South Wales
From the coastal national park of Pembrokeshire and the first-ever AONB on the Gower, up into the Brecon Beacons and round to Cardiff's ring of castles. Newer to the site than the north — fewer full guides so far, more going up — but the marquee places are all here.
19 places across 4 regions.
Pembrokeshire 6 places
Britain's only coastal national park — a 186-mile path around cliffs, coves and the multicoloured harbour town of Tenby. Pembrokeshire holds Barafundle, regularly voted the country's finest beach, the hermit's chapel of St Govan, the electric-blue lagoon at Abereiddi, and the tiny cathedral city of St Davids.
Gower 4 places
A thumb of land west of Swansea that in 1956 became the very first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Britain — and still one of the best. The Gower packs the show-stopping sweep of Rhossili, the serpent island of Worm's Head, the postcard dunes of Three Cliffs and the ice-cream promenade of Mumbles into a small, sunny peninsula.
Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) 5 places
The great sweep of red-sandstone mountains across southern Wales — a national park of flat-topped peaks, glacial lakes and dark skies. Bannau Brycheiniog crowns the country with Pen y Fan, hides a whole 'Waterfall Country' of falls you can walk behind, and props the dramatic ruin of Carreg Cennen on its western crag.
South-East Wales 4 places
The populous, castle-studded corner around the capital. South-East Wales runs from Cardiff's 2,000-year-old castle and the fairytale turrets of Castell Coch, through moated Caerphilly — Britain's second-largest castle — to the roofless Gothic majesty of Tintern Abbey on its bend of the River Wye.
Plan a trip across South Wales
The free Explore Wales planner chains places into day trips and weekends with drive times, weather and offline maps.