Tourist Places To Visit In Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

Pembrokeshire is blessed with a wide range of natural beauties with some of the most fascinating castles and ancient monuments, vibrant walled gardens, islands, wildlife, nationally acclaimed galleries & museums with some really incredible artworks and artifacts. Home to the only National Park that was established in the UK owing to its coastline, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, it occupies more than 1/3rd of the county’s area and has a distinct topography with a varied range of ecological features, wildlife and habitations. Pembrokeshire also has a number of rare & pervasive species like the red-billed chough and houses a variety of seasonal breeding locales for puffins, razorbills, guillemot, etc. Here are some of the best tourist places to visit in Pembrokeshire.

Experience Pembrokeshire’s incredible, vibrant and diverse heritage, sprinkled with captivating medieval tombs, pre-historic castles and Celtic shrines in the religious domain. With some of the finest castles in Pembrokeshire, which include the Pembrokeshire Castle and Carew Castle, there’s Cilgerran Castle as well that dominates a significant perch above the Teifi Gorge. Then, there’s the Manorbier Castle that overlooks the beach and is a norman baronial residence, with Llawhaden Castle that was a guarded Bishop’s palace with visible scenic sights from its battlements, while the Picton Castle is a blend of a guarded manor and medieval fortress, built in the 13th century. Other must-visits include Lamphey Bishop’s Palace, St Govan’s Chapel, Pentre Ifan and The Tudor Merchants House.

Pembrokeshire is abundant with talent, crafts and artists. The Tenby Museum & Art Gallery is one of the oldest museums that is independently operational with a collection of local archaeological, geological, biological and maritime artifacts. Located in a portion of a medieval castle, the Tenby Museum & Art Gallery houses popular artworks by artists like Graham Sutherland, Augustus, John Piper, Kyffin Williams & Gwen John. You can also find several craft hotspots, tucked away inside the country lanes, in tiny villages, with numerous shops in Saundersfoot, Haverfordwest, Milford Marina, Narbeth & St David. You should also explore the Pembrokeshire Craft Makers Exhibition.

Nearly 3/4th of a mile of Amroth in Pembrokeshire is the National Trust's Colby Woodland Garden with a walled landscape with a variety herbaceous plantations, unusual trees and shrubbery, with round the year vibrant display of flowers. They include carpets of crocuses, daffodils and bluebells in spring, magnificent magnolias in summer, Japanese maple, acers & viburnums during fall and in winter. The woodland garden houses floral marvels, heritage hunts, meandering streams and ponds, also making for a natural playground, what with its stepping stones scattered in the streams, rope swings tied to the tallest trees, campfires and more!

Pembrokeshire’s vibrant past is best reflected in its numerous museums. Scolton Manor, a 60-acre country park houses a Victorian Manor Museum, while the Tenby is a treasure trove of history that reflects the fishing & trading port’s evolution into a stylish resort. Then there’s the Narberth Museum, rich with engaging displays and the Last Invasion Tapestry in Fishguard, that presents an incredible 30m embroidered tapestry, which represents the last invasion of mainland Britain in 1797. This masterpiece took two years to see the light, with the hard work of 70 women.

The newly operational Glan-Yr-Afon in Haverfordwest exhibits artworks from Wales’s National Library, while the Oriel y Parc Gallery’s elegant landscapes are displayed in the National Museum Collection from Wales. If you’re after glorious artworks, then lookout for a gallery in Pembrokeshire that hosts a variety of housework by sculptors, potters, artists, jewelry crafters and painters under one roof.

An early 13th century Castle with over 35 acres of listed gardens with an incredible array of rare trees and shrubs in addition to a formal rose garden, a 19th-century traditional walled garden and herbaceous borders, the Upton Castle Gardens is Pembrokeshire’s hidden gem and a must-visit for those who seek peace & tranquility. Open to visitors from April through September, the woodland walks will lead you through the ancient trees past the remnants of medieval fish ponds, right to the River Cleddau’s tidal estuary.

Home to Augustinian Canons Regular by the Western Cleddau’s banks, the Haverfordwest Priory was built in honor of St. Mary and St. Thomas, the martyr. The priory’s main attraction is the remnant of its apostolic medieval garden, restored to resemble its fragrance and identity from the gone era, an ideal site for self-reflection, quiet contemplation and display of its prized possessions of excavated artifacts at the Haverfordwest Town Museum.

A historical site, the Carew Cheriton Control Tower is a unique restored museum in Pembrokeshire with a bay window, rebuilt as per the conditions in 1940 with a control tower during the war years, an additional Stanton Air Raid Shelter, an Avro Anson aircraft and huge display of wartime exhibits in the museum. Established in 1938 as a support base at the Pembroke Dock, it housed the flying boat base and from June 1940, it served the Dutch 320 and 321 squadrons. The tower represents a memorial for soldiers who served at the airfield during the two world wars as well.

From sporting events to food festivals, from literary fests to classical concerts, the calendar of events in Pembrokeshire will have you wanting more of everything. The Narbeth Food Festival at the end of September, the Pembrokeshire Food Fest in Tenby & Big Retreat Wales in Lawrenny are some of the hot favorites. The Llangwm Literary Festival is an interesting gathering of poets, writers and storytellers, while the Long Course weekend challenges people from all walks of sports to compete in swimming, running, and biking events.

There are a variety of international musical festivals in Pembrokeshire, where scores of soloists & musicians collect in celebration of classical and contemporary works at the Fishguard International and the St Davids Cathedral Festivals. A beautiful rendition of jazz and blues can be enjoyed at the Tenby Blues Festival or Aberjazz in Fishguard. You can also experience the folk festival in Fishguard in May.