I first visited the Brecon Beacons National Park on a rainy weekend back in December 2013. And to be totally honest, I only spent a few hours in the actual national park limits. It took me a while, but I finally made it back for a proper trip to the Brecon Beacons last summer! This is such an underrated destination in the UK, and I loved my trip here. There is plenty to keep you busy—especially if you enjoy hiking. But it’s also compact enough to see quite a lot in a weekend. Here’s how to spend a weekend in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales!

EDIT: I took this trip in August 2020, and this post was written and ready to publish before my marriage ended. I have decided not to edit the original post.

What to Do in the Brecon Beacons

As I love the outdoors, a lot of my suggestions focus on hiking and scenery! Here are some of the best things to do in the Brecon Beacons.

Hike Pen y Fan

This is one of the most popular hikes in the Brecon Beacons, and with good reason. The views from the top of Pen y Fan are tremendous—and it’s not overly difficult to hike or navigate. I summited Corn Du on the way up to the Pen y Fan summit. Pen y Fan is 889 meters high, and thankfully the clouds cleared so we could see the stunning area!

We parked at Pont ar Daf, hiked up Corn Du and Pen y Fan, and then took a longer route down from Corn Du. This ended up with a bit more ascent and mileage. We came to the A470 road at the Storey Arms parking area, and then walked along the path (which follows the road) back to Pont ar Daf. Parking was free, although it fills up fast—we could barely get a spot at 10am on a cloudy Tuesday morning!

Overall, this hike took us just under 3 hours total. If you want, from the Pen y Fan summit you can hike over to Cribyn, which will add on about another 45 minutes-1 hour to the hike. Pen y Fan is the highest mountain in South Wales, and along with Snowdon and Cadair Idris it’s one of the Welsh Three Peaks!

Walk the Four Waterfalls Trail

One of the other most popular hikes in the Brecon Beacons after Pen y Fan is the Four Waterfalls Trail. Unfortunately, it poured rain for the entire duration of this hike when I did it! This trail takes you to four different waterfalls in this part of the Brecon Beacons: Sgwd Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd y Pannwr, and Sgwd-yr-Eira (which you can walk behind if it’s safe!). While it might seem easy compared to hiking a mountain like Pen y Fan, there are some really steep sections up and down to see the waterfalls. It’s fairly easy to follow the path around in a loop. Overall, it took us 2.5 hours to do the entire trail.

Parking is a big issue here—the waterfalls trail is incredibly popular, and the car parks do fill up. We tried to go on a sunny afternoon at 3pm and there were no parking spots, and the attendants were turning cars away. I recommend getting here early (it was about half-full when we got there around 10:30am). Parking costs £4. I was able to pay by card when I went, but the Brecon Beacons National Park website advises it’s cash only—so make sure you bring change.

Hike to Llyn y Fan Fach

One of my favorite hikes in the Brecon Beacons was to see Llyn y Fan Fach, a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. The road to the parking area is treacherous at times (a single-track road with very few passing places), and we got stuck behind a herd of sheep here twice. That being said, it’s definitely worth the drive and hike out here.

It’s a bit of a climb to get up to the lake, but the wide gravel road/path is easy to follow. It took me about 30 minutes to get from the car to the lake. We did this hike in the late afternoon, and there were only a few other people around! I loved feeling like I had this whole stunning area to myself. If you have more time, you can do a full ridge loop up above Llyn y Fan Fach and Llyn y Fan Fawr. This should take about 4.5 hours total, this walk site has pretty good descriptions. Or else, you can just hike out to Llyn y Fan Fach and back the same way! Either way, this should be a must on a trip to the Brecon Beacons.

Drink Welsh Whisky In Penderyn

The first whisky distillery in Wales is located in the Brecon Beacons National Park: Penderyn Distillery. 7 years ago, I visited here (using public transportation, it took a train and two buses each way) and did a distillery tour. The whisky is fantastic, and I was thrilled to return again! You can find out more information on Penderyn Distillery tours here, or else you can just head to the shop and stock up on whisky.

