliffy south coast of Wales is famously beautiful.  A popular walking trail traces the Pembrokeshire coast and traverses countless sandy beaches, our favorite of which is found in a cove beneath the ruins of Manorbier Castle near Tenby.  It is little known, being tucked out of the way and impossible to reach by train, but tide pools, clear water, soft sand, rocks to climb and the surrounding green countryside make it paradise on Earth.

Brecon Beacons National Park

This stunning area of natural beauty lies just inside the border of southern Wales.  Come here if you want to hike the steep "beacons," command views of lakes and Welsh farmland, and watch ravens as they perform aerial acrobatics (including doing flips and flying up-side-down!)

Snowdonia National Park

What a spot!  Nestled among the "mountains" of Snowdonia National Park, North Wales is a collection of the most charming little towns, all unpronouncable: Betws-e-Coed, Llanwrst, Llangglen, you get the idea.  The area has a rich heritage of both Welsh and English history, and astounding castles everywhere!  In Conwy, for example, you can visit one of the best preserved Medieval towns in Europe - complete with the entire Medieval fortress wall around the tiny town (you can walk around on top of the wall).  North Wales is also famous for its ice cream, male choirs (prepare to be blown away), and sheep.  Many of the towns were built on the slate industry -- and you can tell that slate was their major natural resource.  The fences, homes, and grand buildings are all made of thin pieces of stacked slate.  It is a place of natural beauty and haunting scenery, and the seriously cool Welsh language, which is alive and well!

Tintern Abbey

JMW Turner's paintings and William Wordsworth's poem helped make this place famous, and it is one of the most dramatic, majestic, and eerie of all the ruined abbeys in Britain.  Nestled in the rolling hills of South Wales, it is picturesque, magnificent, haunting, and humbling!  Just standing among the ruins gives you a sense of being outside of time, and with a bit of imagination the experience gets even better.

Tintern Abbey was a bustling and wealthy monastery until Henry VIII destroyed it during the dissolution (1536).  Henry had started the Church of England and thought the monasteries were becoming too wealthy and corrupt.  What better place to cash in on funds he desperately needed? He dissolved the monasteries, often killing the monks who resisted, and took all the land and wealth for himself.  Tintern Abbey is a shell of its former self - literally.  It is a glorious building without a ceiling, with grass for a floor, and stairs that lead nowhere.  

Recommended Reading: 

William Wordsworth's "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," here.

About JMW Turner, here.