Wales/Pembrokeshire places to visit and stay with teens

[Lovemusic82]

Looking at exploring Wales in June with 2 older teens, both have Autism and one has mobility issues so we are looking at pretty places to see that don’t involve a long walk. We have done parts of Wales including Snowdon (not looking to do Snowdon this time), we have done the north coast and Anglesey so would prefer west coast as it’s a part we haven’t touched on. We will be travelling from the south and ideally looking at 2 places to stay, possibly Cardiff for a night and then travel up the west coast. DD’s like a bit of shopping in Cardiff but prefer quiet places to stay, though travel lodge type places are fine as we will be exploring during the day.

What place do you recommend visiting? Any suggestions on accommodation? Dd1 will want her own room so ideally nothing too expensive as booking 2 rooms could get pricy.

Tenby! It's a really lovely seaside town and you could spend a couple of days there quite happily without having to go further afield. There's even a travelodge! Or possibly a premier Inn? But definitely a budget hotel of some description. Go to Top Joe's for a fabulous pizza!

Tenby was one of the places I like the look of, we haven’t been before so would love to go. Dd1 loves pizza so I shall make a note of Atop Joes 🤣. I have Portmeirion only list of places but not sure if the DD’s will like it?

I've only been to Portmeirion once, when I was a kid in the 90s 😆and I was SO BORED. There was nothing to do except look at pretty houses (where real people lived, so you can't go inside!) and buy plates. It wasn't for me, but it may be different now, I'm not sure! Tenby is more of a 'normal' town, but still stunning, with nice walks, restaurants, candy floss, beaches- you get the idea!

For cardiff try the future inn or premier inn in the Bay, quieter than the centre and really lovely. You can get the water taxi from there to the centre.
in Pembs i would say ST Davids which is great and some really good places to eat or go a bit further north to Cardigan which is also lovely. Tenby in the summer is manic but does have lots of caravan parks to stay in. If you want something more peaceful then St Davids or Cardigan would be my choice. st davids even has a premier Inn!

St David’s is lovely and Tenby also great but more lively and can get very busy during the summer. Both have Premier Inns/Travelodges ☺️. Portmeirion is quite far North and not really considered West Wales so might be worth doing on a separate trip

Falconry at the National Botanical Gardens: you can do a half or whole day and it's really interesting and hands on. Can be reached as a day trip from Tenby. I'm sure they would be able to arrange it to be manageable for your child with mobility issues.

My "difficult" son loved it when he was 16 and at 22 wants to do it again.

The gardens themselves are also worth seeing (big tropical glasshouses etc.)

There's some good easy walking near St Davids around St Non's well.

Anywhere around Tenby/Saundersfoot is lovely! We normally just stay outside of these areas and travel. We stay at a place called Redberth Gardens which is super family friendly too. Everything is within around a half an hour drive at the most then.

I’ve recommended this place before, Scolton Country Cottages. Near Haverfordwest so accessible for the whole of Pembrokeshire. We’re down there a lot because DH is local and the in-laws live there. My DD is autistic with SPD and loves it because it is very peaceful. Has an indoor pool.

We generally avoid Saundersfoot as it is insanely busy but it does have a really nice flat walk through some tunnels. The beaches at Broadhaven and Newgale. St David’s in the north of the county is very cute and has stunning coastal scenery.

Thank you, I will check all of these out. We will be going before schools break up so hopefully it won’t be as busy in Tenby?

Tenby is better than St David’s if your DD has mobility issues. The beach is by the town rather than a 10 minute drive away.

Have you looked at Gower? There's beautiful beaches there, and not too far to drive between them. Could stay close to mumbles for a bustling village, then there's close beaches Langland and caswell which are accessible. Caswell has a surf school which has loads of opportunities foe people with disabilities if that's something your teens would enjoy? The walk down to worms head in rhossili is beautiful and accessible, and there's lots of things to do round gower, falconry and archery at perriswood, the heritage centre, riding, or you can go to the city centre for standard bowling, cinema etc.

