7 nights in Wales. Where to have home base? And what to see?

I would allow at least half a day to see St. Fagan's-there's a lot to see there.

I take it that you have a car?

For north Pembrokeshire, St David’s would be a good place to stay.

Click this link for a Google Map of south Pembrokeshire. The Green Bridge of Wales is a large arch sticking out into the sea and next to it are Stack Rocks - worth seeing but in the Castlemartin Military Range so often closed. You see Bosherston on the map - park by church and follow footpath across lily ponds to the beach and then head over sand dunes and walk E to beautiful Barafundle Bay - which can also be reached from Stackpole Quay.

In south Pembrokeshire, the village of Manorbier would be a good place to stay - view it on street view - but you will find more accommodation in beautiful Tenby (not to be missed) but parking can be a problem. Between Manorbier & Tenby, Skrinkle Haven is worth a look and if you want cheapo accommodation, it has a Youth Hostel with plenty of free parking outside.

You are shooting off to the Cotswolds but will be missing much on the way. It takes at least half a day to wander around St.Fagans Castle & Museum on the west side of Cardiff. The National Botanic Garden of Wales - just off route A48 E of Carmarthen is worth seeing but you won’t have time. It takes about 2 hours to drive from Tenby to Cardiff and it takes another 2 hours to drive to The Cotswolds from Cardiff - that’s without seeing anything on the way. Castell Coch in N Cardiff is also well worth seeing (M4 junction 32).

If you are into Cathedrals then two in North Wales which are apparently missing for no good reason from Rick's Book and also most of the time from this forum are-
Bangor St Deiniol's Cathedral

and St Asaph Cathedral at the small Cathedral City (really a town) of St Asaph.

A lovely and comparatively little visited part of North Wales. While in the area of St Asaph there is also Denbigh- another interesting and not much visited place.

The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is only a small part of the Wales Coast Path which goes right round the coast of Wales.

EDIT- In Cardiff there is Llandaff Cathedral- it is on the north side of the City and pretty close to St Fagans- so is an easy add on to that visit. Cardiff Cathedral (in the City Centre) is a Roman Catholic Cathedral- only now is it about to repair damage sustained in WW2.

If you visit St David's Cathedral when in Pembrokeshire you could also visit Brecon Cathedral on your way from North to South- that would make 5 of the 6 Cathedrals of the Church in Wales- the 6th being at Newport (Gwent).

You could also buy a Pilgrim Passport, and have it stamped at each of the Cathedrals you visit (and keep it for future visits to English Cathedrals- https://www.englishcathedrals.co.uk/latest-news/pilgrim-passport-buy-it-here

I’d say a 4 / 3 nights split between North and South is a perfect balance. Presuming you will have a car you could even do 3 and 3 and have one night in the "middle" to break the journey south - most visitors just drive past Mid-Wales but it is quiet and scenic!!! You could have a night in Aberystwyth on the coast or Machynlleth inland, although the drive between North Wales and Pembrokeshire is only about 4 hours though and lovely.

In North Wales (which is what I know mainly know about!) everywhere is a possible day trip so definitely stay in a central location - maybe Betws-y-Coed or Trefriw which are cute villages and are both literally in the middle of North Wales, have good accommodation choices, and have easy access to the rest of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park and Pen-y-Pass car park for Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon). They are also both near the A470 road which is your route south to Pembrokeshire via the A487.

Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) itself will probably take the best part of a day up and down (5-6 hours at a good pace) regardless of which path you do so allocate one of your days for that. The trails called the 'PYG track' up and 'Miners Track' down are a nice combination of scenery (both start from Pen-y-Pass).

The other day or two you could do a nice drive through the mountains and back along the coast to see places such as Beddegelert, Caernarfon, Conwy and Llandudno - a sort of 'greatest hits'! Or do another hike.

Towns like Conwy are really nice to visit but compact and you can always visit in an evening combined with dinner, and they are quieter then anyway. The castle would be closed but you can get up close and still walk on the town walls so not missing out on anything!

If you did want another hike apart from Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) then you are spoilt for choice but personal favourites with amazing scenery are:

• Cwm Idwal (1-2 hours),
• Llyn Crafnant and Llyn Geirionydd near Trefriw (4-5 hours),
• Aberglaslyn and Cwm Bychan near Beddegelert (4-5 hours)
• Cwmorthin / Tanygrisiau near Blaenau Ffestiniog (1-4 hours - you can see an old abandoned mining village)

You could probably squeeze two of those hikes into a day.

