Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du in the Brecon Beacons (Crown copyright 2018/Visit Wales)
Looking for some Great British adventure inspiration? You're in the right place. Here you'll get an independent, ad-free lowdown on Britain's top 50 adventure locations - the online yin to the paper yang of our Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map.
Why Go To The Brecon Beacons?
Situated in south Wales, the Brecon Beacons national park is one of Britain's favourites. Just some of things you can do in the Brecon Beacons that you can't do anywhere else...
Walk the famous horseshoe ridge up Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du
See some spectacular waterfalls, such as Sgwd yr Eira and Henrhyd Falls
Chortle childishly as you climb up Lord Hereford's Knob or Fan Y Big
Want to find out more? Read on for great photos, articles, videos, top tips and other content to fire up your adventure appetite. Got a question? Ask away.
Tell Me More
Stretching 45 miles from Llandeilo in the west to the English border, the mighty Brecon Beacons is made of four distinct areas (from west to east): Black Mountain (high moors, glacial lakes), Fforest Fawr (spectacular waterfalls), Brecon Beacons (distinctive, flat-topped hills, including Pen Y Fan, the highest point at 886m), and the Black Mountains (gentler heathland ridges). So, just to recap: the Brecon Beacons are part of the Brecon Beacons, but the Black Mountain is nothing to do with the Black Mountains. (Except there is in fact a Black Mountain within the Black Mountains). Well, that's got our popty-ping going ding, we can tell you.
There are a few options for an 'essential journey' in the Brecon Beacons: take your pick from the Beacons Way, the Pen-y-Fan horseshoe, or the Four Waterfalls Walk.
Hikers in the Brecon Beacons, Wales (Crown copyright 2018 / Visit Wales)
Getting To The Brecon Beacons, Maps & Guides
Getting there: Drive or get the train to Abergavenny in about 3 hrs from London, and less than 1 hour from Cardiff
Travel times from where you are: See the Brecon Beacons on Google Maps.
Maps: Find the right Ordnance Survey maps and / or get a month's free subscription to their excellent OS Maps app.
Guidebooks: Rough Guides' and Lonely Planet's guides to Wales.
Walking route guidance: Brecon Beacons walking routes.
Tourist board: Brecon Beacons national park site or Visit Wales.
Even More Brecon Beacons Adventure Inspiration
The Ordnance Survey's GetOutside Blog has a good intro to the Beacons. They also, quite rightly, feature in Rough Guides' Best British Road Trips.
Wanderlust magazine has a couple of good articles on the Beacons too: this and this. And we really like Wales Online's guide to the best things to do in the Beacons. And this walking guide from Countryfile.
Stargazing in the Brecon Beacons, Wales (Crown copyright 2018 / Visit Wales)
What Next?
Click here to see 49 other Great British adventure locations and tell us about your adventures, plans and suggestions for these pages.
Britain's Best Outdoorsy Bits... Mapped!
Liking what you see, but fancy keeping it old school with an actual paper map? Our Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map features all of Britain's best outdoorsy bits (including the Top 50), plus some enjoyably random and vaguely useful stuff too. Available either as a 2-sided fold-out map or a framed wall map (office furniture and fake plants not included).
