Looking for the best beach in South Wales?? Whether you’re looking for beaches close to Cardiff, sandy beaches, surfing beaches or the best family beaches in South Wales, we’ve got you covered!
I grew up between South Wales and England and spent time living in Cardiff recently so I’ve seen my fair share of beautiful beaches in South Wales stretching from Cardiff, Glamorgan, Swansea Gower and the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast.
In this Wales travel blog, you’ll find a map of the best beaches in South Wales to help you plan a trip and beaches that are great for dogs, families, surfing, sand and more with a mixture of easily accessible beaches and hidden gems in South Wales!
Best Beaches in South Wales
For more ideas on things to do in South Wales and where to visit in South Wales, I have lots of blog posts to help you out:
Best Time to Visit Beaches in South Wales
We think of the beach and think of summer, and whilst the beaches in South Wales are one of the best places to be in the UK in summer, you can go to South Wales beaches all year round!
I love a winter beach walk during winter in Wales, especially on a dry, crisp and fresh day. Just make sure you’re dressed up for cold weather and wind with plenty of layers and footwear like wellies are great for winter beach walks in Wales!
Spring and Autumn are also lovely times to visit these nicest beaches in South Wales because you can often get nice weather this time of year and the beaches in Wales are not only great for sunbathing and being in the water. Not far from each of these beaches is the Wales Coastal Path, a path along the whole of the coast of Wales so you can easily pick up the footpath and go for a walk, or walk along the beach.
Come summer, the beaches in South Wales get very busy, especially on hot weekends so it’s best to get to them early to get parked near the beach and get a good spot!
Best South Wales Beaches that You Must Visit
South Wales and South West Wales are full of incredible beaches, you really can’t go wrong with many of them, but these are my recommended must-visit beaches in South Wales!
1. Manorbier Beach – Pembrokeshire
Manorbier Beach quickly became my favourite beach in Pembrokeshire and best beach in South Wales after visiting recently! This beach is a favourite with the locals too!
Manorbier Beach is not a huge beach but it has a good-sized sandy area to sit with rocks surrounding it. What makes it top of the list of the best beaches in South Wales for me is the water!
When I went, lots of children and adults were surfing, body boarding and paddle boarding on the gentle waves making it a safe beach for children to swim in South Wales and one of the top beaches for surfing in South Wales.
Manorbier Beach is great to visit even if you don’t want to enjoy the sand or water because the Wales Coastal Path runs right along it and you can walk in either direction to find more hidden beaches in South Wales!
Another positive to Manorbier Beach is the good-sized car park with toilet facilities and the cafes that are in Manorbier village nearby. Be sure to stop off at Manorbier Castle too!
Related Post: 15 BEST Beaches in Pembrokeshire To Visit & A Map!
2. Barafundle Bay – Pembrokeshire
Barafundle Bay is one of the best beaches in Wales! It is an award-winning beach so it has to be high on my list of the best beaches in South Wales.
I think what makes Barafundle Bay so great and so appealing is its slightly difficult location!
Getting to Barafundle Bay requires you to park at Stackpole Quay car park and then walk through 2 fields to get to the bay. Once there, there are no facilities such as toilets or a cafe.
Barafundle Bay is a soft sandy beach, perfect if you’re looking for the best sandy beaches in south Wales and it is a good size in length and depth, even on busy summer days!
It is good for swimming and watersports such as paddle boarding and kayaking. In high season you should be able to hire these at the beach.
Popular activities include cliff jumping from Stackpole Quay nearby and kayaking from Stackpole to Barafundle Bay meaning you can have a full adventure day out at this beautiful South Wales beach!
Related Post: How to Get to Barafundle Bay. Barafundle Bay Walk from Stackpole Quay!
3. Barry Island Beach – Barry
Barry Island is the most popular holiday resort and seaside town in South Wales and close to Cardiff so you know it has to have a good beach!
Barry Island Beach is right in the middle of the town and right in the middle of all the action with the Pleasure Park behind it, a promenade to walk along, colourful beach huts to see and plenty of places to eat, drink and shop!
Barry Island Beach is a sandy beach making it one of the few sandy beaches in South Wales! It’s a clean beach to visit and good for children and swimming.
It is also known as Whitmore Bay because this is the name of the bay of water the beach is in. So if you are looking for Whitmore Beach, this is Barry Island Beach!
Barry Beach does get very busy in the summertime and any time the sun shines in Wales and because of how commercialised Barry is, it’s not to everyone’s taste. However, if you are looking for an easy South Wales beach to visit with facilities and fun around you for the kids, this is the best choice!
