Gower or Llŷn Peninsula - long weekend?

[Hotterthanhell]

I need to escape the heatwave this coming weekend/early next week and I have some annual leave to use up so I am thinking of heading to Wales to try and avoid the worst of the heat (live in London, where it's hotter than hell.. etc😵)

I've always wanted to go to both the Gower and Llŷn Peninsula - but my brain is fried and I can't decide! Please wise owls of MN - where would you go for a long weekend?

Weather-wise, it looks a bit cooler in the Llŷn Peninsula, but Gower is still a fair bit cooler than London!

Depends where you were thinking in the Gower, but my FB feed has had reports of massive traffic jams to get anywhere near the beaches.

However, the Llyn Penisular is a huge drive from London, especially if just going for a weekend.

I mean, both are gorgeous places, but I wouldn't want to travel those distances in this heat if I didn't need to.

I wouldn’t go from London to the Llŷn for just a few days, Gower is 3-4 hours along the M4, you are looking at a much longer journey along smaller roads to go north. Time it wisely though - on a Friday afternoon there will be bottlenecks at Newport and Port Talbot.
If it’s just beaches you want there probably isn’t much between them - they both have lovely beaches. If you head to Gower avoid Oxwich - the road gets blocked with cars queuing to enter the car park which is a rip off. Go to Caswell, Three Cliffs, Port Eynon or Rhossili instead.

Thanks both of you! :)

I think I could stretch to 5 nights, so I wonder if that makes it worth the effort going north.

Would it be less busy in the north, or much of a muchness?

I can't comment on the other but I'm local to Gower. There are no traffic jams to beaches anywhere except Oxwich Bay that I know of.

It's an amazing beach and our favourite...if you're an all-day beach goer, go at 8.30 and you'll be fine. Getting out once you're there isn't an issue, just getting in. But don't try and rock up at 11am because you will be stuck for 2 hours.

Other than that I'd recommend same as the pp, either Rhossili or Caswell. Caswell is smaller and busier but more easily accessible, cafe and ice creams beach side. Rhossili is huge and not nearly so busy as Caswell but there's a steep walk up and down to it - not recommended if you have any mobility issues. Plus once you've done the trek down there's only beach - no luck if you want an ice cream 😂

Rhossili is great though and apart from the beach it's a lovely walk down to the Worms Head. You can also cross over to the Worm if you get the tides right (there's a sign with safe crossing times, should also be online).

Mumbles is another place to visit if you do Gower. Nice walk along the prom, plenty of decent restaurants, nice park for the kids, mini golf for a tenner per family, a few shops, lots of arcades at the pier end if that takes your fancy. Plus Joe's Icecream in Mumbles. It's a legend in Swansea, you can't visit and not have one!

Its pretty busy on the lleyn penninsular (also just to be aware im in north wales my colleagues are in london, we compared temperatures today and it was the same, although I think we are supposed to avoid the hottest weather)

You might be better in north wales heading for somewhere less touristy like penmaenmawr or llanfairfechan

If you're going anywhere, leave early. Like Friday morning at 6am. The roads leaving London are going to be gridlocked this weekend from lunchtime. My kids finish school on Monday and I'm betting a lot of families are leaving Friday.

Oh and Llyn is nicer than the Gower IMO!

Yeah I was just thinking getting out of London will be fun.. I’m in the south too.. 😅

The Llyn is endlessly nicer than the gower and at the moment (been here a week and will be here another 2) the weather is lovely, black rock sands and Porthmadog were blissful this past weekend. Abersoch, criccieth, Pwllheli all within a short enough drive and all have plenty to do. I'd definitely do the 5 nights, too much of a drive for 2 I think