Brecon

Brecon is the handsome little market town at the northern edge of Bannau Brycheiniog — the Brecon Beacons — and the natural basecamp for walking the range. This is a landscape of smooth, grassy whalebacks rather than jagged rock: rounded summits, wide ridgelines and huge skies, crowned by Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain at 886 metres.

The walking is superb and surprisingly accessible. The classic horseshoe over Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn is one of the best day-hikes in Wales, and the wider park serves up waterfalls, reservoirs and quiet moorland where you can walk for hours without seeing a soul. It is also a renowned training ground — the terrain that famously tests the military — so it rewards fit legs and respects poor navigation.

Brecon itself is unpretentious and good value, with pubs, an old cathedral and easy access from South Wales and the M4. It won't give you glaciers or lift-served skiing, but for honest British hill days close to home, it is one of the best-value basecamps on the board.

Late spring through autumn (April to October) is the sweet spot — long days, firmer ground and the best chance of clear tops. Summer weekends around Pen y Fan get busy, so start early or walk midweek. Winter brings genuinely serious conditions on the tops, with wind, low cloud and occasional snow that demand navigation skills and proper kit. The waterfall country to the south-west is a good wet-weather fallback year-round.

Brecon has no railway station, so most people arrive by car — roughly an hour from Cardiff and about an hour and a half from Bristol, both of which have airports. Buses connect Brecon to Cardiff, Abergavenny and Merthyr Tydfil, and the main Pen y Fan car parks (Pont ar Daf and the Storey Arms) sit on the A470 a short drive south of town.