Related Post: Barry Island Beaches Guide! 4 BEST Beaches in Barry To Visit!
4. Watch House Bay – Barry
If Barry is easy for you to get to in South Wales, the busy and commercialised beach of Barry Island Beach is not the only beach in the town to visit!
A much quieter beach in Barry is Watch House Bay, also known as Watch Tower Bay. As you leave the centre of Barry with all the shops, cafes and rides, this beach comes as quite a surprise as it is a beautiful, big, quiet, sandy beach!
I imagine Watch House Bay Beach gets busy in the summer time but when I went, although Barry Beach was pretty busy, this beach was deserted!
In the summer, it’s great for chilling on the sand and in the water but out of season, it’s perfect for a big walk, especially as one of the best beaches in South Wales for dogs as it would be a lovely dog walk!
This is a great beach in Barry to visit if you want to pop into Barry Island for some fun but you don’t want to stay on the crowded beach and instead want a quieter and more remote beach to visit!
5. Nash Point – Glamorgan
A hugely underrated part of Wales is the Glamorgan Heritage Coast! This part of the Wales Coastal Path between Cardiff and Swansea is full of amazing beaches in South Wales and coastal walks!
Nash Point is my favourite area on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast in South Wales because its beach is so unique and unlike many other beaches in South Wales!
It has a towering cliff edge and the rocks down at the beach are one of the best places in ways for fossil hunting in South Wales! If you have children who are into dinosaurs, this is a great family beach to visit in South Wales!
For more beaches in Wales to visit, see my other guides:
6. Broad Haven South Beach – Pembrokeshire
There are a few different beaches with the name Broad Haven in Pembrokeshire so be aware of this!
This beach is the one closest to Bosherston village and it’s not on many maps making it hard to find, but the plus of that is that it’s a secret South Wales beach and of course, many locals know about it!
The best way to find this beautiful South Wales beach on the map is to look for Trefalen car park or Church Rock which is a unique free-standing rock in the ocean and can be seen from the beach.
I stumbled upon Broad Haven South Beach whilst on a walk around Bosherston Lilly Ponds and I was so surprised and delighted by this soft sand beach with plenty of space! This is seriously one of the best places to visit in South Wales and definitely one of the best beaches!
It’s one of those beaches in Wales that is great on a sunny day, especially if you’re taking children, but it’s also good for a big winter walk with the dogs and therefore one of the best beaches in South Wales for dogs.
Related Post: Broad Haven South Beach Directions, Information & Things To Do.
7. Newgale Beach – Pembrokeshire
If you’re looking for the biggest beach in South Wales, Newgale Beach is at the top of this list!
Newgale Beach is almost 2 miles long and extremely wide! It is backed by a huge pebble bank that you have to walk up and over to get to the beach.
It’s a popular beach for kitesurfing and surfing and lessons can be taken at the beach making it one of the top South Wales beaches for surfing.
There are toilet and cafe facilities along the beach but because it is so big it doesn’t feel like a commercial beach at all. This gives it the balance of having easy facilities but also being a beach you can feel secluded on too.
Because of its length it’s one of the best beaches for dog walking in South Wales but restrictions apply on parts of the beach during parts of the year.
8. Tenby Beaches – Pembrokeshire
Tenby is the top seaside favourite in South Wales and the most popular place for a seaside holiday in South Wales.
Tenby’s colourful town and nearby activities make it is a piopular place to visit and along with its beaches.
Tenby has 4 beaches – South Beach, North Beach, Castle Beach and Harbour Beach meaning you can have a full beach day out in South Wales here hitting up different beaches without going too far!
‘What is the best beach in Tenby?’
This is a popular question. Castle Beach was voted the best beach in the UK in 2019 but the beaches in Tenby are all good for different reasons and different preferences.
Personally, my favourite is South Beach because it is less commercialised and a bit further away from the tourist town, followed by North Beach because of its big size and because of the view of all the colourful buildings that make up Tenby from the beach.
Tenby is the perfect South Wales family beach day out and holiday destination if you want to keep the kids busy and entertained whilst having beautiful beach and coastal views and with 4 beaches to choose from.
9. Rhossili Bay – Swansea Gower
The Swansea Gower feels like an Island off of the coast of Swansea and South Wales but it is actually joined to the mainland making it easy to visit from the M4.
