Pembrokeshire in 4 days
Four nights along Britain's only coastal national park, south to north, from Cardiff. Every leg below is computed on our own road router; every stop count comes from our live map.
424 km all in, about 6h32 of driving across the week — including the run home to Cardiff.
Stops below are described by type and area, not business name — we do not name a pub or farm as welcoming campers unless they have actually said so. The counts are live from our map and honestly labelled unverified.
What this coast does to a van
- The lanes to the coves are the trap. The A40 and A487 are the spine; almost everything seaward of them narrows to a single hedge-walled track with a tiny car park at the end. Pick your cove walks from the coast path car parks that are signed for size, not from the satnav's nearest-point.
- The headline beach car parks are day parking — much of the coast is National Trust (Stackpole, Whitesands among them), and their car parks do not allow overnighting. The detail.
- Castlemartin ranges close roads. The coast road past Stack Rocks is MOD land with published closure times — check before planning that stretch.
Night 1 · Tenby
Down the M4 and A40, then the walled town on its cliff. Park outside and walk in — Tenby's medieval streets were not built for vans, and the evening view from the Esplanade over Caldey Island is the trip's proper start.
Stop type: Campsite or holiday park outside the walls. Tenby's own car parks are day parking and tight.
Within 10 km on our map: 82 campsites & caravan sites · 3 service points — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Night 2 · Dale, for the Marloes peninsula
West past Pembroke and its castle onto the quietest corner of the park. Marloes Sands at low tide is the best beach walk in Wales, and the Skomer boats — puffins, May to July — go from Martin's Haven at the peninsula's end.
Stop type: Campsite or farm site around Dale and Marloes. The Martin's Haven car park is National Trust, day only.
Within 10 km on our map: 15 campsites & caravan sites — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Worth the boat: Skomer Island, booked ahead in puffin season.
Night 3 · St Davids
North over the Cleddau and round St Brides Bay to the smallest city in Britain — a cathedral in a hollow and not much else, which is the charm. Whitesands and St Davids Head are the walk; the cathedral close at dusk is the reward.
Stop type: Campsite between the city and the coast. Whitesands car park is day parking, actively enforced.
Within 10 km on our map: 24 campsites & caravan sites — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Night 4 · Newport, for the Preseli coast
The wilder north: Strumble Head's lighthouse, Dinas Island's circuit, and Newport under Carn Ingli. The Preseli tops behind town are where the Stonehenge bluestones came from, and the last evening walk should be up there. Home to Cardiff is about two hours by the A40.
Stop type: Campsite or farm site around Newport and Dinas Cross.
Within 10 km on our map: 21 campsites & caravan sites — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Slow section: the A487 through Fishguard is the only awkward town of the trip.
The part that is not about driving
Pembrokeshire's economy is its coast path and its coves, and the county's patience with vans parked overnight in beach car parks ran out years ago — the signs and the enforcement are real. Book pitches in season, do the coves on foot from the legal car parks, and the county is one of the friendliest in Britain to a van doing it right.
Wild camping in a motorhome is not a legal right in Wales — overnighting needs the landowner's permission, every time. The full explanation →