Nearby Attractions
A warm Welsh welcome awaits you in Merthyr Tydfil.
Merthyr Tydfil, one of the most historically fascinating and beautiful regions of Wales is ideally placed between Brecon Beacons National Park and Cardiff the Welsh capital.
With a fifth of the County Borough lying within the Brecon Beacons National Park Merthyr Tydfil boasts some dramatic and breathtaking scenery.
Merthyr Tydfil is rich in culture, landscape and scenery. Once the Iron capital of the world, Merthyr Tydfil breathes life into its history. For full information on what to see and do please go to Visit Merthyr
Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Park
You will receive a warm welcome to what is the "Jewel in Merthyr's Crown"
The Crawshay family home, built in 1824 once housed a school and now houses the famous Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery, which is home to a fantastic collection of artefacts spanning 2000 years of Merthyr's history. Cyfarthfa Park is as important historically as the Castle itself, within the grounds you will find the visitor centre, Canolfan Cyfarthfa, Playground and Splash pad open for the summer season, as well as the Cyfarthfa miniature railway and Golf@Cyfarthfa, a 9 hole short golf course.
BikePark Wales
BikePark Wales is the UK’s first full scale mountain bike park in the heart of the South Wales valleys, built by riders for riders. They believe in making mountain biking accessible to everyone from extreme to serene.
The very best network of downhill and lift-assisted singletrack trails in the UK. There is an incredible network of trails for riders of all abilities at BikePark Wales. Swooping, bermed runs, tight gnarly rock sections, jump trails, drop offs, a pump track and even a family specific loop. Not to mention the dedicated bike up-lift service.
Brecon Mountain Railway
Take a short trip by narrow gauge steam train on one of the most popular vintage railway routes in Wales.
The former Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction railway takes you through beautiful Brecon Beacons scenery from Pant to Pontsticill, along the full length of the Taf Fechan Reservoir.
At Pontsticill you can visit the cafe and admire the view across Pontsticill Reservoir, to the peaks of the Brecon Beacons. There is a children's play area here. On your return to Pant, you can visit the workshop where old steam locomotives are repaired or follow the footpath to a picnic site which has an amazing panoramic view of the valley.
Brecon Beacons National Park
Designated a national park in 1957 the Brecon Beacons contains some of the most spectacular and distinctive landscapes in southern Britain, The park occupies 519 sq miles of mountains, moors, forests, pastureland, lakes, and the broad Usk valley. Centrally located within the park, south of Brecon, are the Brecon Beacons including Pen-y-Fan at 2,906 ft is the highest peak in South Wales. The park offers a considerable variety of scenery and recreational opportunities, including hill walking, caving, pony trekking, sailing, and angling. This amazing landscape has now been officially recognised as one of the most important geological landscapes in Europe.
The Taff Trail
The Taff Trail is a multi-purpose route between the Cardiff waterfront at Cardiff Bay in the South and the Market Town of Brecon in the North. 55 miles in length, it passes through Pontypridd and Merthyr Tydfil and through a wide variety of urban and suburban landscapes of those towns and the open moorland of the Brecon Beacons. There are also many "green fingers" where the Taff Trail itself appears to bring the countryside into the town. The area is also rich in industrial archeology.
A large proportion of the Taff Trail is designated "Traffic Free" which has been achieved by using the routes of former tramways, railways, canals and present day canal towpaths, including the original rights-of-way, embankments, cuttings and viaducts. Many of these routes have important historical significance to the industrial heritage of South Wales.
Joseph Parry's Cottage
4 Chapel Row is a fine example of a typical ironworker's cottage. Built in the 1820's for the workers of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, the cottage was the birthplace in 1841 of Joseph Parry, Wales best known composer. His much loved 'Myfanwy' is still a favourite of Welsh Male Voice Choirs to this day. The interior of the cottage is set in the 1840's, and shows the living conditions of the ironworkers at the time when Parry was a young boy.