3 Day Itinerary:
Day 1 and 2: At the Wales National Airshow!
Day 3: Gorgeous Gower
En-route to Gower visit the cosy, but cosmopolitan village of Mumbles, visit the Impressively situated Oystermouth Castle with views across Swansea Bay, the castle features ancient graffiti art from the 14th century, a medieval maze of deep vaults and secret staircases and a 30ft high glass bridge leading to a majestic tracery window in the Castle’s chapel.
Mumbles is known as the Gateway to Gower and once around the headland you’ll be passing a succession of beautiful bays and beaches – it won’t take long to realise why the Gower Peninsula was the first in the UK to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Visit the Gower Heritage Centre at Parkmill, features include guided tours of an 800 year old corn and saw mill, powered by a working waterwheel and an operational Woollen Mill. Artisan workshops keep ancient skills alive, including a blacksmith’s smithy and in the Woollen Mill.
Look out for picturesque Three Cliffs Bay, the long expanse of Oxwich and not to be missed, the spectacular Worm’s Head at Rhossili Bay. TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice customer poll has just voted Rhossili Bay into the top ten of UK beaches for the fifth year running – and it’s the best beach in Wales!
Head back across Cefn Bryn to take in Arthur’s Stone; legend has it, that King Arthur found this stone in his shoe and threw it across the Estuary from Carmarthenshire. Increasing in size as it travelled, it came to rest on Cefn Bryn where it remains to this day!
- Accommodation in Swansea City Centre
- Day 3 Lunch/refreshment stops (by arrangement) in Mumbles, Gower Heritage Centre or Rhossili
4 Day Itinerary:
Day 1 and 2: At the Wales National Airshow!
Day 3: Gorgeous Gower
Day 4: Parks, Pyramids, Woods and Waterfalls
Visit Swansea’s green oases at Singleton’s Botanical and Clyne Gardens. Singleton’s colourful and diverse herbaceous borders and glasshouse collections are justly famous for their seasonal bedding displays between March and October. Clyne Gardens are the internationally recognised home of National Plant Collections, including enkianthus and rhododendrons, set in beautiful parkland.
Head for warmer climes at Plantasia, a tropical paradise in a unique glass pyramid which is just bursting with plants and animals. See piranhas, lizards, a selection of creepy crawlies, cotton-top tamarin monkeys, as well as prickly cacti and giant bamboo or take the Hothouse Trail through the tropical and arid zones.
Finally, head up into Rural Swansea and visit a hidden gem, Penllergare Valley Woods is a picturesque landscape secreted away in a steep valley, with its lake and waterfall, terraces, panoramic views, exotic trees and shrubs, this forgotten Victorian paradise is being slowly restored and brought back to life by the Penllergare Trust.
Alternative Day 4: Dylan Thomas ‘Love the Words’
Literary lovers will enjoy a day filled with all things Dylan Thomas; start your day at the ‘Love the Words’ Exhibition for an interactive insight into the great man’s life and words.
Then experience a guided Dylan Thomas walking tour around his favourite city centre sites, before taking a fascinating step into the past and visit Dylan Thomas’ Birthplace in the Uplands where he spent his youth. Dylan’s home has been lovingly recreated and as you step inside you’re transported back to his childhood. Then drop into Cwmdonkin Park, where Dylan played as a boy and described as a ‘world within the world of the sea-town’.
- Accommodation in Swansea City Centre
- Day 3 Lunch/refreshment stops (by arrangement) in Mumbles, Gower Heritage Centre or Rhossili
Day 4 Lunch/refreshment stops (by arrangement) in Swansea, refreshments are available for smaller groups at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace (booked in advance).