Another vote for Tenby, would they like horse riding?
http://www.donthibernate.co.uk/tenby-saundersfoot-amroth/

Mid wales is nice too, Newquay, Amroth, Borth Aberwristwith etc
Bit of info on this post
http://www.donthibernate.co.uk/tenby-saundersfoot-amroth/

Tenby in the holidays is rammed but OK the rest of the time. The streets are quite steep though - it would also probably help to have an idea of what the mobility issues are as some of the best things to do in Tenby involve small boats. If getting on and off a fishing boat is possible then I'd recommend a trip to Caldey Island - small and pretty and a seal safari (the ones in the little ribs are better if more expensive as you can get right in to the cliffs etc).

You could take a trip to Manorbier - castle and easily accessed small beach.

If a short walk is OK then the tunnel from Saudersfoot to Amroth is fun - Saundersfoot also has some surfy vibe shops these days if they like that sort of thing and a nice cafe called Butternut in the centre for lunch that my teens like.

If you're going to stay in Cardiff for a few days then go to St Fagans which is an open air museum with lots of buildings reconstructed from across Wales.

It wouldn’t be in school holidays (my youngest wouldn’t cope). Dd1 has hypermobility and hypertonia, walks with a stick on bad days, can walk short distances, DD2 is hypermobile and severely autistic but can walk further. Short flattish walks are ok (not that easy in Wales), now climbing mountains etc. Dd1 likes animals, museums, pizza but not as keen on the sea, dd2 loves the sea and eating out. I want to see see some of the Pembrokeshire coast, I love scenery and taking photos.

Dd2 likes the seaside vibe (arcades, ice cream, fish and chips) but dd1 and I are not too bothered (we live close to the south coast). So we don’t mind being based in a sea side place as long as we have access to other things.

The open air museum in Cardiff sounds good.

Looking at possibly staying near Tenby Mon-Fri (morning) and then Fri and sat in Cardiff.

Barry island has a great beach with fish and chips and arcades. There’s a premier inn and trains into Cardiff every 15 minutes which take 1/2 hour.

Llangrannog (west wales/mid wales) park and ride or paid car park beach and excellent cafe. Loos are 5 min walk.

Oakwood theme park is about 20 mins drive from Tenby and is fairly flat and not too huge ( from memory, not been back in a few years)

What about a boat trip around Skomer island?
https://www.pembrokeshire-islands.co.uk/

Check current reviews for Oakwood. I hear it’s sadly gone massively down hill.

Tenby has a Premier Inn , but it’s usually quite pricey
You could look at at staying at Bluestone , just base yourself there and explore
I like Narberth , quirky shops , Amroth has a lovely beach and your not far from Tenby and Saundersfoot
St Davids is lovely too , there’s a fabulous icecream place whose name I sadly so t remember
Cardiff , the Premier Inn on the Bay is fine , lots to do in Cardiff , St Fagans is good , there’s a museum on the city , the arcades are nice to have a nose around

I assume you’re driving ? if not you’ll have to do an awful lot of planning as the public transport is awful

Also in Tenby , if you watched Grand designs , the old lifeboat station was featured as it’s been turned into a dwelling ( there’s a new lifeboat station you can look around )

Cafe Vista does the best coffee around

You can book wildlife trips from New Quay, high chance of spotting dolphins from there. Longer trip = better chance to see wildlife. Good fish and chips too.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g552051-zfd9899-St_Davids_St_Davids_Peninsula_Pembrokeshire_Wales-Ice_Cream.html

I think it was the Bench we went to.

Dd2 is a huge fan of grand designs so will have probably seen the lifeboat station.

The wildlife trip will be perfect

I did look at premier inn and they wanted £500+ for 2 nights in Tenby (2 rooms as dd1 won’t share), heaven in Tenby only want £150 is for 4 nights in a caravan so we will probably do that instead then one night in premier inn Cardiff .