719 walks across Wales

• Tywi Valley and Carmarthen

  Talley Abbey and the Lakes

  The ruins of the only Premonstratensian abbey in Wales, beside two small lakes, in a quiet valley almost nobody visits.

  3.1 mi1 hr 45 Moderate
• Tywi Valley and Carmarthen

  Paxton’s Tower

  Folly on a hill above the Tywi, built to spite an electorate, and a view down the Tywi that takes in two castles from underneath it.

  3.1 mi1 hr 45 Moderate
• Tywi Valley and Carmarthen

  Llyn Llech Owain

  Lake and peat bog on a plateau above the coalfield, with boardwalks over the wet ground and a legend about Owain Glyndŵr’s horse.

  2.8 mi1 hr 35 Easy
• Gower

  Worms Head Causeway

  Across a boulder causeway onto a tidal island shaped like a serpent, in a window of about five hours and not a minute more.

  2.5 mi1 hr 50 Demanding
• Gower

  Port Eynon Point and Culver Hole

  Round the point past a ruined salt house to a medieval wall built into a cliff fissure, which nobody has satisfactorily explained.

  3.7 mi2 hr 10 Moderate
• Gower

  Whiteford Burrows and the Iron Lighthouse

  Dunes, pine forest and a vast empty beach leading to the only wave-swept cast iron lighthouse left in Britain.

  5.6 mi3 hr Moderate
• Swansea and Neath

  Swansea Bay Promenade

  Five miles of flat surfaced promenade round the bay from the marina to Mumbles, on the line of the world’s first passenger railway.

  3.4 mi1 hr 45 Easy
• Swansea and Neath

  Mynydd y Gwair

  Open common above the Swansea valley, grazed by ponies and sheep, with big views over the coalfield and the Bristol Channel.

  4.3 mi2 hr 35 Demanding
• Swansea and Neath

  The Swansea Canal

  Surviving stretch of towpath along the Tawe, level and traffic-free, through a valley that was once solid with tinplate and nickel works.

  3.7 mi1 hr 55 Easy
• Cardiff and the Vale

  The Garth from Taff’s Well

  The long way up the hill above Cardiff, from the only thermal spring in Wales, through woodland onto the barrow-topped summit.

  4.3 mi2 hr 30 Demanding
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Llantwit Major and the Heritage Coast

  Layered cliffs and a wave-cut platform below a town whose church housed one of the earliest centres of learning in Britain.

  4.3 mi2 hr 25 Moderate
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Castell Coch and Fforest Fawr

  Victorian fantasy castle with conical towers rising out of beech woods above Cardiff, with forest walks and sculpture behind it.

  3.7 mi2 hr 10 Moderate
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Cefn Onn and the Ridgeway

  Wooded park at the northern edge of Cardiff climbing to the ridge, with rhododendrons in May and the whole city below.

  3.1 mi1 hr 45 Moderate
• Caerphilly and the Eastern Valleys

  Blaen Bran and the Cwmbran Ridge

  Reservoirs in a hanging valley above the new town, with open mountain behind and the Severn estuary in the distance.

  3.7 mi2 hr 10 Demanding
• Rhondda and the Western Valleys

  Ebbw Vale and the Mynydd Carn-y-Cefn Ridge

  Up out of a valley that made steel for a century onto open mountain, with the whole coalfield laid out from the top.

  5.0 mi2 hr 50 Demanding
• Caerphilly and the Eastern Valleys

  Sirhowy Valley Country Park

  Woodland and riverside on the site of collieries and a tramroad, with the Sirhowy running through and dormice in the trees.

  3.7 mi2 hr 5 Moderate
• Ceredigion Coast

  Bwlch Nant yr Arian

  Red kites are fed here every afternoon and dozens circle over the lake while you watch from the terrace, with forest trails climbing the hillside behind.

