Which? reveal Wales’ best and worst coastal towns

Consumer guide, Which?, has revealed the perfect UK seaside holidays – with three destinations in Wales highlighted as having the best beaches in the UK, while one Welsh location has been labelled one of the worst.

Their survey of almost 4,000 Which? members – who took around 9,000 trips to British seaside towns – shows that holidaymakers prefer the unspoilt sand, gorgeous scenery and peace and quiet that you only find away from the biggest tourist hotspots.

For the fifth year in a row, Bamburgh, a Northumberland village with a population of around 400 people, can celebrate. It beat 117 other UK towns and villages to get the highest destination score and top our table.

Three Welsh towns – Portmeirion, St Davids and Tenby – appear in the top 10.

The best seaside towns in the UK all got five stars for either their beaches, seafront or scenery.

Only one of them, Bamburgh, got the full five-star ratings for all three – plus peace and quiet.

Welsh favourites

According to Which?: “There’s no dividing two fabulous Welsh seaside towns, Portmeirion in Gwynedd and St Davids in Pembrokeshire. They both got a 79% destination score.

“If you’ve never been to either, Portmeirion wins out on tourist attractions. It’s one of the UK’s most unusual holiday villages, dreamed up in the 1920s by Welsh architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who described it as a ‘home for fallen buildings’.”

They add: “Inspired by Italian towns such as Portofino on the Mediterranean, Williams-Ellis designed extravagant, Italianate buildings complete with brightly coloured domes, colonnades and towers.

“Visitors loved the architecture and its setting above a wide, sandy estuary – giving it five stars out of five for its tourist attractions, scenery and seafront. However, it did only get two stars for value for money. St Davids got four stars for value for money.”

St Davids in Pembrokeshire, meanwhile, is the smallest city in Britain and has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries.

The 12th century St Davids Cathedral, built on the site of a much older religious buildings, is the reason for little St Davids’ outsize city status. Constructed from dusky purple sandstone, it’s one of Wales’ most iconic religious sites and sits tucked away in a sheltered vale beside the River Alun.

Best scenery

Another Welsh town – Beaumaris – also got five stars for scenery. And, when we looked more closely at the data, we saw that it was the only one of our 118 towns where 100% of visitors gave its scenery a high rating.

Its location gives it quite an advantage. It has sweeping views of the Eryri range rising beyond the Menai Straits and the Great Orme.

It was also praised for its seafront, unsurprising considering its elegant, candy-coloured houses along the shoreline and its Victorian pier.

UK’s best beaches

Which? write: “Just three towns got the full five stars for their beaches, but Tenby in Pembrokeshire stands out even among them.”

They add: “Almost everybody loved its four, family-friendly beaches, with the views of Goscar Rock rising up from beyond the north shore.

“Its charming Georgian lanes have a reputation for being overcrowded but, despite this, it even got a respectable three stars for peace and quiet. Many respondents said they visit out of season. “

Worst in show

At the opposite end of the table was English town, Bognor Regis. It received just one star for its seafront, food and drink, tourist attractions, scenery, shopping, parking, peace and quiet and value for money.

Bognor was joined at the bottom of our table by some other famous names – Bangor in Wales, but we would heartily disagree.

With its breathtaking surrounding scenery and architecture, this hidden gem can happily stay that way. Those who visit regularly and make it their home know they’re on to a good thing.

Read the full list of the UK’s best and worst seaside towns according to Which? here.