Castles, coal mines and much more in one of the most overlooked regions of Wales….
Exploring one of the finest castles in Europe, heading underground in the footsteps of generations of coal miners, or discovering some of the best underrated hikes in the UK. These are some of the best things to do in the South Wales Valleys, one of the most overlooked areas of Wales.
The Valleys are my home turf. I was born in Caerphilly, and got to explore most of the region over many years, especially hiking the steep hills above the former mining villages.
The Valleys are known worldwide for their coal mining history – at one time the South Wales Coalfield was the most productive in the world. Little remains of the mining industry today, and the Valleys have largely greened over. There’s plenty of industrial heritage to explore, including mines, memorials and a World Heritage Ironworks. But there are also plenty of hints of medieval history if you know where to look.
The Valleys of South Wales were long overlooked because of their industrial past – which now, ironically, is one of the main reasons to visit. It’s an intriguing part of the world, well worth dipping in and out of if you’re passing through this part of the world. Enjoy!
Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly Castle is the biggest reason to visit the South Wales Valleys. It’s a stupendous 13th century Castle, the second biggest by area in the UK, and one of the earliest concentric castles with water defences to be built in Britain.
It was built by Norman lord Gilbert de Clare to defend his lands from Welsh forces, including those of Welsh Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. It also served as a refuge for the fugitive King Edward II in 1326, shortly before he was captured nearby in South Wales and executed at Berkeley Castle.
I grew up a few minutes’ walk from the Castle, and over the years it has got better and better as a place to visit. More parts of the Castle – including the towers of the Inner Ward – have been opened up, and there’s also more for kids, including a pit full of fire-breathing dragons. When I was a kid, our main entertainment was working out how the famous leaning tower was still standing!
As well as visiting the Castle, OI also suggest taking a walk around it for 20 minutes or so. Follow the circuit through the park on the south side – one of the best places to see daffodils in Wales in springtime – then the path on Crescent Road. You have to turn away from the Castle briefly to walk along Nantgarw Road, but can soon rejoin the Castle grounds and walk along the moat to the bridge and Castle entrance.
See Also: Visiting Caerphilly Castle – Everything You Need to Know
Castell Coch
Fairytale Castell Coch guards the entrance (or exit, if you’re travelling south) of the Taff Gorge, as the famous Welsh river leaves the Valleys behind and makes way for Cardiff and the coast.
The evocative three-towered castle was built in the 19th century by master Victorian architect William Burges for his patron, the Third Marquess of Bute. It was built on the site of a ruined Welsh medieval castle, whose name means ‘Red Castle’. It was intended as a romantic summer retreat, in a beech forest above the Taff and village of Tongwynlais a mile or two beyond the northern outskirts of Cardiff.
It’s one of the most famous landmarks in Wales, and has been voted the most popular building in Wales. From the outside it’s the kind of fairytale castle you can imagine Rapunzel letting down her hair from a tower window.
Inside, it’s sumptuously decorated with paintings of flowers and animals, and several rooms are preserved with their original furnishings. If you enjoy Cardiff Castle, you’ll love Castell Coch.
See Also: 15 Best Castles Near Cardiff To Visit
Walking Twmbarlwm and Cwmcarn Forest Drive
The Cwmcarn Forest Drive is a 7-mile forest route with some of the best scenery in South Wales. It’s a fantastic driving route, leading to awesome views over the southern part of the Valleys and the Bristol Channel coastline.
The Drive also takes you to the beginning of the short, steep climb up Twmbarlwm, the highest point in the Valleys. It’s an Iron Age hillfort on a summit ridge a few miles north of Newport (and clearly visible from the M4 motorway). The views from the Drive are great, but from the higher vantage point of the Twmbarlwm earthworks, they’re phenomenal.
Blaenavon Ironworks and Big Pit National Mining Museum
The South Wales Coalfield was one of the industrial powerhouses of the world, so it’s appropriate that it has some representation on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Blaenavon Industrial Landscape was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2000, becoming Wales’ second World Heritage Site at the time (it now has four).
