What To Do In Ceredigion
CEREDIGION is where mountains tumble into Cardigan Bay, a mid-Wales county of pastel harbours, wild dunes and legends written in stone.
Walkers make a beeline for the Ceredigion Coast Path, 60 miles of cliff-top drama linking pretty towns from Ynyslas to Cardigan, alive with seabirds, wildflowers and occasional dolphin sightings below.
In Aberystwyth, the scholarly heart of the west, you can browse free exhibitions at the National Library of Wales before riding the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway up Constitution Hill for sweeping views across the bay.
Steam romantics hop aboard the Vale of Rheidol Railway for a narrow-gauge climb through oak woods and waterfalls to Devil’s Bridge, where three historic arches stack one upon another over the roaring Mynach.
South along the coast, Aberaeron charms with elegant Georgian streets wrapped around a yacht-bobbing harbour, perfect for seafood and honey ice cream after a beachy stroll.
Nearby, the National Trust’s Llanerchaeron reveals a remarkably intact John Nash villa with walled gardens and a working estate beside the River Aeron.
Continue to New Quay, launch point for boat trips into Britain’s largest resident population of bottlenose dolphins, then press on to the white-chapel headland and golden cove at Mwnt, a favourite perch for sunset and more dolphin-spotting.
At the mouth of the Teifi, Cardigan Castle tells 900 years of Welsh history and the story of the first national Eisteddfod; today its riverside lawns host events beneath stout stone walls.
Nature takes centre stage again at Bwlch Nant yr Arian, where red kites whirl in daily feeding displays amid waymarked trails for walkers and mountain bikers, and at Ynyslas in the Dyfi National Nature Reserve, home to Ceredigion’s largest dunes and vast bird-rich estuary flats.
Inland, the boardwalk over Cors Caron crosses one of Britain’s finest raised bog systems – a 12,000-year archive of peat, wildlife and big skies near Tregaron.
For time-travel among ruins, the meadows of Strata Florida Abbey unfold the legacy of a great Cistercian house, burial place of princes and a linchpin of medieval Welsh culture.
Whether you come for steam-railway nostalgia, cliff-path vistas or quiet moments in chapel and castle, Ceredigion rewards slow exploration, a place where the sea’s silver light seems to polish every harbour wall and hill.