I’ve clocked up a fair few riverside towns across Wales, and people usually ask me which one’s my favourite
Regular readers will know I’m not exactly subtle about my fondness for Welsh towns. Give me a selection of proper pubs, independent shops, and quirky cafes selling local produce and decent coffee, and I’m as happy as a clam in cheap chardonnay.
I’ve clocked up a fair few riverside towns across Wales, and people usually ask me which one’s my favourite. It’s a difficult question when our lush country is basically wall-to-wall charm, but after much serious thought, mostly conducted in pubs, I have an answer. Cardigan (Welsh Aberteifi).
Positioned on the tidal reach of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire, Cardigan is one of my favourite riverside towns in Wales, and I keep returning for weekend breaks near the coast.
It’s home to one of my favourite hotels right now, which is really conveniently located in the centre of town. Perched on the riverside in Cardigan, The Albion Aberteifi blends seafaring charm with maritime design and is a great place for an adults-only break.
Often outshone by tourist hotspots like Tenby, Cardigan is sometimes overlooked by tourists, but it really shouldn’t be. It’s the gateway to the Teifi Valley and both the Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire coastal paths, which makes it a great base for exploring this glorious coastal sweep.
Cardigan is the second-largest town in Ceredigion. It packs a punch culture-wise, having transcended from a significant 18th-century Atlantic seaport to a swish, artsy enclave with theatres and galleries. It’s fast becoming one of my favourite spots for a weekend break for excellent eats, coastal walks and a spot of culture.
As I’m now in my history era, it’s also grabbed my attention with its rich heritage and handsome stone castle. Found on the bend of the River Teifi, Cardigan has a long and varied history.
Henry VIII granted Cardigan its charter in 1543; by the 18th century, it was the most important seaport in southern Wales. It had a thriving herring and shipbuilding industry, and its merchant fleet carried fish, slate, bricks, tannery bark, corn, and ale.
Its heritage is also found in the town’s varied architecture, where you can still see Georgian buildings, including the restored Castle House and original 17th-century arches.
Today, it has a thriving small-town feel with boutiques, an independent bakery, an acclaimed hotel, and waymarked coastal paths that guide you along the glorious shoreline. I have visited several times and fallen a little more in love with the town each time.
Despite the buzzing town’s many offerings, it’s not quite as well known as tourist hotspots like Tenby or the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
Perhaps that’s because the Cardigan Bay area remains one of Wales’s most underrated stretches of coastline, sandwiched between the headline-grabbing beauty of Pembrokeshire and the Llŷn Peninsula. In 2023, Time Out magazine even dubbed its main town, Cardigan, the “most underrated” spot in west Wales.
Here, you can experience Wales as its most authentic self, zipping between secluded bays to spot dolphins, trekking the coastal path and feasting on piping hot fish and chips in small fishing villages.
The relative remoteness of Ceredigion and the proud, resilient character of its communities have long made this coastline a stronghold of Welsh language and culture.
Cardigan is the main hub here and is ideal for exploring the Ceredigion coast. As the birthplace of the Eisteddfod, Wales’s most important cultural festival, the town has long been a hub for storytelling, music, and art. Wander its streets, and you’ll find charming cafes, pubs, and a thriving collection of independent shops and businesses.
At the heart of the town sits the beautifully restored Cardigan Castle, the first stone castle built by a Welshman and the birthplace of the first Eisteddfod in 1176.
This ancient Norman fortress, originally rebuilt in 1244, underwent a £12 million transformation in 2015, reviving its role as the town’s crowning centrepiece.
With a history spanning more than 900 years, the Castle has weathered many brutal power struggles between Wales and England. Today, it’s a vibrant heritage site featuring a museum, restaurant, open-air concert space, and Grade II-listed pleasure gardens.
According to Discover Ceredigion, the Castle also has a cultural connection. To celebrate the Castle’s completion, Lord Rhys hosted the first recorded Eisteddfod, a festival of music and poetry. This competitive arts festival is a uniquely Welsh tradition that thrives locally and follows Welsh people wherever they migrate.
After stomping the castle grounds, I always head for my favourite cafe spot – Crwst. This swish Cardigan cafe and deli has garnered a cult following for its banging brunch and bakery items and has also caught the eye of food writers.
