Swansea / Abertawe
Swansea is a city that has had more than its fair share of ups and downs. Once an important industrial and port town, it suffered badly from the decline of heavy industry, but modern Swansea has reinvented itself around the waterfront, university and tourism. It may not have the architectural grandeur of Cardiff, but it has plenty of character — and its location beside Swansea Bay is difficult to beat.The Maritime Quarter is probably the most attractive part of the city, with the National Waterfront Museum, the marina and the excellent Swansea Museum all within easy reach. Nearby is the LC2, while the waterfront provides a pleasant place for a stroll when the Welsh weather is behaving itself.
Swansea's greatest asset, however, is what lies just outside the city.
Cross the Mumbles Road and you soon reach The Mumbles, a popular seaside resort at the western end of Swansea Bay. There are shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants, together with the famous pier and lighthouse. It is a lovely place to wander, although on a sunny summer weekend finding somewhere to park can become an endurance test.
Then comes the Gower Peninsula, Britain's first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and one of the finest stretches of coastline in Wales. Here the scenery changes dramatically, with rugged cliffs, rolling countryside, dunes and some magnificent beaches.
Rhossili Bay is the star attraction, and deservedly so. Its enormous sweep of golden sand, backed by cliffs and overlooked by Worm's Head, is one of those views that makes you stop and think that perhaps Wales isn't such a bad place after all. On a clear day it is spectacular; on a wet and windy day it is spectacular in a rather more Welsh fashion.Three Cliffs Bay is another Gower favourite, with its distinctive limestone cliffs, dunes and ruined castle providing one of the peninsula's most photographed landscapes. It is not necessarily the easiest beach to reach, but that is part of its appeal.
The Gower is also dotted with attractive villages and plenty of places to eat, drink and recover from all that walking. Mumbles, Oxwich, Port Eynon and Llangennith each have their own character, while inland Gower provides a welcome reminder that this is not simply a seaside destination.
What makes Swansea and the Gower such a good pairing is the contrast. You can spend the morning exploring a city shaped by industry and the afternoon standing on a virtually empty beach looking out across the Bristol Channel.
Swansea itself may occasionally feel like a city still finding its feet, but with the Gower on its doorstep it has one enormous advantage over many of its urban rivals.
A city with a coastline — and a coastline with some seriously impressive beaches. What more could you want?
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