Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)

The park took back its Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog, in 2023. Its shape comes from Old Red Sandstone lying in near-horizontal beds, eroded into long flat-topped ridges with steep north faces where ice scooped out cwms. Pen y Fan at 886 metres is the highest point in southern Britain and the most walked, usually by the wide motorway-like path from Storey Arms. The quieter ground is west in the Black Mountain, around the twin glacial lakes of Llyn y Fan Fach and Llyn y Fan Fawr. In the south the rock changes to limestone and grit, producing Waterfall Country near Ystradfellte, where four rivers drop over hard bands and the path at Sgwd yr Eira passes behind the curtain of water. The whole park is an International Dark Sky Reserve.

What you actually see

• Pen y Fan and Corn Du - flat-topped summits above glacial cwms.
• Waterfall Country - falls near Ystradfellte, including a path behind one.
• Llyn y Fan Fach - a glacial lake under a steep escarpment in the west.
• Dark skies - a designated reserve with the Milky Way visible on clear nights.

When to go

April to October for the ridges, with May and June driest. Autumn and winter give the best stargazing because nights are long, but need clear, moonless conditions. Pen y Fan is heavily walked on weekends year-round; a weekday start before nine changes the experience entirely.

Honest expectations

Pen y Fan's main path is eroded, crowded and unrewarding compared with the western hills. Waterfall Country paths are muddy, root-bound and slippery, with several steep river-bank drops, and the Sgwd yr Eira approach is genuinely awkward in wet weather. Car parks fill early and verge parking gets ticketed. Cloud covers the tops often.

Nearby

The Wye Valley lies east, Cardiff is an hour south and Pembrokeshire two hours west.