You could easily fill a day exploring the Blaenavon World Heritage Landscape. The Blaenavon Ironworks are superbly preserved, and the interiors of the whitewashed workers’ cottages on Stack Square (pictured above) have been beautifully recreated.
A mile away across an industrial estate, Big Pit is the National Mining Museum of Wales. You’re taken underground by a retired miner – and these men have some incredible stories to tell. They’ll only be around for another few years or so, so their words and tales are like gold. The interactive part of the Museum is also excellent
Beyond these two sites, the Pontypool and Blaenavon railway is great. Steam trains pull wonderful 1950s carriages along a three-mile track and back, passing Big Pit along the way.
And the Landscape extends to the top of the Blorenge, one of the most renowned Brecon Beacons mountains. Pull over at the car park on the right near the crown of the road to take a walk around Keepers Pond, a small reservoir with superb views across the Usk Valley. And to really appreciate the contrast between the former industrial and rural South Wales, take a half-mile walk across the road onto the Canada Tips. From there the difference between the grey coal waste and the green valley and fields below, with Sugar Loaf and the Black Mountains beyond, is striking.
See Also: 33 Best Day Trips From Cardiff
Rhondda Heritage Park
The other place to learn about life underground is Rhondda Heritage Park, formerly Lewis Merthyr Colliery in Trehafod, a few miles beyond Pontypridd.
Like Big Pit in Blaenavon, it’s a fascinating trip underground in the company of a retired coal miner. You go below the surface in a lift used by the miners ,seeing some of the mine’s tunnels and workings along the way. There’s also a simulated underground train ride, part of the main tour which is called the Welsh Black Gold Experience.
The most fascinating part is hearing the miners’ stories, which bring everything to life. I come from a family of miners, and have a friend who worked in the pits for over 30 years and is now in his 80s. Their culture and camaraderie is incredible, and I hope that these rich stories survive are told through the coming generations.
Royal Mint Llantrisant
If the pennies in your pocket are dated after 1968, they will almost certainly have been minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant. The Mint, which was formerly based in the Tower of London, began moving to South Wales in that year, finally completing the transition in 1980.
In recent years the Mint has also opened a visitor attraction, The Royal Mint Experience. Its history goes back over 1,100 years, and one of their prize exhibits is a coin from the 9th century reign of Alfred the Great.
You’re taken on a factory tour to see how coins are made, and there are also themed exhibitions about coins produced by the Royal Mint. And the shop is an amazing place for coin collectors.
Unique Urban Landscape
The South Wales Valleys are one of the most distinctive landscapes in Wales. Once you’ve seen one Valleys village, you won’t mistake another for anywhere else.
The Valleys villages were built along the floors and sides of the steep narrow Valleys. They often consist of a few long narrow terraced streets, strung along the landscape like ribbons.
Many of the villages look similar to each other. They were all built in the second half of the 19th century, many to similar designs. The villages were built to house the colliery workers – sometimes a single family would live in a house by themselves, but many would either share with another family or take in lodgers to make ends meet.
From a distance, surrounded by hills, the villages make a very impressive scene. One of the best places to see them is around Tylorstown in the Rhondda Fach Valley, a few miles north of Porth, below the mountaintop Penrhys estate. There are some striking terraces in Tylorstown itself, and great views of Pontygwaith in the valley below, and Stanleytown on the hillside opposite, below the Old Smokey coal tip.
Senghenydd National Mining Memorial
South Wales bore an enormous cost for the coal mining boom in the Valleys. Safety was poor, with the constant danger of gas explosions underground. Many Valleys villages bear the scars of mining disasters – especially Senghenydd, in the Aber Valley near Caerphilly.
The village suffered two tragedies. In 1901 over 80 miners were killed by an explosion in the Universal Colliery. Then in 1913 440 lost their lives in another explosion. Walking around the village now, the scale of the disasters is incomprehensible. Every household in the village – and many beyond – would have been directly affected, particularly by the second disaster.
So the village is an appropriate setting for the National Mining Memorial. There’s a statue of a rescuer helping a miner, and a series of plaques commemorating the many other catastrophes that struck the mining communities of South Wales.