  3.1 mi1 hr 50 Moderate
• Teifi Valley

  Coed y Bont

  Mixed woodland and bog pools on the edge of the Cambrians, with waymarked trails and a good chance of red squirrels.

  2.8 mi1 hr 35 Moderate
• Ceredigion Coast

  The Arch

  Stone arch built to mark a king’s jubilee, standing beside the road in the forest above Devil’s Bridge, with trails looping through the trees behind it.

  2.5 mi1 hr 25 Moderate
• Ceredigion Coast

  The Hafod Estate

  Picturesque landscape laid out in the 1780s, with walks engineered through gorges to waterfalls and viewpoints, being restored after two centuries of neglect.

  4.3 mi2 hr 30 Demanding
• Clwydian Range and Vale of Clwyd

  Alwen Reservoir Circuit

  Full circuit of a reservoir on the Denbigh moors on good tracks, through forestry and open moorland, with almost nobody about.

  6.2 mi3 hr 10 Moderate
• Clwydian Range and Vale of Clwyd

  Clocaenog Forest and Bod Petryal

  Waymarked trails round a small lake in one of the largest forests in Wales, and one of the last strongholds of the red squirrel in the country.

  3.1 mi1 hr 45 Moderate
• Clwydian Range and Vale of Clwyd

  Pincyn Llys

  Short forest trail to an obelisk on a hilltop, put up to mark the enclosure of the common that the forest now covers.

  2.2 mi1 hr 15 Moderate
• Wrexham and Flintshire

  Wepre Park and Ewloe Castle

  Wooded valley park on the edge of Deeside with a Welsh castle hidden in the trees, built by Llywelyn the Last rather than the Normans.

  3.1 mi1 hr 45 Moderate
• Wrexham and Flintshire

  Moss Valley Country Park

  Lakes and woodland on a reclaimed industrial valley, with old railway bridges among the trees and fishing on the main pool.

  2.5 mi1 hr 25 Moderate
• Wrexham and Flintshire

  Bonc yr Hafod

  Colliery spoil heap turned into community woodland, with ponds, grassland and a view from the top over the Cheshire plain to the Peak District.

  2.5 mi1 hr 25 Moderate
• Dee Valley and Llangollen

  Ty Mawr Country Park and the Cefn Viaduct

  Riverside meadows below the Dee with a huge stone railway viaduct overhead and the Pontcysyllte aqueduct a short walk upstream.

  2.8 mi1 hr 35 Moderate
• Clwydian Range and Vale of Clwyd

  Gronant Dunes

  The only little tern colony in Wales, on a dune system between Prestatyn and the Dee estuary, with wardens on site through the breeding season.

  3.1 mi1 hr 40 Easy
• Clwydian Range and Vale of Clwyd

  Talacre and the Point of Ayr Lighthouse

  Cast iron lighthouse standing alone on the sand at the mouth of the Dee, with dunes behind and an RSPB reserve along the shore.

  3.1 mi1 hr 40 Easy
• Eryri: Ogwen and the Carneddau

  Coedydd Aber

  The national nature reserve around Aber Falls, taking in both waterfalls and the oak woodland below, on a longer loop than the direct track.

  4.0 mi2 hr 15 Moderate
• Conwy Valley and the North Coast

  Coed Dolgarrog

  Steep ancient woodland climbing the western side of the Conwy valley, with waterfalls, boulder slopes and some of the richest lichen flora in Wales.

  3.1 mi1 hr 55 Demanding
• Eryri: Ffestiniog and the Moelwynion

  Coedydd Maentwrog

  National nature reserve of oak woodland in the Vale of Ffestiniog, with the narrow gauge railway running through the middle of it.

  3.4 mi1 hr 55 Moderate
• Eryri: Rhinogydd and Harlech

  Morfa Harlech

  One of the largest and most active dune systems in Britain, still growing seaward, with an enormous beach and Eryri filling the northern skyline.

