Now's the perfect time to visit Wales. Here's where to stay

Times

29-05-2025

Here's a tip you can have for nothing: May and June is peak Wales. Summer is more popular, its weather more stable (I'll come back to that), but late-spring leaps in with greater gusto in Wales than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. A profusion of wildflowers litter the scenery like an impressionist painting. The coastline sparkles and cliffs are a carnival of nesting seabirds. That persistent sound you hear on a visit is Mother Nature hollering 'Come outside!' and, this being Wales, there's an awful lot of outside to get into.
I discovered the secret about 20 years ago when I spent four weeks pottering through the country to research a book on campsites. I'd visited previously in summer, of course, but that trip was a revelation; a tour of relentless beauty, empty footpaths and relaxed resorts. I've made a point of returning every May since.
These stays are another reason to head to Wales. If your favourite isn't on this list it's because the aim here is to showcase new accommodation or places with something novel to boast about: a recent refurbishment, an award or perhaps a stellar chef. Scan through the entries and you'll notice two things. First, Wales is cracking value compared with much of the UK. It provides a lot of bed for your buck and even the best are far cheaper than similar stays in, say, Cornwall or the Lake District. The other is that food is a priority — whether it's in a three-bedroom B&B or a Michelin-starred château, these are great days for Welsh cuisine.
And what about the weather? Well, what about it? On average, St Davids in Pembrokeshire receives the same amount of rainfall as Penzance in May — about 60mm, or eight wet days — but I don't see anyone making lame jokes about the Cornish climate. Maybe we should. We don't want too many people to discover the glory of a Welsh spring.
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The decorators finished in late March, leaving behind nine revamped suites, a new lounge bar and a zhuzhed-up snug. The transformation of this Victorian mansion into the coolest stay in north Wales, sister hotel of the Grove of Narberth, in Pembrokeshire, continues apace. All the elements for a luxury weekender are here: colourful rooms by Nicola Harding, the designer behind Beaverbrook Town House in London: an oak-panelled lounge perfect for aperitifs, good food, smiley staff. No wonder it just won a Michelin key, the hotel equivalent of a Michelin star. Best of all, the beach is close and the mountains of Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) rise outside.Details B&B doubles from £230 (penmaenuchaf.co.uk)
This three-bedroom B&B in north Pembrokeshire, newly available through Sawday's, was a labour of love for its owners Adrian and Sue Thornberry. They gave up City careers to restore a derelict farmhouse in the hills near Adrian's boyhood home. Perhaps that's why it seems a place to remember what matters — its cream panelling and antique beds, generous fireside sofas and warm hospitality are like a hug. Start days with a bracing plunge in a swimming pond or some outdoor yoga beneath trees, breakfast well, then head to one of the best coastlines in Wales. At this price, it's a bargain.Details B&B doubles from £100 (sawdays.co.uk)
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The Boissevain family's property was crowned the best Wales hotel in The Times and Sunday Times Best Places to Stay in 2024. I expect most first-timers book a room in its romantic Strawberry Hill gothic house to be near Tenby. Only when they arrive will they discover why it has so many repeat guests: the mood of relaxed glamour, calm understated rooms, sea views over afternoon tea on the terrace, a dining room that lends a sense of occasion to dinner and breakfast alike. Once they do, I'll bet they return.Details B&B doubles from £210 (penally-abbey.com)
The owners Clive Sweeting and Rob Perham are moving on six years after they opened this game-changing B&B in mid-Wales. This is the last chance to experience their brand of stylish escapism: cocktails and curios in the lounge, graphic art on inky walls in rooms, breakfast eggs from the chickens that peck out back. For all that, the couple's aim is for guests to take time out among the quiet hills inland from Machynlleth, which is why there are no TVs (don't worry: the broadband is super-fast for streaming). The mood is one of staying with friends, albeit friends who seem cooler than you.Details B&B doubles from £149, two nights minimum (theroystonwales.com)