Location: on the B4263 in Senghenydd, just beyond Nant-y-Parc Primary School.
Discover Some Mountaintop Medieval Churches
Anyone with an interest in medieval churches will find plenty of inspiration in the South Wales Valleys. The towns that now fill the lower ground of the valleys were often preceded by mountaintop villages – even hamlets – which were served by medieval parish churches.
There are several of these scattered around the Valleys. I grew up near one, Eglwysilan, a remote church on an empty mountain that dated back to the late 12th century. It’s just up the hill from Senghenydd and Abertridwr villages, and is the burial place of William Edwards, builder of the famous stone bridge in nearby Pontypridd, and numerous miners who perished in the two Senghenydd mining disasters in the early 20th century. Sadly it closed in late 2023, but you can still explore the churchyard.
If you’re ever heading close by, I also recommend visiting the hilltop church of St Ceinwyr in Llangeinor, above the Garw Valley in Bridgend County. It was also founded in the 12th century, though much of the building dates from a late medieval (15th-16th century). I’ve only visited once, in the early 2010s, but it has some gorgeous 19th century stained glass windows.
St Gwynno’s Church in Llanwonno (sometimes called Llanwynno in Welsh) is also worth seeking out. It’s on the forest road between Ynysybwl (near Pontypridd) and the Rhondda Fach valley, and the hamlet consists of a couple of houses, the church and the pub, the Brynffynnon Hotel.
The church is medieval in origin, with much of it rebuilt in Gothic style in the late 19th century. It’s renowned for the grave of legendary runner Guto Nyth Bran, who died after running the 12 miles from Bedwas (a village near Caerphilly) to Llanwonno in just 53 minutes (it takes a good 40 minutes to drive it). The church is usually only open on Sunday afternoons in the summer months. The pub, which dates from the 17th century, is open daily from 12 pm.
Climb Caerphilly Mountain
The A469 road over Caerphilly Mountain is one of the best introductions to the South Wales Valleys. It passes close to the summit of this 888-feet-high lump of glacial moraine, and it’s only a 5-10 minute walk from the car park (turn right onto the B4600) to the top.
From there you’re rewarded with an amazing panorama. Cardiff, the Bristol Channel and Somerset beckon to the south, while to the north you have a roof-of-the-world view of the Rhymney Valley. On a clear day, the summits of Pen y Fan and Corn Du, the two highest Brecon Beacons mountains, can just be seen above the hill ridge to the northwest.
There’s also a snack bar which makes a great pit stop wherever you’re heading.
While you’re there spare a thought for cyclists on the annual Tour of Britain race. Caerphilly Mountain is a short but brutal climb, and has helped decide several of these races over the years. It last featured on the itinerary in 2023. And also spare a thought for my classmates and I who had to run up it in all winds and weathers (mainly horizontal rain) for our cross-country PE lessons!
Hiking In The Valleys
One advantage of living in the Valleys was finding out about some amazing off-the-beaten-track hikes. I’ve road-tested several of them with friends visiting from across the UK and Europe, and they all said the same thing – why are these places not far more popular than they are?
One of my favourites is the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk, a 27-mile circuit of the Rhymney Valley including my hometown, Caerphilly. The best section is from Eglwysilan church to the top of Senghenydd Dyke, where you catch your first glimpse of the twin summits of Pen y Fan and Corn Du, the highest points in the Brecon Beacons.
I also recommend some of the walks in the Rhondda, including from Porth to Llanwonno and north from Maerdy to Castell Nos reservoir and beyond.
To the east, you get some fantastic views of the Valley towns below and the Brecon Beacons to the north from the hills around Tredegar – Carn Stwpa – and Rhymney – especially Gelligaer Common.
The paths aren’t as well maintained as in the Brecon Beacons, and you may well encounter some fly-tipping from time to time. But it doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to see the beauty beyond this.
Llancaiach Fawr Manor House
This haunted 16th century manor house in the hills above the Rhymney Valley takes you all the way back to 1645. The fortified house was the home of Colonel Edward Prichard, a wealthy Royalist with whom King Charles I briefly stayed in 1645. And the tours are run by costumed actors with often hilarious commentary in an approximation of 17th-century English.