  4.3 mi2 hr 20 Moderate
• Eryri: Rhinogydd and Harlech

  Morfa Dyffryn

  Four and a half miles of dune and beach between two river mouths, a national nature reserve with rare plants in the slacks and very few people.

  3.7 mi2 hr Moderate
• Anglesey

  Cors Bodeilio

  Boardwalk out into an alkaline fen, one of the Anglesey Fens, with orchids in summer and a landscape that has been wet since the ice retreated.

  1.9 mi1 hr 10 Easy
• Anglesey

  Cors Erddreiniog

  The largest of the Anglesey Fens, with boardwalks and tracks through reedbed and wet grassland, grazed by cattle to keep it open.

  2.5 mi1 hr 25 Easy
• Anglesey

  Llyn Alaw

  The largest lake on Anglesey, shallow and reed-fringed, with hides and level paths and large numbers of wildfowl in winter.

  3.7 mi2 hr Easy
• Llŷn Peninsula

  Dinas Dinlle

  Iron Age fort on a glacial mound above a shingle beach, with half of it already lost to the sea and the rest going.

  2.5 mi1 hr 25 Easy
• Llŷn Peninsula

  Lon Eifion from Caernarfon

  Level surfaced path on an old railway running south from the castle, with the Welsh Highland Railway alongside and Eryri to the east.

  3.4 mi1 hr 45 Easy
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Parc Slip Nature Reserve

  Open-cast coal workings turned into a wildlife reserve, with lagoons, grassland and hides, and level paths throughout.

  3.1 mi1 hr 40 Easy
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Limpert Bay and the Heritage Coast

  A shingle bay with saltmarsh behind it and coast path west towards Llantwit, on a quieter stretch of the Glamorgan coast.

  3.1 mi1 hr 45 Moderate
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Cwm George and Casehill Woods

  Wooded valley on the edge of Cardiff with a hillfort above it, ancient woodland and a stream running through the middle.

  2.8 mi1 hr 35 Moderate
• Caerphilly and the Eastern Valleys

  The Twmbarlwm Ridge

  The full ridge walk over the Twmp and along the escarpment, with the Severn estuary on one side and the valleys on the other.

  5.6 mi3 hr 10 Demanding
• Caerphilly and the Eastern Valleys

  The Machen Forge Trail

  A level riverside path on the site of a tinplate forge, following the Rhymney through woodland with interpretation of what stood here.

  3.1 mi1 hr 40 Easy
• Rhondda and the Western Valleys

  Dare Valley Country Park

  A country park built on two collieries at the head of a valley, with waterfalls, lakes and ridge paths climbing to the tops.

  3.7 mi2 hr 10 Demanding
• Rhondda and the Western Valleys

  Clydach Vale Country Park

  Two lakes in a hanging valley above the Rhondda, with paths climbing to the ridge and a view down the whole valley.

  3.1 mi1 hr 50 Moderate
• Cardiff and the Vale

  Bryngarw Country Park

  Formal gardens, riverside meadow and woodland around a country house on the edge of Bridgend, with level surfaced paths throughout.

  2.8 mi1 hr 35 Easy
• Caerphilly and the Eastern Valleys

  The Darran Valley Trail

  A level route on the old railway from Bargoed up the Darran valley to the country park, entirely traffic-free.

  5.0 mi2 hr 40 Moderate
• Rhondda and the Western Valleys

  The Maerdy Ridges

  Open mountain at the head of the Rhondda Fach, where the last pit in the valley closed in 1990, with ridge walking in every direction.

  5.0 mi2 hr 55 Demanding
• Rhondda and the Western Valleys

  The Rhigos Escarpment

  High road viewpoint on the edge of the coalfield, with escarpment walking north and the whole of the Vale of Neath below.

  4.3 mi2 hr 30 Demanding

These are route guides, not turn-by-turn directions. Take the relevant OS Explorer map, check the weather, and tell someone where you are going.