Founded by husband and wife Osian and Catrin Jones, it is a swish 80-seater cardigan cafe and deli that attracts customers from miles around.
Five years ago, a married couple decided to pack in their jobs and make a living from what they loved most: baking and drinking coffee. Crwst is the happy, bricks-and-mortar result of this foodie journey. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here
Since their launch in 2018, the dynamic duo have grown the business and the foodie brand, taking on a second venue at Poppit Sands at the start of the Pembrokeshire coast path, where they serve Crwst’s most popular bakes, ice creams and coffees.
The Cardigan cafe is nearly always busy after it was named in the Good Food Guide. People arrive in droves for its delicious dishes and fresh-baked goods, including sourdough loaves, brioche doughnuts, and cinnamon swirls.
The Cardigan Cafe also offers a delicious brunch menu, ranging from harissa halloumi burgers to pancake stacks and Turkish eggs, and has earned glowing reviews from food writers.
Guardian writer Genevieve Fox writes: “Brunch is the ticket at this bright, trendy Cardigan craft bakery. The Full Welsh Brekkie includes Crwst’s signature beans and a cockle and laverbread gratin, the halloumi is made locally, and the blow-out Sausage & Egg McDoughnut is filled with melted cheese.”
My personal favourite, though, is the rum and Banana French Toast, loaded with brule banana streaky bacon and topped with creamy Barti Rum Caramel ice cream. It’s sweet and salty goodness with a lovely rum kick, which is exactly what you want at 10 a.m.
Outside of baked goods, there’s plenty to eat in and around the town. A great spot for pizza is the unique riverside venue Grain.
Formerly Pizzatipi, this rustic restaurant has a large tipi with a standout feature in the middle that I loved instantly – a roaring fire.
Here you can expect made-to-order stone-baked pizzas with bold, fresh flavours, a rotating list of craft beers from Bluestone Brewing Company, and a buzzing outdoor space and huge fire to keep you warm on cold winter nights.
There’s also Yr Hen Printworks, Templebar Cafe, and Farmshop in Nevern if you want to continue your culinary journey in Cardigan.
Another highlight is the shopping offering. While it’s not a major scene, Cardigan has a small selection of shops and boutiques selling crafts, surfwear, and books. Most shops and businesses are located along or just off High Street and further up on Pendre, with several shops at Black Lion Mews off the main street.
Cardigan’s indoor market is the retail showstopper, housed in the historic Guildhall building. The two-level market hall was originally the town’s meat and dairy marketplace. Today, it is a lively shopping area for locals and visitors, with over 50 stalls run by independent local traders selling an impressive variety of goods and gifts.
For a small town, Cardigan also has a fizzing arts scene with two theatres and music held at several venues across town, including the Castle grounds. Theatr Mwldan Arts Centre is an impressive cinema complex in the centre of Cardigan, with three fully digital screens, and is Wales’ only truly Independent multiplex.
There’s a gallery and cafe here, and it’s also the base of Gwyl Fawr, the town’s Eisteddfod, which has several concerts and musical, literary, and dance competitions.
Along with Mwldan, St Mary’s, a Grade II-listed 12th-century church, is the main base for the November Other Voices festival concerts featuring contemporary, internationally known Welsh musicians. Several smaller venues, from cellar bars to art galleries and bakeries, create a great atmosphere along the festival’s music trail around town.
Nearby Small World is an environmental theatre company that creates giant puppets, public events, and art commissions. It is a wildly creative, near-zero-carbon space that hosts family-friendly events, including children’s theatre shows featuring live music and puppetry.
For a show with a wow factor, Cardigan Castle hosts a range of performances. The Castle’s beautiful surroundings provide the perfect setting for choirs, bands, opera performances and concerts.
Outside the town, there’s plenty to explore, as Cardigan Bay stretches over 129 miles, from Bardsey Island off the Llŷn Peninsula in the north to the wild headland of Strumble Head in the south. It’s home to the largest population of dolphins in Europe, and its rich waters are a haven for wildlife, including seals and seabirds.
For nature lovers, this is the best place in Europe to spot dolphins, especially if you’re skimming over the waves on a fast-paced RIB ride through the bay’s choppy waters.
When the weather is decent, book a budget-friendly Bay Explorer boat trip with local pros, ‘A Bay to Remember‘.
