South Wales - which beaches? And Brecon walks?

[NotCitrus]

Will be staying near Ammanford on holiday this summer. Our kids (age 5-10) mostly like woods and hills but also we will want to go to the beach a couple times.

Have one kid with autism prone to running off and a place with cliffs would be too stressful unless it's just going down a set of steps to get to the beach. None of the kids are particularly fussed about going in the water. Somewhere not too crowded, has some rocks etc as well as sand, has toilets and maybe someone selling icecreams? Some friends recommended the Pembrokeshire coast rather than Carmarthen Bay places like Tenby, but not sure how long it would take to drive (one child throws up in cars...)

Will be going to Carreg Cennen and Dinefwr, but are there other places in the Brecon Beacons National Park you'd recommend for picnics and walking?

bump

I like Pembrokeshire.

We stay in Broad Haven. Broad Haven, Little Haven, Milford Haven, Druidstone Haven (this one is a walk down and there are some drops), Solva (harbour and the best crabbing ever!, are all nice beaches and within an easy drive.

Look at www.breconbeacons.org/top-three-places-waterfalls for lovely walks.
Ogmore by Sea has incredible sand dunes and a lovely beach, and the Gower has a number of fabulous beaches too, but is a bit further afield.
You could always climb Pen y Fan too!
I love the Brecons, lucky you 😃

Barafundle Bay is beautiful.

I'm like monkeyfacegrace. I quite like the beaches further down in Wales. The Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire coastlines has some of the best beaches in the world if you ask me.

There is Rhossili Bay in Swansea. This is often voted one of the best beaches in Europe. Often in lots of "top 10" lists. However, there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of steps to walk down so that may not be suitable based on what you said.

Another favourite of mine is the beaches down in Tenby. There are car parks right next to the beach, toilets etc. It can get busy during the summer. However, the beaches there are pretty big (tenby.co.uk/tenby-from-the-sky-drone-footage/) - So there's always a place somewhere to sit down away from the rest of the other people. There are plenty of rocks to climb as you needed also.

You mentioned a friend suggested the Pembrokeshire coast rather than Carmarthen Bay places like Tenby. It's just worth pointing out that Tenby is in Pembrokeshire, not Carmarthenshire/Carmarthen bay.

I would go to Gower. If you are staying in Ammanford it's pretty close. Rhossili is beautiful as is three cliffs.... rhossili has a walk via dunes and three cliffs via stream and broad open flood plain. Caswell and Langland have plenty of resources and they have a surf school at caswell for children with additional needs.

If you're not going in the sea then try Burry Port beach. Gorgeous sandy beach, ice cream van, not too far from Ammanford and doesn't get too crowded. Very easy to park and just walk down a ramp and you are on the sand.

You could also try Cefn Sidan/Pembrey Country park.

Dinefwr is great and I love Carreg Cennen. Dolaucothi NT might be worth a visit if you are in those parts. It is small though.

Rhosilli is beautiful but cliffs.

Not sure about the loos, but the Sugar Loaf nr Crickhowell/Abergavenny is a good walk, no cliffs..

I like the Pen y Fan round too, again can't recall loo status.

Manorbier beach is a short walk down to beach.
Tenby can walk straight onto beaches with no trouble.

Brecon Beacons has a lot of walks there's Dan Y Ogaf caves as well.
There's also the Waterfalls Centre in Neath.

I as Going to suggest pembrey - nearish to ammanford. Or there's fishguard. Another is llanstefan (can see if from fishguard) there no cliffs there, but there is a castle!

Barafundle is amazing. National trust car park in stackpole and walk through paths surrounded by lilyponds to get to the beach. It's not close though - further out than tenby.

Rhossili is lovely, if you don't want the steps, you can go from llangenith (other side of rhosilli). There's also oxwich and port eyenon if you head Gower way.

Definitely Rhossili- it was recently voted amongst the top 10 beaches in the world, stunning!

Oxwich fits your beach brief and won't take you long from Ammanford. Give Penllergaer Woods a go too; it is just off the M4.

Oh yes! I hadn't thought of oxwich! Lovely big open beach x

Thank you everyone - will start looking up some of these names and the journey times...