St Davids Cathedral in its hollow, with the river and fields of Pembrokeshire beyond.
The cathedral · St Davids

Places/Wales

Pembrokeshire

St Davids

Britain’s smallest city: a cathedral in a hollow, and a coast path that is the real reason to come.

Stay
2 nights
Best for
the coast path, a quiet Wales, walking
Base
In St Davids itself so you can walk the coast without a car each time. A farm stay on the peninsula is fine if you have a vehicle and accept dark lanes.

St Davids is a village with a cathedral, which makes it a city by the old rule and still a village by every other one. The church sits in a grassy hollow below the street, next to a ruined bishop’s palace. The Pembrokeshire coast around it — Whitesands, St Non’s, the path toward Porthclais — is why two nights is better than a photo stop.

It is not on the way to anywhere else. That is the recommendation. Come here when Cardiff and the castles of the north have been enough city and stone, and you want weather and a path.

See

  • The cathedral and the palace

    The cathedral is the working church. The palace next door is the ruin, open as a site, and the better silhouette.

  • St Non’s and the cliff

    A short walk to the traditional birthplace of David and a holy well. The coast is the view, not the well.

  • Whitesands Bay

    A beach with a proper horizon toward Ramsey Island. Go for a walk even if you do not swim.

  • Ramsey, if the sea allows

    Boats leave when the weather agrees. Do not build the day around a crossing you have not checked that morning.