Places to explore near Swansea

Walk the outline of a whole nation — 870 miles of cliff, estuary and beach from Chepstow round to Queensferry.

0.8 km S · spans 16 counties

Britain's first AONB — limestone headlands, vast beaches and salt marsh on Swansea's wild peninsula.

4.3 km SW

Victorian pier of 1898 at the eastern end of Swansea Bay, beside the lifeboat station.

6.2 km S

Rocky point closing Swansea Bay, with tidal islands, a lighthouse and a Victorian pier.

6.3 km S

An octagonal white light on an islet off the Gower headland, a Swansea Bay landmark reachable across the sand at low tide.

6.3 km S

Victorian seaside resort and fishing village at the western end of Swansea Bay, gateway to the Gower.

6.5 km SW · Swansea

Rocky cove beneath Mumbles Head, looking out to the lighthouse islands.

6.5 km S

Small rocky cove at the eastern end of the Gower coast near Mumbles Head.

6.7 km SW

Crescent bay lined with beach huts just west of Mumbles, popular with surfers.

7.5 km SW

Popular family beach near Mumbles, the first bay west of the Bishopston valley.

8.5 km SW

Long sandy Blue Flag beach on Swansea Bay at Port Talbot.

8.6 km E

The highest headland on the Gower, with views along Pennard Cliffs towards Mumbles.

8.9 km SW

Small sandy cove east of Caswell, once used by smugglers on the south Gower coast.

9 km SW

Wooded limestone valley where a stream sinks underground on its way to Pwlldu Bay.

9.3 km SW

Shingle-and-sand cove at the mouth of the Bishopston valley, reached only on foot.

10.1 km SW

Large sea cave in Pennard Cliffs with important prehistoric and interglacial deposits.

11.9 km SW

Limestone clifftop path above Three Cliffs Bay with wide coastal views.

11.9 km SW

Sandy bay framed by three limestone peaks, a salt marsh and a winding stream on south Gower.

13.2 km SW

Rocky limestone headland dividing Tor Bay from Three Cliffs Bay, a noted sunset viewpoint.

13.7 km SW

Secluded sandy beach between Great Tor and Oxwich Point, reached on foot across the dunes.

13.7 km SW

Freshwater pool and nature reserve on Cefn Bryn common, known for rare aquatic plants and dragonflies.

14.7 km W

Wide dune-backed beach and national nature reserve on the south Gower coast.

15.3 km SW

Village behind the dunes of Oxwich Bay, with a national nature reserve and a shoreline church.

15.8 km SW · Swansea

Michelin-starred dining in a former 18th-century smugglers' cottage right on Oxwich Bay beach on the rural Gower.

16.8 km SW

Old red sandstone ridge across the middle of the Gower, called the backbone of Gower.

17 km W

Wooded limestone headland closing the south end of Oxwich Bay, on the coast path.

17 km SW

Dunes and freshwater pool over the buried medieval town of Kenfig, rich in orchids and wildfowl.

18.5 km SE

Sheltered sandy bay on south Gower shared by the villages of Port Eynon and Horton.

19.9 km SW

Coastal village on a sandy south-Gower bay, once a centre for oyster fishing and limestone quarrying.

20.2 km SW · Swansea

Cliff fissure at Port Eynon walled with masonry and internal stairs, of medieval origin.

20.8 km SW

Wide surf beach at Porthcawl backed by a rocky foreshore and coast path.

21.1 km SE

Flat-topped sandstone summits, waterfall gorges and dark skies along the roof of south Wales.

21.2 km N

Rare cast-iron sea lighthouse of 1865 standing off Whiteford Point, exposed at low tide.

21.5 km W

Two-mile dune-backed beach and nature reserve on the north-west Gower coast.

21.9 km W

North-west Gower hill crowned by the Bulwark Iron Age hillfort, with wide island views.

22.4 km W

Sea cliff cave, also called Goat's Hole, where the Palaeolithic Red Lady of Paviland burial was found.

22.9 km W

Village at the north end of Rhossili Bay, the surfing centre of the Gower with a large medieval church.

22.9 km W · Swansea

Dune-backed beach at the north-west corner of the Gower, near Whiteford Point.

23.8 km W

Norman-doorwayed clifftop church at Rhossili, with a memorial to Antarctic explorer Edgar Evans.

24.4 km W

Cliff-top village above the three-mile sweep of Rhossili Bay at the western tip of the Gower.

24.4 km W · Swansea

Remote north-Gower cove named for a deep circular rock pool in the shore platform.

24.5 km W

Three-mile sweep of sand backed by Rhossili Down at the western tip of the Gower.

24.6 km W

Wild cove of sand at low tide reached through a limestone valley on south-west Gower.

24.6 km W

A medieval castle in Swansea.

0.2 km E

Botanical garden and glasshouses within Singleton Park in Swansea.

2.7 km W

Blackpill woodland garden with a nationally important rhododendron collection, a registered historic garden.

4.9 km SW

Grand 1872 Nonconformist chapel in Morriston, called the great cathedral of Welsh Nonconformity.

4.9 km N

Small Mumbles seafront pub on the promenade, known for cask and craft ales.

6.3 km SW

Parish church of the Mumbles, rebuilt over medieval foundations near Oystermouth Castle.

6.4 km SW

Restored Victorian landscaped valley garden with lake, cascade and observatory site north of Swansea.

6.8 km NW