Best coastal towns in Wales?

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Hello! We’re a family of 4 (myself, DH and 2 DDs nearly 3 and 12 weeks). We are looking at moving within the UK to a nice coastal town and have decided on Wales as it’s not too far from family and some of the beaches look beautiful! Can anyone advise where is best for families considering schooling, safety, outdoor lifestyle, laid back, more surfer vibes over arcades and candy floss. Also would need somewhere with access to gyms etc as we both work in the fitness industry! We are going to take a couple of weeks and have a look at a few places before we decide where to go but looking for where to check out! Any advice welcome please!

Watching with interest☺️

Which part of Wales is not too far from family? North, mid or south? If they live not too far from south Wales, that might be a fair distance from seaside towns in north Wales.

Well the south would be the furthest part but still doable so we’re open to all options!

i think you need to narrow your search down

Have you driven to anywhere on the coast in Wales and back again. Takes about four times as long as the route planner says.
where do you need to get back to as it will take all day to get from Cardigan to Chester .

So you're looking at the north? Most of North East Welsh coast is exceptionally rundown, Rhyl especially, you really don't want to go there.

North West Wales, in Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey, all primary schools are taught through the medium of Welsh, they only start working on English written work properly in Juniors. My son started in a Gwynedd school in year 3 and they were doing there first long piece of English written work. It's all about trying ti save the language and is rightly taken extremely seriously. Your kids are young enough to pick it up quickly on starting school though.

Luckily Wales don't do SATS anymore, so that's a big bonus!

Just a couple of things to think about, it's been a huge adjustment for my son and his extended family (and parents) are Welsh.

Abersoch and Llanbedrog

In S Wales I'd recommend Tenby, Saundersfoot, New Quay, Swansea, Penarth, Cowbridge, Cardiff, St Davids, Narberth, Cardigan, Pembroke, Aberaeron

Come to the Gower….. Gods own country! Check out The Mumbles, Langland, Caswell, Three Cliffs, Rhossili, Llangenith. Heaven on earth!

Ooh some great suggestions thank you!

@isthewashingdryyet oh no really? We’re based in South Yorkshire so max would be a 5 hour drive according to maps which is alright with us (we used to live abroad so it’s still closer than that!) but would you say it’s actually going to take longer?

We're on holiday in Wales at the moment. Near Tywyn. Places that are 30 miles away take 1hr 45 mins to drive to.

I'd work out what you need to be truly close to & start there.

Rough budget would also help, especially as someone has recommended abersoch.

Go to the Yorkshire coast then, Scarborough, Filey, Whitby are all fantastic and so much nearer.

it really does take forever on single Lane A roads to get anywhere, at least 45 mins for 30 miles, as another poster has said. And if you get behind a tractor add a further four hours

Swansea, then you are in a town but close to awesome beaches

It depends if OP wants actual coastal town, or just any town where you can get to the coast fairly easily. Depending where in Cardiff it could take 40 mins to get to Barry/Penarth, Cowbridge is about 20 mins from Barry which is the nearest coastal town although if you just want a beach Llantwit is a bit closer.

I'd say the beach part is easy but beach & gyms less so unless you go somewhere a bit more urban. Otherwise in rural areas there might be one council gym in a 20 mile radius with limited opening hours which limits your chance for a job. Also things like welsh language, education, house prices, to take into consideration. If you are in/close to a fairly big city now moving somewhere on the west coast where you'd have to drive for at least 2 hours to get to the nearest primark/theatre/major hospital could be a huge culture shock.

Bangor is a nice town which is probably big enough for what you need. Saying that I have no idea what capacity for fitness related careers are. Might you need somewhere bigger in which case I’d say look at Swansea.

sounds like Bangor would be nearer to family, certainly some lovely beaches both on the llyn peninsula and over on Anglesey. Swansea has great beaches on the Gower. Both are university towns with good enough shopping and close to good outdoors stuff. Swansea better for surfing but for more general outdoors lifestyle I’d say Bangor is better.

I used to live in Tenby and I’d say that neither Tenby, Pembroke, saundersfoot or st David’s would be big enough to easily find work in the fitness industry. I might be wrong. I live in England now and have friends who are self employed fitness instructors and they all work across several gyms to scrape a living.

You probably want a really big place, so Newcastle or Liverpool are coastal. The Yorkshire towns on the coast may not be big enough and are also slow to get to, on single lane A roads

where are you from originally as North Wales is culturally a different country, and you really do need to speak and read and write Welsh

or stick to Leeds, Sheffield, York, Bradford and just visit the coast often

Porthcawl maybe? Then you've got the option of Bridgend and Cardiff for working but still living right on the coast.

I think if I was choosing to move to Wales with my kids, Bangor would be my first choice, knowing North Wales quite well. Its a small city with good amenties and close to Anglesey and Llyn Peninsula for beaches, on the doorstep of the national park and lots for a young family to do nearby, think foel farm park, pili palas, sea zoo on anglesey. About a 4 hours drive from Yorkshire inc a short stop. The A55 can get choked up frequently though.

Llanduduno?

A) you don't need to read, write and speak Welsh.

B) Not all primary schools in those counties mentioned are Welsh Medium.

A lot of jobs in North Wales require you to have a least a rudimentary grasp of Welsh as well.

If you want to be relatively close to Family in Yorkshire, then wouldn't looking at the Yorkshire Coast as a starting point make more sense ?

Plenty of people live in north west wales and can't speak Welsh. I wouldn't let that put you off OP, although it's obviously a consideration. There's huge differences in percentages of Welsh speakers in different 'pockets' eg llanberis v's Caernarfon or Bangor v's Bethesda

Not true that schools in Conwy are taught through the medium of Welsh.