You’re taken around several rooms of the house, seeing everything from the grand oak-panelled dining room to the staircase where a long-mummified cat was discovered in the last century.
Tours run during the daytime between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm. And ghost tours run on some evenings between October and December. These are brilliant experiences, and I saw evidence that left me in no doubt the place harbours spirits from some time in its 500-year history.
As I write this, the local council who run the House are planning to close it for several months as part of enforced budget cuts. They’re hoping to reopen it some time in 2025, so check the Llancaiach Fawr website before you set out.
See Also: 14 Best Things To Do In Caerphilly
Mountain Biking
The Valleys also have some superb mountain biking trails, taking you through some fantastic forest terrain along the valley tops.
My biking friends recommend two places above all others.
Bike Park Wales is a huge network of around 40 trails in the hills south and west of Merthyr Tydfil. They range from beginner to pro levels.
And Afan Forest Park – also sometimes called Afan Argoed – has some awesome forest trails on the ridge above the valley, as well as a much gentler family-friendly cycling trail along the valley floor.
Penderyn Whisky
I recently got an idea of the standing of Penderyn Welsh whisky while looking through a connoisseur’s collection in Sydney, Australia. Around 40 bottles were almost full. One – Penderyn – was nearly empty – with another full one at the ready.
This Welsh whisky has been distilled for over 20 years, at the village of Penderyn, just north of Hirwaun. The site was chosen because of the availability of fresh spring water. Tours of the distillery run daily during the summer months, and Wednesdays to Sundays from 1st October to 1st March.
They also have distilleries in Swansea and Llandudno which also run tours.
Aberdulais Falls and Tin Works
The Industrial Revolution took hold in South Wales in the mid-18th century, but things started at Aberdulais, in the Neath Valley, 200 years before. Quantitative easing – basically governments printing more money because they need it – had a forerunner during the 16th-century reign of Elizabeth I.
She needed to produce vast amounts of coins to fund fighting the Spanish Armada. And she needed somewhere secret to do it. German engineer Ulrich Frosse chose Aberdualis as the site for smelting the copper needed to produce the coins.
The site was later used for ironworking, and in the 19th century a tinplate works, parts of which have been restored. The waterwheel is the largest in Europe to generate power. And don’t miss the exhibition, with the stories of children as young as eight years old being forced to work.
The waterfalls next to the tin works are beautiful – try to see them after a day’s rain if you can.
Melin Court Falls
The rivers with the popular Brecon Beacons waterfalls flow into the Afon Nedd, which forms the scenic Neath valley. But there’s one more surprise as the river makes its short journey to the Bristol Channel – the gorgeous Melin Court waterfall near the village of Resolven. Also known as Melincwrt Falls, it’s one of the hidden gems of South Wales.
At 80 feet (24 metres) it’s one of the highest waterfalls in South Wales. It’s also one of the easiest to reach, a 5-minute walk from the small car park on the B4434 road just outside Resolven.
See Also: 30 of the Best Hidden Gems In Wales
Pilgrimage to Penrhys, Rhondda
During the Middle Ages, Penrhys was the goal of one of the most important pilgrimages in Wales. Worshippers travelled there from across South Wales to a miraculous, mysterious statue of the Virgin Mary and Holy Well at Penrhys, on a hillside overlooking the Rhondda Fawr valley. The waters were believed to have curative properties, and pilgrims would also stop to pray at the shrine and chapel a few minutes’ walk further up the hill.
The original statue was taken away and eventually destroyed, like most elements of Roman Catholic worship from the period. This was ultimately the work of King Henry VIII, who severed ties with Rome so that he could divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
The pilgrimage was revived in the 20th century, and you can now follow a two-day route on foot from Llandaff Cathedral in the suburbs of Cardiff.
Try Some Caerphilly Cheese
Caerphilly’s second claim to fame is its cheese. Caerphilly cheese is a crumbly white, slightly salty cheese that was enormously popular as a protein-packed snack for the many miners around the town and beyond. It’s quite mild in flavour, but massively moreish.