Oh and for mines in North Wales consider: Blaenau Ffestiniog (the town itself is nothing special but you can go underground at Llechwedd on a tour), Dinorwic Quarry in Llanberis (good place for walks), Sygun Copper mine near Beddegelert (underground tours), Great Orme Mines in Llandudno or for the ultimate experience a 'Go Below' adventure activity underground near Betws-y-Coed

We walked a couple sections of the coastal path from St. David’s. In the north we stayed in Caernarfon. From it and its castle, Conwy and Beaumaris castles are a short drive away. The cathedral in St. David’s doesn’t take long to see, but worth visiting. The rear of the chapel collapsed a couple times and was rebuilt and it isn’t level with the rest of the church. The lean is obvious.

Pembroke castle is pretty impressive if you have the time to visit. While we didn’t go into Carew castle, we did walk around it. One gets a good view of the castle from the tidal mill. A few nice castles in the Tintern Abbey area are Caerphilly, Coch, and Raglan.

Seven days isn’t much time for Wales, so good luck deciding what to see and what to skip.

I appreciate everyone's advice. I do have a car. If I were to rework my tentative 7 night schedule, I'm trying to decide what that might look like. My top priorities are scenery/nature and history. I also want to go at a relaxed pace. My ideal day would include a day hike and seeing something historical. I also would prefer to move as little as possible, which was behind my thought of two home bases. Do I need to add a third? I know Mt. Snowdon will take an entire day. What are the best parts of the Pembrokeshire Coast trail? What are the best parts of the Wales Coast trail? How many of my priorities will I find in the Cardiff area? I don't care for the busyness of a city in general, but would consider spending more time in that area if needed. I really appreciate Rick Steves' itinerary ideas for Great Britain as a whole but wish he offered more information on Wales specifically. I have several guidebooks but I'm having difficulty sifting through it all to determine what is optimal.

Thanks again for your advice!

Rather than Cardiff, we stayed in Tintern for 3 nights and took day trips from it. Our trip was a couple weeks longer than yours. You unfortunately won’t have the luxury of plenty of time.

Don’t underestimate how long it will take to do and see things. The mountain can take a day, as could walking part of a coastal path. One can easily spend a couple hours at castles like Caernarfon, Caerphilly, or Conwy. Tintern Abbey will take a couple hours to visit. Add to that the time it will take getting to destinations and suddenly half your available days have been filled.

I think 2 bases would work well. There’s no need to go to Cardiff at all for your interests it doesn’t appeal. There is way more in the rest of Wales than you’d be able to see in 7 days.

I’m more familiar with North Pembrokeshire which is gorgeous and peaceful. Ideal for nature lovers as you’ve got the coast but also the Presili Hills for walking.

To answer your question about best part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path- I'd say anywhere between Abereiddy and St Dogmael's- essentially the last 1/3 (about 60 miles) if you're travelling northwards. Absolutely stunning scenery, especially in spring when the wildflowers are in bloom. Don't underestimate the difficulty as it's quite steep at parts- I found hiking poles helpful. St David's is a very nice place to stay. If you want to stay on the path itself, Fishguard is probably the biggest town on that stretch, or Newport. If you have time to travel further SE in Pembrokeshire Tenby is beautiful as is the nearby beach at Barafundle Bay (which has already been mentioned). When we climbed Mt Snowdon we stayed in Caernarfon which was very convenient and also gave us time to see the castle. We thought the mountain would take the whole day but it was actually closer to half a day.

If you desire to go from Pembrokeshire to the Cotswolds through wonderful scenery - for much of the journey - consider going E to Carmarthen where you take the decision whether to use the southern route via Cardiff or the scenic northern route. If the scenic northern route, you could still leave Carmarthen on the A48 and about 5 miles on visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales. If doing this - leave via B4310 N bound and turn R onto B4300 - visit Dryslwyn Castle (ruin) and then return to B4300 heading E to Llandeilo - where you could visit Newton House (NT) & Dinefwr Castle (ruin). About 4 miles E of Llandeilo is Carreg Cennen Castle - well worth seeing.

If you look at the map on the Carreg Cennen website, you will see the A40 - this is the scenic - but winding - northern route going via Llandovery > Brecon > Crickhowell > Abergavenny > Raglan (castle) > Monmouth (by-pass). You can then take the M50 to junction with M5 - go S to next junction then A46 E bound to roundabout & B4077 into the Cotswolds. (Don't use A40 via Cheltenham due to traffic congestion).

This northern route takes you through the Brecon Beacons National Park - see > https://www.breconbeacons.org
(I suggest you stay somewhere in the Brecon area). It would be possible to do a day trip from the Brecon area to Cardiff and visit Castell Coch & St. Fagans but anything else would be pushing it.

When in N Wales, Bodnant Gardens & Portmeirion are well worth seeing in my view.

If going down the west coast to Pembrokeshire, be sure to take a look at Aberaeron harbour.

Google the places mentioned.