Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales: Porthgain to Whitesands
This 9.7-mile segment runs from a tidy harbor village to a vast beach, and ends only two road miles from a don’t-miss sixth-century church and museum in St. Davids.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
From Porthgain’s stone piers, head south to the secluded beach of Traethllyfn, where seals often bask on the black sand. Continuing past the tiny village of Abereiddy, you’ll walk between the Irish Sea and electric-green pastures where shaggy, curved-horn highland cows graze behind ancient stone fences overgrown with yellow gorse. After 6.6 miles, spot the point of St. David’s Head above Whitesands Bay, with Ramsey Island looming beyond.
-Mapped by Steve Howe
Trail Facts
- Distance: 15.0
Waypoints
PSD001
Location: 51.94797, -5.180694
Start: Central square, Porthgain Village.
PSD002
Location: 51.949807, -5.190386
Viewpoint to Irish Sea
PSD003
Location: 51.945852, -5.196877
Viewpoint down onto black slabs, tilted into the Irish Sea.
PSD004
Location: 51.943048, -5.199194
Traethllyfn Beach
PSD005
Location: 51.940667, -5.200653
Viewpoint down over Traethllyfn Beach to cliffs of Cerrig Gwylan.
PSD006
Location: 51.939675, -5.203539
Bear left at Y-junction.
PSD007
Location: 51.937863, -5.207949
Viewpoint down onto the flooded quarry of Blue Lagoon.
PSD008
Location: 51.937221, -5.205749
Historic slate quarry blast shelters at Abereiidy.
PSD009
Location: 51.904462, -5.308137
Neolithic stone burial chamber called Coetan Arthur Dolmen, or “Arthur’s burial chamber.” Actually dates from 3,000 B.C.
PSD010
Location: 51.902911, -5.311632
Faint stone circles, ruins of Iron Age Celtic village.
PSD011
Location: 51.903848, -5.30571
Turn left at T-junction.
PSD012
Location: 51.897092, -5.294801
End: Whitesands Beach. Town of St. David’s is 2.3 miles NE.