If you watched BBC2's Great British Menu you'll know that Daniel Ap Geraint, head chef of the Plas Dinas restaurant the Gunroom, was a finalist. I can't say I'm surprised: my dinner at the Gunroom in February was next-level good — fine dining without the fuss or stinging prices (four courses, £85pp). The same could be said of Plas Dinas, named the nation's best hotel in the National Tourism Awards of Wales in March. Though it leans into its past as the home of the Armstrong-Jones family, of Lord Snowdon fame, the grade II listed manor is better understood as a country retreat: hugely relaxing, nicely traditional.Details B&B doubles from £199 (plasdinas.co.uk)
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Goodness knows what the Victorian slate mine manager who lived here would think. After a renovation, the people behind the Llechwedd mine have relaunched this Mock Tudor place as a 24-room four-star. It is, the owners say, a 'base for adventure': families braving zip-wire rides and mad subterranean adventures in the mine, or mountain bikers who've booked to ride one of Wales's best biking parks, Antur Stiniog. Like the mountains of Eryri National Park, both are outside the front door. And bring the dog: 'Muddy boots and paws are always welcome,' the owners say.Details B&B doubles from £97 (plasweunydd.co.uk)
Save this one until June. By then St Brides will have reopened after a soft refurbishment of its 34 resort-style rooms, restaurant and bar, which were pleasant but a little dated in decor. The teaser images I've seen suggest a bolder beachy theme: armchairs in patterned blue and rust-orange fabrics, coral-patterned cushions, table lamps like coils of rope. All have received upgrades to their TVs and digital connections. The main reason to visit remains the spa, now including a new outdoor sauna and a hydrotherapy pool, which hangs high above the boats and beach of Saundersfoot Bay.Details B&B doubles from £240 (stbridesspahotel.com)
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I visited this 19th-century coaching inn beside its namesake waterfall about a decade ago. A mistake: dormitory accommodation in an annex was tired and carpets in the boozer were sticky. Having spent the best part of last year taking it in hand, Inn Collection Group reopened the doors in March. If you've booked an Inn Collection stay you'll know what to expect: 38 comfortable rooms, bunk beds for the kids in family rooms, classic pub grub on the menu. All come at keen prices — if you're after a budget base for families and hikers in the most popular resort in north Wales, this is it.Details B&B doubles from £89 (inncollectiongroup.com)
There was concern locally when long-time owners Bryan and Susan Webb hung up the saucepans last summer. Was that it for Michelin-starred cooking in a quiet Denbighshire village? No, actually: the new owner has drafted in Gareth Stevenson, formerly head chef of Michael Caines's Michelin-starred Palé Hall nearby, to lead a cracking brigade. What that means is high-end seasonal Welsh menus in a relaxed modern dining room that was refurbished, alongside public areas, last year (six courses £105pp). A rolling refurbishment will refresh the dozen rooms this year, although the older ones remain pleasantly traditional with their cast-iron or sleigh beds.Details B&B doubles from £190 (tyddynllan.co.uk)
Let's go on holiday to Glamorgan, said few people, which is a shame: the coastline is beautiful and the shops of Cardiff close. Another reason to visit is the 143-room Vale Resort, crowned Wales's best resort spa and its best golf hotel at November's World Golf Awards. The spa has just had an £800,000 upgrade to add large Jacuzzis plus a sleek sauna with the obligatory cold shower outside. Golf means two championship courses on a 650-acre estate, including the Wales National Course, its 7,433-yard, par 73, one of the longest courses outside America.Details B&B doubles from £119 (valeresort.com)
