St Davids Cathedral
Photo via Wikimedia Commons — licence & author.
Wales' holiest site, in Britain's smallest city
This is a quick reference, not a full walked guide. The facts below — location, parking, grid reference and access — are maintained from our dataset, but we haven't published our own first-hand write-up of St Davids Cathedral yet. Know it well? Help us get it right.
A magnificent 12th-century cathedral hidden in a hollow beside its ruined Bishop's Palace, built on the site of St David's own 6th-century monastery — the spiritual heart of Wales, set in its tiniest city. It's free to enter (a donation is welcome), and the purple-grey stone and gently sloping nave floor are unforgettable. Combine it with the wild walk out to St Davids Head and a swim at Whitesands Bay; the little two-street city is a gem in its own right.
Getting there
St Davids Cathedral is in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Pembrokeshire. It's roughly 0 min (0 miles) from St Davids , and within reach of Fishguard (43 min) and Pembroke (58 min).
The nearest parking: Pay-and-display car parks in St Davids. Grid reference SM 752 253 — works on any OS map and doesn't need a phone signal.
Good to know
Free to enter (donation). Combine with the wild St Davids Head walk and Whitesands Bay; the city itself is a two-street gem.
On the map
View St Davids Cathedral on OpenStreetMap ↗, or open it in the Explore Wales trip planner to add it to a day out with drive times and offline maps.
Staying over?
St Davids makes a relaxed base for exploring the area — worth staying over to catch an early start or a golden-hour finish.
Browse places to stay near St Davids ↗ opens Booking.com — needs signalNearby places
Make St Davids Cathedral part of a day out
Add it to a trip in the free Explore Wales planner — chained drive times, weather, campsite suggestions, and offline maps for when the signal drops.