With over 700 miles of beautiful coastline in Wales, the visitor can find a good number of what we Welsh call "traeth" (beach) or "lan y mor" (seaside) locations.
In North Wales, including the famed Snowdonia, some of the world’s most acclaimed and beautiful beaches can be found. One of these is the seaside and beach area of Rhyl, where one can find donkeys for riding along the soft sands of one of the cleanest beach environments to be found anywhere as one explores the numerous seaside attractions and amusement rides.
Also found in this region is the ENCAM Seaside Award winning Llandudno and crescent-shaped Colwyn Bay seasides. The ENCAM Seaside Award is given for having outstanding water quality. Llandudno also features the Tidy Britain Seaside Award winning beach at North Shore with its trademark sand dunes.
Llandudno Beach
West of Llandudno is the Isle of Anglesey, labeled officially an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Hidden bays and beaches are strewn about the Isle of Anglesey, making it a perennial favourite for those with a high sense of adventure.
The miles of sandy beaches along the coast of Snowdonia perfectly contrast with the region’s lofty mountain peaks, plunging valleys, and wide-open moorlands. Snowdonia was used as a natural fortress by the fierce Welsh warrior princes of the Middle Ages as they defended themselves against English and Viking incursions. Snowdonia was also historically an area rich in slate, copper, and gold.
Mid-Wales contains some of the world’s finest waters and beaches for surfing. One of the most popular among these is the seaside college town of Aberystwyth’s "Harbour Trap". Locals warn, however, that the powerful rip tides of "the Trap" make it prohibitive as a place for novice surfers.
Another highly popular and beautiful surfers’ spot is the small bay of Llangrannog in Ceredigion. Experienced surfers of Llandgrannog love the waters and the waves that rise out of the southwest, but they warn newcomers of the bay’s large, jagged rocks and the fact that high tide gets too steep for surfing in the sheltered area.
Aberystwyth’s Bath Rocks provides surfers with some of the biggest riding waves to be found. Bath Rocks derives its name from the fact that the beach head is just opposite of an ancient bath house. According to one Southbourne surfer, "Bath Rocks takes the cake as the best wave in Aberystwyth for sure. It’s always hollow, very shallow, and about 100 times more fun than the crowded, rippy Harbour Trap".
Aberystwyth Seaside Resort
Aberystwyth itself is a great combination seaside resort, university city, and shopping haven, with wide beaches to walk and sandy coves to be discovered.
Morfa Bychan is a small bay featuring a rocky beach with some sandy patches and several peaks. The nearby large caravan park makes Morfa Bychan a very popular travel destination and hence can be very crowded, but surfers still tout it. Body boarders love its clear, clean waters.
South Wales houses nearly 70% of the Welsh population. One of the most popular beach and seaside regions to visit in the south is the Gower. You’ll find an array of nearly thirty sandy beaches, bays of crystal waters, and fascinating coves awaiting discovery. On the southern and western coasts of the Gower are found variations of sandy beaches and steep cliffs of limestone. By the northern coast is the Loughor Estuary with its many nature reserves.
Tor Bay, Gower Peninsula
Another fantastic coastal feature of South Wales is the Glamorgan Heritage Coast. Stretching from Penarth to Porthcawl, the visitor here encounters rugged cliffs, beaches of golden sand, and quaintly pretty small towns and villages. In addition to surfing, sailing, swimming, fishing, organized watersports, and golf can all be found in Porthcawl. One can also attend shows at Porthcawl’s seafront theatre the Grand Pavilion, known the world over for its annual "Elvis" festival.
Porthcawl can be found on what is locally named "South Wales’ Golden Coast". Rest Bay, right around the headland, is the most popular surfers’ destination in southern Wales. Rest Bay was awarded the European Blue Flag in addition to the Tidy Britain Award, while the "Promenade Princess" road train travels around the resort from Coney Beach to Rest Bay and back again.
In South Wales’ famous Ogmore coastal region, the carboniferous limestone can now be seen in full exposure to wind and weathering. What is today the carport-including Ogmore-by-Sea, was thought to be once located on the northern edge of a dry lake basin. From time to time there was a salt lake which took up the area between Ogmore and the Mendips.