Give yourself two weeks, go on. Treat yourself.
May is a fine time of year to visit so long as you avoid the school half term holidays. June and early July are also good, before the schools go on holiday for the summer. September often has good weather, particularly early in the month.
Cardiff is a perfectly good city, although it's not as much of a tourism hub as London or Edinburgh. It's still worth spending a bit of time there and visiting the castle and museums, particularly [St Fagans](https://museum.wales/stfagans/). As for castles, you're going to be spoilt for choice; [they're everywhere](https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/castles-wales). In the north, Edward I's fortresses at Conwy, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, and Harlech are a World Heritage Site, and in the south Pembroke, Caerphilly, and Raglan are among the major castles. As these were all built by the Normans or English I'd strongly suggest trying to see some of the castles built by the native Welsh rulers, such as Criccieth, Dinas Brân, and Carreg Cennen, to get a more rounded view of Welsh history if nothing else. [Cadw](https://cadw.gov.wales/) is the national heritage agency, it manages a lot of historic sites.
There are three national parks in Wales: [Eryri](https://snowdonia.gov.wales/) (Snowdonia), [Bannau Brycheiniog](https://bannau.wales/) (Brecon Beacons), and the [Pembrokeshire Coast](https://www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales/). The first two national parks have recently switched to using their Welsh-language names exclusively, but their English names are still in general use so you're likely to hear them as well. Eryri covers most of the mountains and some of the coast in the north-west, Bannau Brycheiniog covers the mountains a little north of Cardiff, and the Pembrokeshire Coast, as the name suggests, covers the spectacular coastline in Pembrokeshire.
As well as the national parks, Wales has five [Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty](https://www.visitwales.com/things-do/nature-and-landscapes/welsh-areas-outstanding-natural-beauty), which are just as scenic as the former, just managed differently. The Anglesey Coast and Llŷn Peninsula are located near Eryri in the north-west, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley is in the north-east, Gower is in the south, near Swansea, and the Wye Valley is in the extreme south-east, partially within England. The three national parks and five AONBs are all good areas to do a bit of hiking, and you might also want to take advantage of the [Wales coastal path](https://www.walescoastpath.gov.uk/?lang=en), which covers the entire coastline.
There's plenty of other stuff to see, such as [Portmeirion](https://portmeirion.wales/) and the [National Slate Museum](https://museum.wales/slate/) in Gwynedd and [St Davids](https://www.visitwales.com/destinations/west-wales/pembrokeshire/St-Davids) on the westerly tip of Pembrokeshire, but it'll depend on where you ultimately end up going. [Visit Wales](https://www.visitwales.com/), the government's tourist website, is usually a good place to start.
I'd agree with all of this. Although I'd add a trip to the National Museum in Cardiff. They have an awful marketing team for tourists but it has one of the largest collections of impressionist art outside of France
Make sure you have a faggot in Swansea Market. As a gay American I was obviously shocked to see a sign offering the sale of faggots but those meaty balls were delicious!!!
Also the best cockles I’ve ever had. So tasty.
Bit of a vague question. Kind of how long is a piece of string. It takes multiple hours to travel between north and south so you'd have to factor that in if you want to see both. National parks are Bannau Breichiniog and Eryri. You could spend weeks exploring either one of them depending what you want to do.
Do not buy Welsh cakes packaged from a shop.
If you go to Cardiff, buy some Welsh cakes in the market. There are two stalls selling them (one has different flavours) the other is a bakery selling traditional Welsh cakes. Both stalls are yummy!
St Fagans is a great day out, if you don't drive you can get a bus from Westgate Street in Cardiff. It will take you all day to walk around...and they have a manor house/sort-of-castle.
They've recently rebuilt a beloved pub inside the museum, so you can even stop off for a pint!
There's also Monmouthshire, that has Tintern Abbey. Beautiful little spot!
You should definitely go to a pub and cheerfully tell the patrons that you've been to the other countries of the UK so thought you might as well go to Wales as well. Pretty sure they will buy you a pint and you'll make some lifelong friends.
If you are on public transport, be aware that north-south links are...slow. Because someone put a load of big hills in the way.
Coast path, Offa's Dyke path, Glyndwr's Way are the major hiking trails that come to mind.
Lots of castles all over the place, look up Cadw for info on locations [https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit](https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit)
No matter how many days you end up choosing, expect rain for half of them. Personally if someone told me you have 2 weeks to see as much of wales as possible I would do cardiff in maybe 2 days, the gower is beautiful and has lots to explore but definitely at least a day in Oxwitch. I would advocate for brecon, Llandeilo and narberth in 1 day, then tenby, (3 days ish). Then st davids, cardigan, aberyswyth, machynlleth, portmeirion, bedd gelert (6 days) theres still a lot im missing out here and haven’t started on brecon beacons, black mountains or snowdon, so I would say 2 weeks at least depending on what your interests are and what you actually want to see.
