Gower Peninsula

Gower was designated in 1956 as the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the UK, and its appeal is concentration - a peninsula about 30 kilometres long holding cliffs, dunes, salt marsh and a run of beaches that would take a whole coastline elsewhere. Rhossili Bay at the western end is the set piece, five kilometres of sand under a steep down, with the Worm's Head at its tip: a serpentine limestone ridge cut off by tide for all but a few hours either side of low water, with published crossing windows. Three Cliffs Bay has a stream winding across sand between limestone pinnacles, best seen from the ridge above. The north coast is salt marsh grazed by sheep, and surf schools work Llangennith.

The landscape

• Rhossili Bay - a long beach below a steep down at the western tip.
• Worm's Head - a tidal ridge crossable only around low water.
• Three Cliffs Bay - a stream crossing sand between limestone pinnacles.
• The north coast marshes - grazed salt marsh facing the Loughor estuary.

When to go

May to September for beach weather and long evenings. Check tide tables before any Worm's Head attempt; the safe window is roughly two and a half hours either side of low tide. Summer weekends and school holidays are heavy. Spring brings cliff wildflowers and much quieter paths.

Things to know

Parking at Rhossili and Three Cliffs is limited, expensive and full by mid-morning in summer, and the lanes leading there are narrow. People are cut off on Worm's Head most years and have to wait out a full tide. Beach access involves steep descents, so nothing here is easy with a pushchair. The sea is cold and rip currents are a real hazard.

Nearby

Swansea and Mumbles lie east, and the Pembrokeshire coast begins two hours west.

Key facts