When I stayed I surprised the assistant manager by asking about dress codes at the Fernery restaurant. 'We prefer it if you don't wear shorts and flip-flops if that's what you mean,' he said. It's why the Grove remains a flagship of Welsh hospitality: it won best hotel in Wales in The Times and Sunday Times Best Places to Stay 2020, and last year it won a Michelin key. Sure, the 25 rooms and public areas are beautiful, Douglas Balish's farm-to-table food is exquisite, and the offer for guests now includes ebikes. But it's luxury without pretension, its style apparently effortless. Don't be fooled — it takes serious work to create something this good.Details B&B doubles from £220 (grovenarberth.co.uk)
At last, the dog can come to St Davids. This five-star art hotel has just introduced five rooms for you and your pooch — each has doggy towels, a blanket, dog snacks and direct access from their terrace to the hotel's garden and the cracking coastline around Caerfai Bay beyond. They've also enlarged the spa to make it suitable for couples. Otherwise the appeal of Wales's first art hotel remains much as it ever was. The place has bold canvases and a strict city palette of greys, chocolate browns and black yet the mood is anything but po-faced. Details B&B doubles from £155 (twryfelinhotel.com)
You get a lot of bed for your buck in Wales. Just look at this Monmouthshire B&B, newly added to Sawday's. It offers three first-floor suites in a Tudor hall, each smartly comfortable with views over eight acres of historic garden. All are accessed via a private entrance — if they were good enough for Princess Margaret, they're good enough for you. Caveats? Well, there's no shared lounge, two have tablets not TVs and breakfast is off-site ― you get vouchers for a farm deli or café half a mile away. Still, what better excuse to get outdoors?Details B&B doubles from £125 (sawdays.co.uk)
They haven't messed around much with this splendid pub with rooms. Gwenann Davies, formerly with the Tom Kerridge group, has returned to her homeland to produce three-course seasonal modern Welsh menus. There are new foraging workshops and Thursday morning storytelling sessions for young guests. The joy of Felin Fach, though, is that it feels timeless. It's an embrace of a stay which marries comfort to informal style, where colourful rooms offer radios not TVs. Come for big days in the hills of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (Brecon Beacons). Equally, come to idle when it's lashing down. Details B&B doubles from £182 (eatdrinksleep.ltd.uk)
Every list needs one grand stay. Here's ours, a Relais & Châteaux five-star in the wooded Dee Valley. Former guests have included Queen Victoria, it has impeccable eco ethics and the mood friendly. It's a stay where the dog is welcome but you're fed by Laurence Webb, newly arrived from Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire. You'd think they'd rest on their laurels given their wallful of awards. Nope. There's a new whisky room and a wellness centre with a sauna opening in July, plus the owners have just refurbished the estate pub, the Bryntirion Inn.Details B&B doubles from £282 (palehall.co.uk)
Carmarthenshire is the region people hurry through en route to Pembrokeshire. It's a hideaway sort of place built of picturebook hills and small farms, and if you're going to hide away this 17th-century B&B is the place to do so. Tŷ Mawr has six bedrooms and is dog-friendly. Instead of sharp design, newish owners Gill Brown and David Hart offer traditional, almost homely decor. It'll feel like a stay with pals right up until you eat — food pieced together from a bountiful region is excellent. Extra points for a sensational Sunday roast lunch too. Details B&B doubles from £150 (wales-country-hotel.co.uk)
Everything you want from a B&B is here. Hotel-quality rooms refreshed by a rolling refurbishment since January? Tick. Lovely, knowledgeable owners like Chris and Helen Sheldon? Tick. Homemade vegetarian breakfasts — sourdough with thyme-roast nectarines, Welsh honey, orange zest and toasted almonds — on a terrace with views to a pretty boat-bobbing harbour? Tick again. Bill Bryson considered it 'the loveliest hotel in Wales'. He had a point. It's well located too: the Wales coast path is at its grandest scenery here and the Preseli Hills glower magnificently inland. St Davids and Cardigan are 30 minutes in either direction.Details B&B doubles from £150 (manortownhouse.com)
