Tintern Abbey

The soaring, roofless shell of a Cistercian abbey on a wooded bend of the River Wye — founded in 1131 and largely rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries, when its great church rose to the scale you see today. Abandoned at Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in 1536, it slowly became a romantic ruin, its tracery and vast window arches open to the sky. By the late 18th century it was a magnet for early tourists on the 'Wye Tour': Wordsworth wrote his famous 'Lines' near here in 1798, and Turner painted it more than once. It sits within the Wye Valley AONB, is glorious in autumn, and is floodlit on some evenings. Cadw charges admission, and there are riverside walks up from Chepstow.

Getting there

Tintern Abbey is in Wye Valley, Monmouthshire, South-East Wales. It's roughly 14 min (3.9 miles) from Chepstow , and within reach of Caerphilly (68 min) and Cardiff (72 min).

The nearest parking: Car park beside the abbey on the A466. Grid reference SO 533 000 — works on any OS map and doesn't need a phone signal.

Good to know

Go early or late for the light through the great east window. Combine with the Devil's Pulpit viewpoint walk above for the classic aerial view.

On the map

View Tintern Abbey 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?

Chepstow 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 Chepstow ↗ opens Booking.com — needs signal