Where To Go In Ceredigion
WEDGED between the Dyfi and Teifi and fronting the wide sweep of Cardigan Bay, Ceredigion strings together handsome coastal towns, upland market communities and story-rich villages.
Studenty Aberystwyth is the unofficial capital, home to the National Library of Wales, a Victorian promenade, Constitution Hill cliff railway and the Vale of Rheidol steam line snaking inland towards Devil’s Bridge (Pontarfynach) and its dramatic waterfalls.
South along the coast, pastel-painted Aberaeron is a perfectly proportioned Georgian harbour town where honey ice cream and lobster rolls pair with yacht-clinking sunsets, while New Quay (Ceinewydd) offers dolphin-spotting boat trips and a Dylan Thomas trail that winds between pubs and coves.
At the county’s southern gateway, Cardigan (Aberteifi) has a revived castle and indie spirit; in 1176 it hosted the first recorded Eisteddfod, and today its lanes brim with delis, galleries and a thriving riverside.
Inland, scholarly Lampeter (Llanbedr Pont Steffan) pivots around one of Britain’s oldest degree-awarding institutions, radiating bookish cafés and gentle green spaces. Rugged Tregaron sits at the edge of the Cambrian Mountains with the vast Cors Caron bog on its doorstep, and nearby Llanddewi Brefi carries the legend of St David’s sermon as well as superb walking from its steep hillside streets.
The beaches come thick and fast: family-friendly Borth rolls into the dunes and nature reserve at Ynyslas; cliff-hugging Llangrannog is a pocket of surfy cafés and golden sand; Aberporth, Tresaith and Penbryn dot the Ceredigion Coast Path with sheltered bays, sea caves and summer sunsets that seem to linger forever.
Between them, workaday villages like Llanrhystud, Llanon, Llanarth and Ciliau Aeron offer farm shops, craft producers and handsome chapels, while just inland Bow Street, Talybont, Capel Bangor and Llanilar knit together the Rheidol and Ystwyth valleys with pubs, riverside rambles and community events.
Head higher for slate roofs and chapel spires in Ponterwyd, Pontrhydygroes and Pontrhydfendigaid, gateway to the atmospheric ruins of Strata Florida Abbey and remote lakes that feel a world away from the seaside bustle.
Whether you come for dolphins and caramel cliffs or peat bog skies and quiet lanes, Ceredigion’s towns and villages reward slow travel – and a curiosity for the stories that live between their hills and harbours.
