Tenby is one of the best family resorts in Britain, and the reason is a rare combination: it is genuinely beautiful, it has four beaches within walking distance of the town centre, and it is surrounded by a cluster of large family attractions — a zoo and adventure park, a dinosaur park, an activity park and a wildlife park, all within ten kilometres.
It has also, remarkably, resisted becoming tacky. The medieval walled town with its pastel houses is still the town, cars are banned from the centre in summer, and the arcades are contained.
Four of them, all sandy, all free, and all a few minutes from the walls.
South Beach is the big one — two kilometres of sand running away towards Giltar Point, with dunes behind and space for everything.
Castle Beach sits below Castle Hill with St Catherine’s Island and its Victorian fort offshore, reachable on foot at low tide. It has the best rock pools.
North Beach curves round below the town walls with Goskar Rock standing in the middle of it — a lump of limestone that children climb on for the whole of a low tide.
Harbour Beach is the small sheltered one beside the boats.
Which you use depends on the tide and the wind. Our beaches guide has the detail.
Eight kilometres north. Around half a million visits a year, and the standout family day out in south Pembrokeshire: a zoo with lions, giraffes, rhinos and penguins, a working farm, outdoor adventure play, and — the key to it in Welsh weather — a vintage indoor funfair, a covered hall of restored fairground rides with unlimited rides included.
A full day. See our Folly Farm page.
Three kilometres out. A woodland trail of life-size dinosaur models, plus go-karts, crazy golf, an indoor soft play and outdoor activity areas. Pitched at younger children and unashamed about it.
Four kilometres out. Not a theme park but an activity park: karting, laser tag, bowling, archery, high ropes, pirate golf and a good deal else, paid per activity or by wristband. It suits older children and teenagers better, and there is a substantial indoor element.
Four kilometres out at St Florence. A fifty-two acre zoo with a walk-through lemur enclosure, big cats, rhinos and a strong conservation emphasis, in wooded grounds. Half a day, and quieter than Folly Farm.
Tenby Castle on Castle Hill is a fragment rather than a castle, but the hill it stands on has the museum, the memorial and a view over both beaches.
Manorbier Castle, seven kilometres south-west, is a Norman castle above a beach with walls and towers to climb, small enough to feel manageable, and a beach below for afterwards.
Pembroke Castle, fifteen kilometres west, is the big one: a vast round keep to climb, a gatehouse, wall walks and the Wogan Cavern, a natural cave underneath. Henry VII was born here. It is the best castle in the county for children.
Carew Castle, nine kilometres north-west, combines a Norman castle with an Elizabethan house, a tidal mill and a millpond walk, and has a strong events programme.
Boats run from Tenby harbour to Caldey, twenty minutes offshore, where a Cistercian monastery still farms the island and makes perfume and chocolate. There is a beach, a lighthouse, a village and a medieval priory.
It is a gentle half day rather than an adventure, and the boat trip is most of the appeal for younger children. Boats run Easter to October, Monday to Saturday — not Sundays. Our Caldey guide has more.
Tenby Boat Trips run short cruises round Caldey and along the coast. Sea safaris in fast RIBs go from Saundersfoot for older children. Mackerel fishing trips leave from the harbour in summer and are cheap, short and reliably successful, which children like.
Tenby Watersports and the operators at Saundersfoot cover paddleboarding, kayaking and surf lessons.
Folly Farm’s indoor funfair is the answer, and a good one. Heatherton and the Dinosaur Park both have indoor sections. Pembroke Castle’s towers and cavern give shelter. Tenby Museum on Castle Hill is small, cheap and indoors. And the leisure centre has a pool. Our wet weather guide has the list.
Tenby is a resort and the food is set up for families: fish and chips, ice cream — Fecci’s on Upper Frog Street is the local institution and has been for generations — and a good spread of informal restaurants in the old town. Our eating guide has more.
Getting here. Tenby has its own station on the line from Swansea and Carmarthen, with limited direct summer weekend services from London Paddington. The station is a few minutes’ walk from the town.
Cars are banned from the historic centre through the summer. Park on the edge — there are car parks at the top of the town — and walk in.
Tides matter a great deal here. St Catherine’s Island is cut off at high water and the beaches change size dramatically.
Steps. Tenby is built on a headland and the routes from the town down to the beaches are steps. There is a lift at the harbour end and ramps at South Beach.
A town day. Start on North Beach early while the tide is out, with Goskar Rock to climb. Up onto Castle Hill for the view and the museum. Lunch in the walled town. Afternoon on Castle Beach for the rock pools, walking out to St Catherine’s Island if the tide allows. Ice cream at Fecci’s on the way home. Nothing is more than ten minutes’ walk from anything else.
An out-of-town day. Folly Farm for the whole day if the weather is uncertain — the indoor funfair makes it weatherproof — or Pembroke Castle in the morning and Manorbier beach and castle in the afternoon, which is a castle, a beach and a second castle for very little driving.
Under five: Harbour Beach, the sheltered end of Castle Beach, the Dinosaur Park, Folly Farm’s farm animals.
Five to eleven: the sweet spot. Rock pools at Castle Beach, St Catherine’s Island at low tide, Folly Farm, Manor Wildlife Park, the Caldey boat, Pembroke Castle’s cavern.
Teenagers: Heatherton’s karting and high ropes, sea safaris from Saundersfoot, the coast path to Lydstep, and paddleboarding from the harbour.
Three things catch families out here, and two are about the tide. St Catherine’s Island is walkable at low water and cut off at high, and the crossing goes under faster than people expect. North Beach and Harbour Beach largely disappear at high tide, so check before carrying everything down. And the steps from the town to the beaches are steep and numerous — South Beach’s ramp is the one to use with a pushchair.
Beyond that, the Penally military range immediately south of the town closes the coast path when firing, which occasionally surprises people setting off for Giltar Point.
The beaches, the walled town, the harbour, Castle Hill and the coast path are all free, which is the bulk of what makes Tenby good. Folly Farm, Heatherton, the Dinosaur Park, Manor Wildlife Park and the Caldey boat all charge, and doing all five in a week costs a family a substantial amount.
One paid day in three is the pattern that works, and the free days here are genuinely good rather than a consolation.
The beaches, first. Then Folly Farm for a full day, and the boat to Caldey Island for a half.
South Beach for space, North Beach for the rock and the town behind it, Castle Beach for rock pools.
By boat from Tenby harbour, twenty minutes, Easter to October, Monday to Saturday.
Folly Farm’s indoor funfair, Heatherton, the Dinosaur Park’s soft play, Tenby Museum and Pembroke Castle.
At low tide, from Castle Beach. Check the tide table — it is cut off at high water.