Medieval 13th-century Monnow Bridge, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales

Where are you traveling from? Cardiff, London……??

We will be in the Cotswold's Area or Bath.

it appears the best route may be by train from Gloucester or Cheltenham to Chepstow or Lydney and then bus from there
If going from Bath it may be better to go via Severn Tunnel Junction
Traveline suggests going via Newport

We had a car when visiting that area. One can adequately see Monmouth in under two hours. The bridge was nice as was the Parish Church of Saint Thomas the Martyr. If you go into in, upon leaving look across the street down by the sidewalk to see the elf house. There’s only a wall remaining of the castle, so nothing to see there. In case you decide to rent a car for the day, we parked in the Waitrose parking lot. It had a free hour of parking.

In that area there are Tintern Abbey, Skenfrith Castle, Raglan Castle, White Castle, and Grosmont Castle. Raglan was the most impressive. We didn’t get to Chepstow castle. In Trelleck you’ll find Harold’s standing stones. There are there three stones estimated to have been there for 3,500 years. Without a car I’m not sure how one would get to all the different sites. Some of the roads between locations were one track, two way, so we drove slowly and hoped nobody was coming from the other direction.

I suggest that you need to get to Chepstow and that you do this by train. To get to Chepstow from Bath you either go via Gloucester (change train) or Seven Tunnel Junction (change train). Chepstow (which has a castle and a lovely old multi span iron bridge). If coming by train from Cheltenham or Gloucester - it will be a direct train to Chepstow. (If going via a change at STJ - trains to Chepstow go from Platform 2 and those back to Bath from P4).

From Chepstow, you will need bus 69 (Phil Anslow) which goes up the beautiful Wye Valley to Monmouth via the stunning ruin of Tintern Abbey - built in the 1100’s. You should find schedule here.

Monmouthshire is the name of the County in SE Wales.

However, I would recommend a trip to Cardiff which will be direct train from either Bath or Cheltenham/Gloucester and take just over 1 hour. Cardiff Castle is around a 15 minute walk from the Central station.

Train schedules (no need to pre-book):> https://www.traintickets.com/?/

Thank you all. James that's very thorough information. I will take a look appreciate your response!

Pleased that my info is of use. I mentioned Cardiff. You may also be interested in St.Fagans Castle & Museum which is around a 25 minute local bus ride (Cardiff Bus 32) from the city centre (Westgate Street - northbound side). Check out this video (nothing to do with me) .

Caerphilly Castle is a huge medieval fortress a 20 minute local train ride N of Cardiff. Cardiff’s waterfront (bay) is also worth a look as is Castell Coch near Tongwynlais on northern edge of city.

Of course, you can’t do all that in a day trip from Bath or Cotswolds.

Another vote for St Fagans National Museum of History, especially if you are interested in social history. There is a collection of old buildings from across Wales that have been reassembled here to represent how life has changed throughout the centuries. The video link from James is very good, giving an idea of what there is to see. You could easily spend a full day here!

Castell Coch is everyone's picture of a fairy tale castle with its turrets. The Marquis of Bute, one of Britain’s wealthiest men asked William Burgess to rebuild the ruined castle for him. It is really flamboyant and a Victorian vision of a medieval castle (think Arabian Nights...) Do a google image search on Castell Coch interior .

There is also Cardiff Castle, with its Norman motte and bailey along with Victorian Gothic interiors again the work of William Burges for the Marquis of Bute...

Sorry that's taking you quite a way from Monmouth though!