Departing from nearby St Dogmaels, this hour-long trip wizzes you around the shore on high-speed RHIBs, where your knowledgeable skipper will keep their eyes peeled for wildlife. This was one of my favourite wildlife tours, and I got loads of lush snaps of seals and seabirds.
Bouncing over the waves, you’ll likely spot herring gulls and razorbills swooping through the air and landing on rocky outcrops. Your vessel will also speed past Mwnt, a sandy bay that’s one of the best places in Ceredigion to spot dolphins, so keep a good lookout for those distinctive dorsal fins slicing through the water.
These zippy boat trips also visit secluded, pebbled bays where Atlantic grey seals lounge lazily on the rocks. These resident seals are easy to recognise thanks to their distinctive heads. Their scientific name even translates to “sea pig with a hooked nose.” Adorbs or what?
For hiking, the Ceredigion Coast Path is one of the most rewarding sections of the 870-mile Wales Coast Path. Stretching for 60 glorious miles between Ynyslas and Cardigan, it offers some of the most varied terrain and scenery on the entire route, ranging from soft dunes and sandy coves to craggy cliffs and windswept headlands.
This waymarked path can be walked in seven manageable sections, each ending in a village or town with accommodation and transport options.
You can also tackle the full route over a week or choose shorter sections, such as New Quay to Aberaeron or the 11.7-mile stretch from Cardigan to Aberporth.
Highlights along the way include the dramatic headland at Mwnt, the birdlife of Birds Rock, the tidal island of Ynys Lochtyn, and the expansive Ynyslas dunes.
Wildlife sightings are common; watch for bottlenose dolphins, seals, and even porpoises along the pebble-strewn cliffs and coves.
The trail’s southern end begins in Cardigan, where the Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire Coast Paths meet. Once the largest port on Wales’s west coast, this historic town gave its name to Cardigan Bay.
A bronze otter statue marks the official start of the route, standing beside a quayside wall inscribed with poetry by local writer Ceri Wyn Jones.
As you leave town, the path follows the north bank of the River Teifi, passing farmland and the likely site of the original wooden Cardigan Castle, hastily built to control the river and access to the sea.
The route continues past the Cardigan Golf Club and the Victorian-era Cliff Hotel, once part of a grand vision to turn this coastline into a rival to Brighton.
From there, it’s a clifftop walk toward Aberporth, with panoramic sea views and a coastline dotted with caves, sea stacks and rock formations with evocative local names like Hatling Bigni, Pen Peles and Pencestyll. These rocky markers were once essential reference points for mariners navigating this wild stretch of coast.
Poppit Sands is my go-to beach in this area, even in winter, as the lovely Crwst bakery is open for bakes and brews.
This wide, dune-backed beach at the mouth of the River Teifi has all the hallmarks of a brilliant Welsh beach, expansive golden sands, big skies, sweeping estuary views and even dolphin sightings if you’re lucky!
Making a weekend of it? The town and surrounding area offer a range of hotels, B&Bs, cottages, and campsites. You can check prices and book on Airbnb and booking.com.
I would recommend booking at one of my favourite hotels in the area for a stylish stay with a river view.
Perched on the riverside in Cardigan, the adults-only Albion Aberteifi hotel blends seafaring charm with maritime design, featuring original sketches and calculations by 1800s shipwrights.
Just four months after opening, The Times and The Sunday Times named it the Best Place to Stay in Wales 2023, and it’s easy to see why.
The Times journalist said of the property: “Expect more of a grown-up vibe here (no children are allowed) with a moody bar serving the Albion Collins, a heavenly blend of mead and local gin.”
Each of the 12 en suite rooms feels like a captain’s cabin with reclaimed wood-panelled walls, 150-year-old oak floors, Welsh wool blankets, custom furniture, and river views from every window.
The hotel wears the town’s maritime past with plenty of character and design features. Contemporary comforts sit alongside the quirks of the original buildings, giving a historic feel while providing plenty of modern amenities.
Old stone and timber are proudly left on show, giving the place a sense of history you can actually feel. Head up to the third floor, and the walls tell their own story – lime-washed surfaces covered with mid-19th-century pencil sketches of tall ships alongside careful notes on rope lengths and sail sizes.
Breakfast is served in the relaxed resident lounge, where you’ll also find crafted cocktails, wines, and local beers by night and coffee and cake by day.
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