Explore Brecon

Brecon is one of the main hubs in the Brecon Beacons National Park. With plenty of hotels, restaurants, pubs, and shops, you’ll find what you need here. I loved my chai latte from Coffee Shop #1, and had a delicious curry at Zeera. If I had had more time, I definitely would have stopped at the Brecon Tap as their pies looked excellent! It’s certainly worth stopping for a wander through town—Brecon Cathedral is worthy of a visit too.

See the Welsh Wildlife

Of course if you go to Wales, you’ll see sheep. We saw a lot of sheep in the Brecon Beacons. As in, more sheep than I think I’ve ever seen before and even sheep traffic jams! But the Brecon Beacons is also a great destination to see wild ponies. Keep an eye out for them as you’re driving—we had the best luck seeing wild ponies on the A4059 road. There are lots of other wildlife in the national park too—included otters, great crested newts, and more! Find out about the wildlife from the Brecon Beacons National Park website.

Go Underground in a Cave

One thing I didn’t have a chance to do was to visit some of the caves. The National Showcaves Center for Wales is located in the Brecon Beacons, and I wish I had had just a bit more time to go! You can see Dan yr Ogof Cave, Cathedral Cave, and the Bone Cave at this attraction. You can find out more information on visiting on their website.

If you’re visiting the Brecon Beacons and have the time, I definitely recommend visiting Hay-on-Wye. I absolutely loved our stay in this town (the Town of Books!), and it’s only about a 30-minute drive from the national park. Don’t miss it on a visit to South Wales! Check out my full Hay-on-Wye guide!

Where I Stayed

I stayed at Pencelli Castle Caravan & Camping for my two nights in the Brecon Beacons National Park. As it was a last-minute trip and most accommodation was either affordable and booked, or just not affordable, we decided to camp. I really liked this campsite! There were multiple fields, so the tent-only campers were away from the campers and caravans. The toilets were really clean—this campsite has even won awards for their toilets! There’s also a great pub, the Royal Oak, right down the road that you can easily walk to. I would definitely recommend this campsite. Check out their website for more details.

What to Pack for the Brecon Beacons

If you’re headed to the Brecon Beacons and planning on doing any hiking (or really anything outdoors), take a look at my outdoor gear guide! You should definitely have sturdy hiking boots (I love my Scarpa Mistral boots!), and a waterproof rain jacket and rain pants. You might also want to get an OS Map, like OS Explorer OL12: Brecon Beacons National Park (Western & Central Areas) or OS Explorer OL13: Brecon Beacons National Park (Eastern Area). For hikes, make sure to bring snacks and plenty of water. Having a UK atlas or road map can also come in handy if you’re driving!

 

Planning Your Trip

There are lots of different places to stay around the Brecon Beacons. You can search for hostels here, and for hotel/B&Bs here! You can also sign up to and search accommodation on Airbnb here. There are some train connections to the Brecon Beacons, otherwise there are fairly regular bus services that connect some of the main destinations. The best choice would be to get a train to Abergavenney or Merthyr Tydfil, and then go further by bus.

You can book train tickets in advance through Transport for Wales. It’s possible to book rail tickets even if you’re starting your journey from a station outside of Wales (ie. traveling from England to Wales or vice versa). You can also use Trainline to book train tickets. Bus X43 runs from Brecon to Abergavanney. Bus T4 runs from Brecon to Cardiff via the Storey Arms and Merthyr Tydfil, so you can get to Pen y Fan by public transportation.

The nearest airport to the Brecon Beacons is Cardiff Airport, but Bristol Airport isn’t too much further away. However, London airports (like Gatwick or Heathrow) will be the best options for more international flights. I use Skyscanner to book my flights. Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more.

I loved my trip to the Brecon Beacons National Park—there is a lot to do here, and the scenery is beautiful! While Snowdonia National Park in the north seems to be much busier, the Brecon Beacons is a great option with lots of good hikes too. I hope this post helps planning a trip to the Brecon Beacons!

Have you visited the Brecon Beacons before? What were your favorite places?!

You might like my other posts:

Hiking Snowdon: The Highest Mountain In Wales

What To Do And See In Hay-On-Wye, The “Town Of Books” In Wales

Cadair Idris Via The Minffordd Path: Hiking In South Snowdonia

My Outdoor Gear Guide For Hiking And Camping In The UK

All of my hiking posts!

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