How to spend 48 hours in Cardigan

As the birthplace of the Eisteddfod, Cardigan has long been a hub for storytelling, music, and art.

- Portia Jones reports

WALES is blessed with an abundance of charming market towns and small villages packed with character, indie cafes and proper pubs.

One of the more underrated spots is a historic harbour town that's the gateway to the Teifi Valley and the Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire Coastal Paths.

Cardigan (Aberteifi) is the second-largest town in Ceredigion. It packs a punch culture-wise as it has transcended from a significant 18th-century Atlantic seaport to a swish, artsy enclave with theatres and galleries.

Found on the bend of the River Teifi, the town has a long and varied history. Henry VIII granted Cardigan its charter in 1543; by the 18th century, it was the most important seaport in southern Wales. It had a thriving herring and shipbuilding industry, and its merchant fleet carried fish, slate, bricks, bark for tanning, corn and ale.

Its heritage is also found in the town's varied architecture, where you can still see Georgian buildings, including the restored Castle House and original 17th-century arches. Today, it has a thriving small-town feel with boutiques, an independent bakery, an acclaimed hotel and waymarked coastal paths that guide you along the glorious shoreline.

Despite the buzzing town's many offerings, it's not quite as well known as tourist hotspots like Tenby or the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Perhaps that's because the Cardigan Bay area remains one of Wales' most underrated stretches of coastline, sandwiched between the headline-grabbing beauty of Pembrokeshire and the Llŷn Peninsula. In 2023, Time Out magazine dubbed its main town, Cardigan, the "most underrated" spot in west Wales.

Here, you can experience Wales as its most authentic self, zipping between secluded bays to spot dolphins, trekking the coastal path and feasting on piping hot fish and chips in small fishing villages.