Holiday rentals in St Davids

Welcome to the United Kingdom’s smallest city, named after Wales’ patron saint, sitting beautifully on the most westerly point of the country. It’s a city because of its historic cathedral, built on a 6th-century monastic site and redeveloped impressively in medieval and Victorian times. Just across the River Alun sit the equally grand ruins of Bishops Palace: an ornate 700-year-old wheel window in a wall of the Great Hall gives a measure of the building’s original majesty.

The rest of the city is a small cluster of streets around open green spaces, with brightly painted buildings hosting cafes, shops, and galleries. The town is also only 2.5 miles from the surfers’ paradise of Whitesands Beach, facing the windy waves of the Irish Sea, and near smaller coves such as Caerfai with its multicoloured rocks, and the craggier Porthmelgan and Porthselau (accessible via the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path). The area is also known for great ice cream parlours and independent restaurants, the local speciality, of course, being seafood.

The weather in St Davids is typical for Wales: mild in summer with beautiful balmy spells, cold in winter, and a raincoat in the rucksack is always advised. St Davids remains beautiful all year round, although if you’re a nature lover, spring and autumn are hard to beat. Enjoy the city peacefully, then from March to July take a boat to Ramsey Island from the jetty at nearby St Justinian’s for views of peregrine falcons, choughs, and kittiwakes. Starting in September, the island becomes one of the biggest seal pupping sites in the United Kingdom, with hundreds of babies being born on beaches and in caves. Summers are gentler for wildlife on the peninsula, but louder for beach life, with surfers descending on Whitesands, and watersports such as coasteering, kayaking, and diving keeping sea-lovers busy. Those wanting more spiritual endeavours will enjoy the cathedral’s music festival every May.

Porth-y-Tŵr

This Grade 1-listed gatehouse is majestic, one of four that used to lead pilgrims towards the cathedral walls. Its 13th-century octagonal tower is also still fully functional, housing ten bells that regularly resound through the city. Listen out on Wednesday evenings when the bell-ringers have their weekly practice.

St Non’s Chapel and Holy Well

A mile south of St Davids, on a stretch of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path full of dramatic cliffs, are the ruins of a medieval chapel, built on the site of a 6th-century house where St David himself was said to have been born. St Non was his mother, and a well bearing her name sits alongside it, hosting a small shrine and stone grotto. A modern chapel and retreat centre also add to the site’s spiritual setting.

The Oriel y Parc Landscape Gallery and Visitor Centre

Based in a fully accessible, eco-friendly modern building, this beautiful visitor centre and gallery showcases treasures from the National Museum of Wales and work by Pembrokeshire artists. It also has regular artists-in-residence, a discovery room to encourage visitors’ creativity, and a popular cafe.