Rhossili Bay is located on the western coast of the award winning Gower Peninsula. If you’re coming to this ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ then you absolutely must visit Rhossili Bay. The beach is 3 miles long and has accolades such as one of the ‘top ten beaches in the world’ and Wales’ best beach in 2018. You know what, we would agree!
We have been fortunate enough to travel across the world and see some magnificent beaches. Rhossili Bay beach is one of our favourites because of its magnitude, serenity, surrounding walking spots and sheer beauty. Also, where better to let your dog loose than on 3 miles of open space? Nominated as ‘The UK’s No.1 dog-friendly beach’ by The Times.
Rhossili Bay beach
The beach is accessed via steps from the small local village. Unfortunately there is no wheelchair access and it is a fair way down. This is where you can enjoy the golden sands and let the dog loose. The breathtaking views are definitely worth the trek down! As opposed to Three Cliffs Bay beach, you can enjoy watersports from Rhossili Bay beach. You may see surfers enjoying the Atlantic Swell. On a sunny day there is nothing better than taking a plunge in the sea. We advise taking a picnic to enjoy as we were ravenous after all the walking but still did not want to leave the beach. On our climb back to the car park we sat with a couple of the locals for a few enjoying the view!
When to visit?
Honestly, we recommend getting to the car park just before sunrise. We visited in summer which meant leaving our house at 02:30am! Commitment right? Why for sunrise? There is hardly anyone else there and if you go directly down to the beach you will most likely have the 3 mile long sandy coastline to yourself! This being said, we recommend staying up above the beach to watch the sunrise from the clifftops. The colours that swoop over the peninsula are glorious.
If you were to visit at sunset you would get the sun setting Rhossili Bay beach side. This may be more romantic but far less serene as there will be more people here at this time. This next photo is of us trying to take a photo with a self timer of 10 seconds. Safe to say we didn’t quite make it!!
Walking route
As a couple we love hiking and exploring. We thoroughly enjoy finding new, stunning photography locations. On our second visit to Rhossili Bay we wanted to watch sunrise and see the sun itself as opposed to the colours and light beams. This may sound like we cheated but we flew our drone into the air and worked out a walking route to see sunrise! We walked from the ‘Worms head car park’ over to ‘Thurba Head’ which you can see on the map below. It was absolutely stunning for sunrise.
From ‘Thurba Head’ you can make a lovely walk back alongside the coast following the cliff line all the way back to Rhossili Bay beach. It really was a perfect morning walk, just chilly enough to appreciate a hot flask of coffee sitting in the car!
Worm’s Head
Now you’ve reached one of the Gower’s most famous landmarks, ‘Worm’s Head’. Worm’s Head is a headland, at Rhossili and marks the furthest westerly point of the Gower Peninsula. The name Worm’s Head is derived from an Old English word ‘wyrm’ for ‘sea serpent’. 2.5 hours either side of low tide you can actually cross over to Worm’s Head via a rocky causeway. You can report to the Coastwatch Centre to find out timings. This gives you a maximum of 5 hours to enjoy Worm’s head before getting stranded and having a Netflix film written about you being stranded for 10 hours. If you’re lucky you may even see some basking seals or dolphins playing in the surf.
Where to park?
The car park is free to National Trust members during the day. Non members are currently charged £5 per day (car). There is no overnight parking/camping. All profits from the car park go towards maintaining the beauty of the area. There are also toilets on site.
Where next? How about head over to the other side of Gower peninsula and visit Three Cliffs Bay? Another absolutely stunning Welsh coastline!
Travelling Translated