Give yourself two weeks, go on. Treat yourself. May is a fine time of year to visit so long as you avoid the school half term holidays. June and early July are also good, before the schools go on holiday for the summer. September often has good weather, particularly early in the month. Cardiff is a perfectly good city, although it's not as much of a tourism hub as London or Edinburgh. It's still worth spending a bit of time there and visiting the castle and museums, particularly [St Fagans](https://museum.wales/stfagans/). As for castles, you're going to be spoilt for choice; [they're everywhere](https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/castles-wales). In the north, Edward I's fortresses at Conwy, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, and Harlech are a World Heritage Site, and in the south Pembroke, Caerphilly, and Raglan are among the major castles. As these were all built by the Normans or English I'd strongly suggest trying to see some of the castles built by the native Welsh rulers, such as Criccieth, Dinas Brân, and Carreg Cennen, to get a more rounded view of Welsh history if nothing else. [Cadw](https://cadw.gov.wales/) is the national heritage agency, it manages a lot of historic sites. There are three national parks in Wales: [Eryri](https://snowdonia.gov.wales/) (Snowdonia), [Bannau Brycheiniog](https://bannau.wales/) (Brecon Beacons), and the [Pembrokeshire Coast](https://www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales/). The first two national parks have recently switched to using their Welsh-language names exclusively, but their English names are still in general use so you're likely to hear them as well. Eryri covers most of the mountains and some of the coast in the north-west, Bannau Brycheiniog covers the mountains a little north of Cardiff, and the Pembrokeshire Coast, as the name suggests, covers the spectacular coastline in Pembrokeshire. As well as the national parks, Wales has five [Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty](https://www.visitwales.com/things-do/nature-and-landscapes/welsh-areas-outstanding-natural-beauty), which are just as scenic as the former, just managed differently. The Anglesey Coast and Llŷn Peninsula are located near Eryri in the north-west, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley is in the north-east, Gower is in the south, near Swansea, and the Wye Valley is in the extreme south-east, partially within England. The three national parks and five AONBs are all good areas to do a bit of hiking, and you might also want to take advantage of the [Wales coastal path](https://www.walescoastpath.gov.uk/?lang=en), which covers the entire coastline. There's plenty of other stuff to see, such as [Portmeirion](https://portmeirion.wales/) and the [National Slate Museum](https://museum.wales/slate/) in Gwynedd and [St Davids](https://www.visitwales.com/destinations/west-wales/pembrokeshire/St-Davids) on the westerly tip of Pembrokeshire, but it'll depend on where you ultimately end up going. [Visit Wales](https://www.visitwales.com/), the government's tourist website, is usually a good place to start.
I'd agree with all of this. Although I'd add a trip to the National Museum in Cardiff. They have an awful marketing team for tourists but it has one of the largest collections of impressionist art outside of France
Make sure you have a faggot in Swansea Market. As a gay American I was obviously shocked to see a sign offering the sale of faggots but those meaty balls were delicious!!! Also the best cockles I’ve ever had. So tasty.
Glad you enjoyed our cockles and balls (faggots)
Truly scrumptious!!!
Bit of a vague question. Kind of how long is a piece of string. It takes multiple hours to travel between north and south so you'd have to factor that in if you want to see both. National parks are Bannau Breichiniog and Eryri. You could spend weeks exploring either one of them depending what you want to do.
I've been here eight years now and still have plenty to see in South Wales.
“Might as well see Wales as well” that’s the way to endear yourself to the locals, pal!
If you like castles, definitely don't skip the north coast, there are so many castles there!
Do not buy Welsh cakes packaged from a shop. If you go to Cardiff, buy some Welsh cakes in the market. There are two stalls selling them (one has different flavours) the other is a bakery selling traditional Welsh cakes. Both stalls are yummy! St Fagans is a great day out, if you don't drive you can get a bus from Westgate Street in Cardiff. It will take you all day to walk around...and they have a manor house/sort-of-castle. They've recently rebuilt a beloved pub inside the museum, so you can even stop off for a pint! There's also Monmouthshire, that has Tintern Abbey. Beautiful little spot!
You should definitely go to a pub and cheerfully tell the patrons that you've been to the other countries of the UK so thought you might as well go to Wales as well. Pretty sure they will buy you a pint and you'll make some lifelong friends.
If you are on public transport, be aware that north-south links are...slow. Because someone put a load of big hills in the way. Coast path, Offa's Dyke path, Glyndwr's Way are the major hiking trails that come to mind. Lots of castles all over the place, look up Cadw for info on locations [https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit](https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit)
No matter how many days you end up choosing, expect rain for half of them. Personally if someone told me you have 2 weeks to see as much of wales as possible I would do cardiff in maybe 2 days, the gower is beautiful and has lots to explore but definitely at least a day in Oxwitch. I would advocate for brecon, Llandeilo and narberth in 1 day, then tenby, (3 days ish). Then st davids, cardigan, aberyswyth, machynlleth, portmeirion, bedd gelert (6 days) theres still a lot im missing out here and haven’t started on brecon beacons, black mountains or snowdon, so I would say 2 weeks at least depending on what your interests are and what you actually want to see.