It hasn’t been produced in the town continuously since the mines closed in the 1980s. But it’s recently undergone a second revival, which will hopefully lead to long-term production of the cheese in the town.
If you’re keen to try Caerphilly cheese, it’s available in many supermarkets in the UK, including the branch of Morrisons a few minutes’ walk from Caerphilly Castle. Away from the town, Gorwydd Caerphilly is the best I’ve tasted.
See Also: Welsh Food – 18 Dishes Every Visitor Should Try
Cyfarthfa Castle
The town of Merthyr Tydfil grew rapidly in the late 18th century with the establishment of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks. Iron was produced for the British Navy – Lord Nelson once visited – making the Ironmasters immensely wealthy, while the new industrial workers lived in conditions of appalling squalor.
The Crawshay family took over the Cyfarhfa Ironworkls around 1800, and with the profits from their business built this castellated mansion, Cyfarthfa Castle, in 1824. The ground floor of the building is now used as a museum, while the Park is a beautiful place for a stroll or picnic.
Merthyr played as pivotal a role as World Heritage Blaenavon in the industrialization of the South Wales Valleys, but it won’t get the same UNESCO recognition. Part of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks remains but the site has been derelict for decades. And there’s very little left of the nearby Dowlais Ironworks either. But for lovers of industrial history, Merthyr was the setting for the first steam-powered train journey in the world at Penydarren Ironworks in 1804.
See Also: 35 Best Castles In South Wales
Cefn Golau Cholera Cemetery
This is one of the most intriguing historic sites in the South Wales Valleys. It’s a tiny cemetery on as hillside above the town of Tredegar, solely for victims of cholera.
There were outbreaks of the disease in the UK well into the 19th century. The source of the disease is often contaminated water, but in the 19th century cholera was believed to be contagious, so victims of the disease would be buried in separate, often remote cemeteries like this.
Cefn Golau cholera cemetery was opened in the 1830s, but most of those buried there succumbed to the disease in a major outbreak in 1849.
Location: on the B4256 road between Tredegar and Rhymney
Visit Tredegar
Tredegar is one of the smaller, but best, of the Heads of the Valleys towns to visit. Its buildings are a little grander than those of the surrounding towns, and the Town Clock is one of the most recognizable landmarks of the Valleys.
The main reason to visit for an hour or two is Bedwellty Park, a gorgeous park laid out around the Homfray ironmasters’ Regency villa, Bedwellty House. One of the features is the beautiful bandstand, and there’s also a new Sensory Garden. History buffs may also wish to seek out the world’s largest block of coal – a massive 20-ton slab, minus a chunkj which broike off when it was moved to the Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace, London, in 1851.
Tredegar is also renowned as the hometown of Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health in the 1945-51 UK Labour government. He led the creation of Britain’s National Health Service, and also the country’s welfare state. There is a memorial to him off the A4047 road to Ebbw Vale, a grim ensemble of four gigantic slabs of stone. One is meant to represent Bevan, the other three the towns of Tredegar, Ebbw Vale and Rhymney.
Guardian of the Valleys, Six Bells
Like many other Valleys villages, Six Bells – near Abertillery in the Gwent Valleys – suffered a coal mining tragedy. In 1960, 45 miners perished in an explosion at the Six Bells Colliery, devastating the village.
The Guardian sculpture was inaugurated in 2010 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the disaster. It’s a 20-metre-high metal figure of a miner looking across to the village and former colliery site. It’s a little reminiscent of the Angel of the North, the famous landmark figure by Antony Gormley near Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the northeast of England.
Zip World Tower
Zip World run three sites across North Wales, including zip wire rides across Penrhyn slate quarry and over the mountains around the slate town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Tower Colliery Zip Wire takes you on two rides – from the top of the Rhigos mountain over Llyn Fawr reservoir, and then down to Tower Colliery in Hirwaun, the last deep coal mine in the South Wales Valleys to close.
It’s an awesome location for a ride like this. The Rhigos feels like the roof of the world, and I think it’s great that you have the chance to zip over the landscape like this.
There’s also a lower-level series of zip wire rides around the colliery site, an obstacle course and a rollercoaster which whizzes you above the mine workings.