Rhossili Bay has to be in my list of best beaches in South Wales because this beach has been voted as one of the best beaches in Wales before and it’s not hard to see why.
Rhossili Bay beach is huge! It’s a great beach to walk along and in summer it gets busy with people enjoying the sand and water.
You don’t have to be on the beach to enjoy this beach though, it’s also one of the best places to visit in South Wales because of the coastal walk down to Worms Head that it offers with incredible views looking back at the beach.
10. Three Cliffs Bay – Swansea Gower
Another one of the best beaches in Swansea Gower and best beaches in South Wales is Three Cliffs Bay which offers you a wild beach experience with sand dunes, a salt marsh and limestone cliffs, plus an amazing sand beach.
Another one of the top beaches in South Wales for dog walks and to visit all year round.
Children will love this beach as they can explore the caves and run up the hills on top of the cliffs.
Related Post: How To Visit Three Cliffs Bay & Three Cliffs Bay Walks!
11. Sker Beach – Porthcawl
Sker Beach is within Kenfig National Nature Reserve and if you want a beach that you have to walk to and a beach in South Wales that feels wild and like a hidden gem, this is a great place to go!
It takes about 15-30 minutes to walk from Kenfig National Nature Reserve parking through the sand dunes to Sker Beach, also known as Kenfig Beach and depending on which route you take, it involves walking up and down dunes. It can also be accessed from Porthcawl Rest Bay Beach by foot.
Sker Beach is a huge stretch of beach and great for walking along all year round and for dog walking as dogs are allowed on the beach all year round.
There are no nearby facilities as this is not a commercial beach, which is what makes it so appealing to many!
12. Chuch Door Cove Beach – Pembrokeshire
Now for a hidden beach in South Wales and a unique place to visit in South Wales.
The Pembrokeshire coast is full of unique rock formations and Church Door Cove is one of them, named after the huge gap in the cliff that looks like a door.
The beach is pretty small and rocky but you don’t come here to lie on the sand, you come to explore the rocks and see this unique structure!
If you want a challenge, you can walk to Church Door Cove from Manorbier Beach which is an amazing 45-minute walk along the coast followed by some steep steps down to the beach and I recommend this coastal walk in Pembrokeshire!
Whilst you’re here you can also check out more nearby beaches like Shrinkle Haven Beach which is another one of the best pembrokeshire beaches.
Related Post: How To Get To Church Door Cove & Skrinkle Haven Beach.
13. Saundersfoot – Pembrokeshire
Saundersfoot is an all-time favourite and one of the best places to visit in South Wales for its harbour, shops, cafes and restaurants, luckily it has a beautiful golden sand beach too!
The beach has many blue flag areas making it a good and safe beach for swimming, especially for children and it is a dog-friendly beach in South Wales.
Saundersfoot is on my list of best beaches in South Wales because of its easy access. Although not really close to Swansea and Cardiff, it is one of the closest and best beaches in Pembrokeshire to Swansea & Cardiff.
I love Saundersfoot Beach for its facilities as the town is right by the beach but you can also walk along the beach to find quiet spots and it has a nice seaside charm to it.
Saundersfoot Beach is just down the road from Tenby so be sure to visit here when looking for things to do near Tenby.
Related Post: 13 Top Things To Do in Saundersfoot & Near Saundersfoot
14. Freshwater East Beach – Pembrokeshire
Freshwater East Beach, not to be confused with Freshwater West Beach (this is not the Harry Potter beach where Dobby died!) is a bit of a remote beach, mainly because it isn’t found on many maps and hence of one of my top beaches in South Wales.
Freshwater East is a village with a lovely sandy beach surrounded by fields and makes a perfect family-friendly beach in Pembrokeshire.
There are no facilities at this beach which helps make it that bit quieter, however it is one of the easy South Wales beaches to get to as the car park is close to the beach.
It’s on the same stretch of coast as Tenby, Barafundle Bay and Manorbier Beach so it’s another one of the best beaches near Tenby to visit!
I hope this list of the best beaches in South Wales has helped you!
This post was featured by Twinkl in their UK Days Out Blog
- For more of my Wales content see:
- 12 BEST Places To Visit in Anglesey, North Wales
- 48 Places To Visit in Wales To See Beautiful Places in Wales!
- Visiting Wales By Train! 10 Best Places To Visit in Wales by Train!
- 56 Places To Stop On Your Wales Road Trip!
- How To Spend 3 Days in Wales! Perfect 3 Day Wales Itinerary!
- Best Time To Visit Wales By Weather & Things To Do!