Did you know that there are 30 Welsh vineyards? Or that the UK's first commercial vineyard was in Wales? Not far from where it opened in 1875, Wales's first vineyard hotel, conveniently close to the M4 just outside Cardiff, has popped the corks of its first batch of red wines and launched a range of gins. Handily, it has also launched a wine-flight experience in the restaurant. The place has become more sophisticated since it first opened in a former dairy farm in 2019 — decor in rooms and the restaurant are less corporate, more metropolitan cool. The tranquillity of the vineyards outside remains unchanged.Details B&B doubles from £140 (llanerch.co.uk)
No offence, golfers, but this ten-room stay at Tenby Golf Club is too good to leave to you lot thwocking balls around, even if said balls are being thwocked around the birthplace of Welsh golf. Since it opened in late-2023, the £1.7 million hotel has garnered awards from the AA as a calm respite from central Tenby 15 minutes' walk away. Rooms are modern, softened with traditional woven fabrics. As good a reason to stay is the Links restaurant. Tenby residents call it the best meal in town.Details B&B doubles from £136 (thedunestenby.co.uk)
Do Ed and Lou Sykes ever rest? They introduced boutique style — art on inky walls, woven Welsh bed throws, reclaimed wood headboards and wildflowers on tables — and hyper-local cuisine to then-overlooked Newport in north Pembrokeshire 20 years ago. During the pandemic they created the bohemian Secret Garden dining space. Now the owners of this friendly Georgian coaching inn have formed an ebiking tour company, Expeditions, and taken on a former boozer beside Pwll Gwaelod beach. The Sailors' Safety has scrubbed up nicely into a rustic-chic restaurant serving dishes like beef ox cheek with smoked parsnips and beetroot ketchup. Hidden and high quality — perfectly on-brand.Details B&B doubles from £125 (llysmeddyg.com)
It's the foodie stay of southwest Wales, a smart Georgian townhouse with two terrific dining options: relaxed local favourite Foxhunter Bar or more formal the Oak Room. Just as you'd expect of a hotel affiliated with celebrated Michelin-starred restaurant the Walnut Tree, under five minutes' drive away. That's why we named it the best hotel for food in this year's Times and Sunday Times Best Places to Stay. Accommodation is a mix-and-match of antique dressers and modern pieces. The hills offer balance to fine food. Surrounded by the peaks of Blorenge, Skirrid and Sugar Loaf mountain, this is prime walking country.Details B&B doubles from £195 (angelabergavenny.com)
In March, Interesting Hotel Group took on what was a Hilton and before that the hotel of a pioneering artificial surf pool in the Conwy Valley. They say it will be a base for 'exploration with indulgence'. That translates into a surprisingly smart 106-room stay with a brasserie plus a spa complete with indoor and outdoor pools and saunas among wooded hills. What facilitates the 'exploration' bit is a cracking location. Within half an hour are the best summits of Eryri National Park around Capel Curig, Conwy castle like a child's model and ice creams and promenades along Llandudno's Victorian pier.Details B&B doubles from £110 (ixorahotelandspa.co.uk)
What a difference a change of owner makes. Crest Hotels, owners of Ludlow's the Feathers, has just reopened this once-shabby Victorian hotel mid-way through a £3 million refurbishment to create a stay which lives up to the promise of its grade II listing. The marketing people talk about its blend of historic elegance and modern style. That translates into original cornice in public areas plus easygoing, coastal decor in 52 rooms. (Half have had a makeover; completion is by the end of June.) But who are we kidding? You book for the unrivalled location above South Beach. The balcony may offer the best cocktail spot in town.Details Room-only doubles from £87 (imperialhoteltenby.co.uk)
I'm fond of Brecon. It's the anti Hay-on-Wye, solid and no-nonsense where bookish Hay can be a little la-di-da, a market town where the River Usk chuckles beneath a bridge and the shapeliest peaks of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park rise beyond. What it lacked was decent accommodation. Not anymore. This riverside coaching inn wedged into Brecon's Norman castle reopened in early April after a £3 million refurbishment by Coaching Inn Group. Country maximalist sums it up: bold floral fabrics, prints of local scenes, perhaps a gilt-frame headboard. Superior doubles at the rear have stonking views of those peaks.Details B&B doubles from £125 (breconcastle.co.uk)