For bookings visit the Zip World website.
Scenic Drives
One of my favourite things about the South Wales Valleys is the scenery – especially from high up on the mountains. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there’s another village and valley a couple of miles away, on the other side of the mountain. And some of these roads offer extraordinary views.
The best of these is the A4061, which runs from Treorchy in the Rhondda Fawr Valley to Nantymoel in the Ogmore Valley. The view (above) is outstanding, and there’s usually an ice cream van up there in the summer months.
The road from Tylorstown to Penrhys is another offering dramatic views, including some of the best ‘valleyscapes’ overlooking the three terraces of Stanleytown.
See Also: Best Scenic Drives In Wales
Further Reading
For a better grasp on the history of industrial South Wales, I recommend reading Alexander Cordell’s novel Rape of the Fair Country. It’s set around Garnddyrus Forge, Blaenavon and the Blorenge mountain above Abergavenny, and tells the story of the environmental damage wrought upon the countryside, and the appalling conditions which workers endured. The story culminates in the Chartists’ Newport Rising of November 1839.
Where Are The South Wales Valleys
The Valleys are in southeast Wales, and some of them are just a mile or two from the capital, Cardiff.
They occupy a belt of land roughly 50 miles across from west to east, between 5 and 25 miles inland from the coast. They cover the area between the coastal plain and the mountains of the Brecon Beacons to the north.
They extend from Kidwelly in the west and Cwmbran in the east of South Wales.
How To Get To The South Wales Valleys
The Valleys are easy to reach, with excellent road and good rail connections.
The M4 takes you along the green belt of land between the coastal cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea to the south and the Valleys to the north. There are several turn-offs along the way – junction 28 takes you via the A468 to Caerphilly and some of the eastern valleys. Junction 32 takes you onto the A470, which leads north to the Rhondda and Taff Valleys.
Train connections are good, with the Ebbw, Rhymney, Merthyr (Taff), Cynon and Rhondda Valleys served by regular trains (1-2 hourly) from Cardiff Central.
Bus services fill in the many gaps, with services from Newport, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Bridgend, Neath and Swansea covering many places. These – and the train – services are fine if you’re visiting one or two places in a day, but to get around quickly and see several places in a day, you need a car.
Where To Stay In The South Wales Valleys
There are plenty of great places to stay in the Valleys, and here are a few of my picks:
Y Fan – restored late medieval manor house in countryside overlooking Caerphilly
Llechwen Hall Hotel – country house hotel within easy reach of the main A470 road
Llwyn Onn Guest House – 4-star guest house just north of Merthyr Tydfil, just inside the Brecon Beacons National Park
Heritage Park Pontypridd, Trademark Collection by Wyndham – hotel next door to Rhondda Heritage Park
Glantaff Inn Bunkhouse – great bunkhouse accommodation above a pub in Treharris, close to the A470
Things To Do In The South Wales Valleys – Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to the Valleys of South Wales.
They normally come some way down many people’s bucket list of places to visit in Wales. Many areas – Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons, the Pembrokeshire Coast and the Gower Beaches – have more instant appeal. And this is from someone who was born and grew up there.
That said, the Valleys are fascinating. They’re home to some of the best castles in South Wales, and many hidden vestiges of medieval history. For anyone with an interest in industrial history, there are a wealth of places to discover. I rate the Rhondda among the best historic industrial sites in Europe – check out my article on the link for plenty more inspiration. And for lovers of the outdoors – whether you’re a hiker like me or love mountain biking – there are some outstanding forest routes to explore.
The Valleys are on the doorstep of the Bannau Brycheiniog – the new name for the Brecon Beacons – home to the highest mountains in southern Britain. The National Park is a paradise for nature lovers, with jaw-dropping scenery all the way from the wild uplands of Carmarthenshire to the English border.
The Valleys are also very close to the three largest cities in Wales – Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. Check out my guides to spending One Day In Cardiff and the famous landmarks in Cardiff for a taste of what the capital of Wales has to offer.
And take a look at some more of my general articles on Wales for further inspiration: