Please talk to me about Wales

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Next July we are looking to taking a family holiday in Wales. DH and I love the hills and history, and our DS (who will be almost 3) likes beaches and burning off energy. We will also have a 6month old.

We are looking for self catering for one week, no more than £1,000 ideally.

The thing is, Wales is big, and we don't know it, so don't know where to start looking.

I am hoping some of you lovely fellow MNers can help me........please

We've just come back from a static caravan at Lydstep Beach near Tenby. It's a lovely site & given that you're organised & planning ahead, you're almost certain to to be able to book directly with an owner rather than having to book through Haven. Nice but busy beaches at Tenby, plenty other sandy beaches between Tenby & St Davids. Loads of castles(we did Pembroke); Folly Farm is a great family day out too.

I don't know the rest of Wales so don't know how it compares, but we had a really nice break.

great starting point, thanks member

Just been informed the budget is more like £700 tops

N Wales a bit cheaper than West, inland less "fashionable" than coast (eg Abersoch, and further south Tenby, Cardigan, anywhere in Pembrokeshire).
We go to N Wales nearly every year (stay at friend's house). Lots of castles, beaches, hills and bike rides. Will be there next week. Try looking in places like Llanberis, Betws y Coed, Capel Curig, Tremadog.

We went to Lydstep in 2009 and it was wonderful. I'd reccomend it. It's close to Tenby, but IMO Manobier is much nicer and less busy, and it's not far away either.

We stayed in a cottage in Saundersfoot this year and you can't go wrong with that area its lovely and plenty to do.

Folly Farm is a perfect day out for a 3 year old!

This was the park www.haven.com/parks/south-wales/lydstep-beach/index.aspx?waplacement=lydstep_beach&waSite=Google&waSource=Online&waChannel=Paid_Search&waCampaign=Paid_Search-Parks&waGroup=Lydstep&mpch=sem

It's next to its own beach though it's a mixture of sand/shingle rather than very sandy. We had a couple of meals in the Club House but didn't partake of any of the kids clubs/entertainment preferring to use it as a base. It did have a nice playground.

Yep Tenby is a great start or broadhaven, littlehaven, st. Davids's or Newquay in fact anywhere in the west is lovely.

Folly farm good for littlies, also Heatherton park and opposite Manor Farm.
There are loads of thing s to do and places to go and beaches to relax on.

We went to Wales in early June this year and stayed in a caravan at Aberdunant Country Park near Porthmadog. Not at all how I expected a static caravan park to be, it was really quite picturesque and sort of set in a large wooded/hilly area with streams etc running through it.

I absolutely loved it. Porthmadog was perfect as a base for lots of different day trips within easy reach (as both DCs are with long car journeys!)

We visited Criccieth Castle, the views were amazing and the shingle beach was very pretty too. Plus, there's a Cadwalladers ice cream parlour there - also with amazing views out to sea.
Harlech Castle was only about a twenty minute drive from Porthmadog and the beach was gorgeous (although a bit of a trek from where the car park is) We spent a happy afternoon there (nice and sandy)
Another lovely beach within easy reach is Black Rock Sands. And to top it all off (for me, anyway ) Portmeirion was only about fifteen minutes away !

Then you've also got loads of train stuff nearby like the Welsh Highland Heritage railway, perfect for toddlers as they incorporate a visit to a little museum where the kids can clamber all over the old engines and wave flags etc...my DS was in train heaven !

Sorry for long post but I loved it all, can you tell? .

hmmmm i think i need to buy a guide book and have a look at what we might like to see and then decide on an area. I have had a good look at all mentioned above and bookmarked most of them, so thank you very much :-D

I would second Harlech beach, it is enormous and nearly always empty - no facilities and a walk from the car park though.

We've just come back from a week in Wales - haven't been before (well not for years) and had a lovely time. We went to the coast in West Wales (about half way between Aberystwyth and Cardigan). A really lovely part of the world. To be perfectly honest, I didn't have particularly high expectations so I was quite taken aback. I wasn't expecting it to be so beautiful - absolutely stunning beaches (almost deserted), watching dolphins, great family days out close by, lovely people.

We stay at Borth y gest - little village on the north coast where you can walk into Porthmadog from. excellent sandy beaches just a short walk away. portmeirion, rabbit world, criccieth, steam train, tea and cake shops, little crazy golf, black rock sands, Harlech, Labyrinth, centre for alternative technology all within an hour. lovely little village houses there.