EXPLORE THE BEAUTY OF THE WELSH COASTAL PATH
The Wales Coast Path is a recognised long-distance trail that runs along or near Wales' coastline. The 870-mile walkway was hailed as the world's first dedicated coast route to run the entire length of a country's coastline.
The North Wales Coast
From Holyhead to Chester, the North Wales Coastal Route offers coastal villages, highland landscapes, and sea views. This scenic route takes you along the coast of North Wales to the mediaeval city of Chester. It's a wonderful opportunity to appreciate Britain's rich heritage and beautiful scenery.
The journey begins in Holyhead, Anglesey, in the mediaeval harbour town of Holyhead.
After that, you'll head east onto the main island, where you'll find charming country lanes. Before crossing the majestic Menai Bridge to the mainland, you'll be able to take in views of Snowdonia's dramatic mountains.
Before going east, a pit stop in Bangor is a good idea.
Following a brief portion of the magnificent Lôn Las Ogwen railway route, peaceful lanes lead to Llanfairfechan, passing over the Pen y Clip headland. There are breathtaking views of the sea from this location.
Isle of Anglesey
Thousands of seagulls wheel over South Stack's cliffs, the sea churns below — who'd have believed you were only two miles from Holyhead? On this popular route, the South Stack RSPB Reserve provides intimate encounters with the natives — razorbills, guillemots, and possibly a peregrine falcon – as well as a cup of tea before the return.
The Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path is a long-distance path that runs along the island's coastline. The walkway is designed mostly for pedestrians, but bikers and horseback riders can also enjoy some sections.
The Coastal Path on Anglesey is part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that encompasses 95 percent of the island's coastline. Farmland, coastal heath, dunes, salt marsh, foreshore, cliffs, and a few small pockets of woods make up the terrain.
Llŷn Peninsula
There's a lot of walking and exploration to be done here. On the road to Porthmadog, you'll pass past little fishing communities, estuaries, and miles of sandy beaches. This is a little-known wonderland.
From Bangor to Porthmadog, the complete Llyn Coast Path walking tour takes you 111 miles around the beautiful Llyn Peninsula. The track skirts around the peninsula's shoreline on meandering trails through wild and lonely landscape, following in the footsteps of ancient pilgrims on their way out to Bardsey Island.
This peaceful corner of Wales is home to ancient woodlands, rocky clifftops, and sandy beaches, as well as several fascinating historic sites and a plethora of charming towns and villages, all of which are surrounded by breathtaking views, making this section of the Wales Coast Path a truly memorable walking adventure.
Snowdonia and Ceredigion coast
The Snowdonia & Ceredigion part of the Wales Coast Path follows the spectacular sweep of Cardigan Bay all year, allowing walkers to see dolphins and porpoises, seals, and a variety of marine birds.
The Ceredigion Heritage Coast, with its charming seaside towns and villages and stunning beaches, stretches from the dunes of Ynyslas, a few miles north of Aberystwyth, to the mediaeval market town of Cardigan in the south.
Pembrokeshire coast
Pembrokeshire coast
Starting in Cardigan and concluding in Amroth, the path (which is designated as a National Trail in Pembrokeshire) travels through some of Britain's most stunning and breathtaking landscape, including 58 beaches, 14 harbours, and the UK's smallest city, St Davids.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path was the first National Trail in Wales, opening in 1970. The Trail not only provides stunning coastal scenery and animals to walkers, but it also traverses through an environment that has been shaped by humans for ages.
As evidenced by the small coastal communities and cultivated landscape, this is a region shaped mostly by fishing and farming.
These communities were not only food producers, but they also served as a link between Pembrokeshire and what was, in the days before road and rail, the sea's principal highway.
Carmarthen Bay and Gower
Pembrey Country Park, set within the bay, is 500 acres of planted woodlands and parks that leads down to Burry Port's little harbour. The Gower Peninsula's gorgeous coastline, with its award-winning golden beaches, is another fantastic highlight. Ten nature reserves, 24 Wildlife Trust reserves, 32 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and five Special Areas of Conservation can all be found in the area.
The Gower Peninsula and Carmarthenshire offer some of the best coastal walking in South Wales, rivalling even the Pembrokeshire National Park in terms of beauty and natural variety.
Historic ports, tranquil estuaries, and wonderful sandy beaches may be found throughout the Carmarthenshire coast, while the Gower Peninsula is a region of stunning and astonishingly varied beauty.
After walking the Gower Peninsula, it's clear why it was designated as Britain's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The Gower shoreline has been designated as a Heritage Coast, and three National Nature Reserves are located there.
The shoreline of Carmarthenshire is as diverse as its landscape, with the first section between Amroth and Pendine being the most difficult. Rugged cliffs give way to a sand and silt terrain beyond Pendine, which stretches all the way to Gower's famed Worm's Head.
South Wales Coast and Severn Estuary
Curlew and plover are numerous, and the estuary is one of only a few in the UK that can accommodate more than 100,000 wading birds at peak times. The Gwent Levels, a reclaimed salt marsh protected by sea defences and drained by manmade ditches known locally as reens, encompass the entire Newport coastline area.
The South Wales Coast Path/Severn Estuary represents the end of The Wales Coast Path and is home to the three huge cities of Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea. The Severn estuary is one of Europe's largest of its sort, and it's from here that you can see The Severn Bore, a massive surge wave with the world's second highest tidal range.
The estuarine environment, which is peppered with steelworks, power plants, and lighthouses, may explain why the stunning cliffscape is missed. The heritage coast's distinctive rock formations have been utilised in TV productions, including Doctor Who, where the coastline's stunning qualities have doubled as the surface of other planets.