Triple limestone peaks guard a sweep of sand where Pennard Pill meanders to the sea on the Gower: repeatedly voted among Britain's best beaches yet reached only on foot past a ruined castle. View from Pennard cliffs is the classic.
8 km · about 15 min drive
beach
Rhossili Bay
A sweeping three-mile beach on the Gower Peninsula with dramatic cliff views, Worm's Head promontory, and powerful surf.
16 km · about 30 min drive
racetrack
Pembrey Circuit
Wales's national motorsport centre on the Carmarthenshire coast, a fast former-airfield circuit once used by F1 teams including McLaren and Williams for secret testing.
17 km · about 20 min drive
natural wonder
Worm's Head, Rhossili
A serpentine tidal island at the tip of Gower, crossable over a rock causeway for about two and a half hours either side of low tide.
18 km · about 20 min drive
waterfall
Melincourt Falls
An 24m fall in the Neath Valley painted by Turner in 1795, reached by a short riverside path.
28 km · about 30 min drive
famous road
Black Mountain Pass (A4069)
Top Gear's favourite British road, a smooth, empty ribbon of hairpins and open bends over the western Brecon Beacons between Llangadog and Brynamman.
29 km · about 35 min drive
waterfall
Henrhyd Falls
At 27m the highest waterfall in south Wales, and the Batcave entrance in The Dark Knight Rises; reached by a steep wooded path.
35 km · about 40 min drive
natural wonder
Llyn y Fan Fach
A glacial corrie lake under the escarpment of the Black Mountain, home to the legend of the Lady of the Lake and the Physicians of Myddfai.
37 km · about 45 min drive
Driving roads near Pen-clawdd
29 kmBlack Mountain Pass (A4069)Top Gear's favourite British road, a smooth, empty ribbon of hairpins and open bends over the western Brecon Beacons between Llangadog and Brynamman.
50 kmCountisbury HillA long 1-in-4 climb on the A39 out of Lynmouth onto Exmoor, with sweeping views over the Bristol Channel.
53 kmPen y FanThe highest peak in southern Britain at 886 metres, the flat-topped summit of the Brecon Beacons offering sweeping views across Wales.
53 kmCorn DuPen y Fan's twin summit at 873m, with a Bronze Age cairn and the finest view over the Beacons' north escarpment.
59 kmPorlock HillBritain's steepest A-road, where the A39 climbs out of Porlock onto Exmoor at gradients up to 1-in-4 with two severe hairpins. A scenic Victorian toll road offers a gentler coastal alternative.
59 kmPorlock Hill (A39)One of England's steepest A-roads at 1-in-4 with hairpins out of Porlock onto Exmoor; a toll road offers a gentler alternative.