Best camping, glamping, and outdoor stays in Aberaeron
This beach town offers nearby camping options, and straightforward access to West Wales from seaboard to summits.
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Best camping, glamping, and outdoor stays in Aberaeron guide
Overview
Aberaeron is one of Wales’ most popular places to photograph, and you’ll understand why when you see its candy-coloured houses, fetching harbourfront and highly-regarded places to eat. While the town beach is too exposed to rank among the region’s best, Aberaeron is a grand spot to camp for exploring West Wales’ spectacularly sandy and rocky shoreline. The seaboard down to Strumble Head in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and up to Snowdonia National Park—alongside the Cambrian Mountains to the east—are within an hour’s drive. The best pitches are northeast of town.
Where to go
Cardigan Bay
Wales’ biggest bay, curving north from North Pembrokeshire to Southern Gwynedd along the Ceredigion coast, was where camping in Wales really took off. Aberaeron is right in the middle of the Ceredigion region’s share of the shoreline. Along this beguiling seaboard, mainly made up of peaceful sandy beaches and lonesome coves, there are a greater density of campgrounds and caravan parks here than anywhere else in the country: big affairs with myriad facilities and farm sites with a few tent spaces.
New Quay to Aberporth
This 15-mile stretch of coastline, a mix of hidden sandy bays and ragged cliffs, is part of the wider Cardigan Bay but stands out as a sterling pace to pitch up. Here are a dozen-odd camping and caravanning sites scattered along what is probably Ceredigion's most dramatic coastal scenery. The seaboard is all linked by the long-distance Wales Coast Path, there are excellent watersports at Aberporth, great seabird and sealife to be seen and gorgeous seaside villages to explore.
Cambrian Mountains
Rugged hills rise up east of Aberaeron and, although never surpassing 2475 feet, they are mighty wild places. So wild, in fact, that the area is known as the “Desert of Wales”—and not because of the weather. Britain’s remotest land south of the Scottish Highlands is easily accessed from Aberaeron, most straightforwardly via Tregaron. Campsites along the Cambrian Mountains’ western edge, nearest Aberaeron, offer spacious pitches and access to hiking and biking.
When to go
May through September are the best months for experiencing this coast during its warmest weather and warmest water temperatures (neither of which are ever that warm!). On sealife-rich Cardigan Bay, these months are also best for spying Europe’s biggest bottlenose dolphin population offshore, while September and October are excellent months for seeing the resident seals pupping. Festivals to plan your trip around include Cardigan’s River and Food Festival and Aberaeron’s carnival in August.