Activities in Tenby

One of the top things you can do in Tenby is to take a boat trip. You can visit the nearby Caldey Island to explore the Caldey Abbey and delve into its 1,500 years of religious history. You can go diving with Dive Pembrokeshire, unleashing your inner Indiana Jones exploring the shipwrecks of Carmarthen Bay. If you’d rather be fishing, you can go Mackerel Fishing from the harbour with trips taking just 90 minutes. Or go Sea Fishing on Seren Y Mor, a former lifeboat, which offers four-hour sport fishing trips.

The Seal Safari is among the most popular boat trips in Tenby, especially with young families. It takes you out along the Pembrokeshire Coastline to try and see the wonderful seals and seabirds that call this corner of the country home. Or you can take to the water in style by booking yourself onto the hydrofoil of Tenby Watersports, which is one of your top Tenby entertainment options.

Sitting atop Castle Hill, keeping watch over Carmarthen Bay and protecting the town below, the surviving tower of Tenby Castle is but a fraction of the fortification’s former glory. But anyone visiting this historic town of South Wales should seize the chance to soak up the views from this strategic site, which dates back to the 12th century.

Tenby’s medieval history can be traced all around the town centre. The town’s medieval walls are regarded as some of the most important and best preserved in all of Britain. One of four gates still stands today, as well as six towers – although, it’s believed there may have been as many as 24 originally. Take a trip back in time and follow the walls around Tenby.

At the foot of Castle Hill, you’ll find the Tenby Lifeboat Station. It’s one of the RNLI’s Explore stations, which means it offers the very best visitor experience for anyone wanting to take a look around. It replaced the Victorian Lifeboat Station, which you can still see on Tenby Harbour Beach. The views of the sea are pretty special, especially on a stormy day. It offers awe-inspiring insight into the brave world of being a lifeguard. There are few things more dramatic than catching sight of the lifeboat speeding down the station ramp to help some poor soul at sea.

If you’re staying with a young family, or you just really like dinosaurs, make your way to the nearby village of Gumfreston and pay a visit to The Dinosaur Park. Take your time to explore the woods, where you’ll stumble on huge life-size-ish models of more than 30 different dinosaurs. But that’s not all, The Dinosaur Park offers surprisingly good value, thanks to a wide selection of activities including virtual reality headsets and heaps of rides. A lot of the park is outdoors, so pick your days wisely depending on the weather. Once you’re there, the staff do everything they can to make your stay as memorable as possible.

A bit further up the road from the Dinosaur Park, Heatherton World of Activities is an award-winning day out and another great option if you’re staying at our Tenby town centre hotel with family. It’s barely more than a five-minute drive away and boasts a brilliant array of activities, which range from paintballing, go-karting and archery for adrenaline junkies, right the way through to the hedge maze, escape rooms and tree-top trails for the more adventurous. There’s honestly something for every age and interest. Best of all, admission is absolutely free. You simply pay for the activities you like.

Just over the road from Heatherton World of Activities, the Manor Wildlife Park is an excellent open-air zoo with a wonderful population of animals including zebras, meerkats, monkeys, rhinos, tigers and red pandas. You can learn all about the wildlife by timing your trip with the zookeepers’ informative talks, which happen throughout the day. And if you want to get up close and personal with some of the species, there are several animal experiences you can choose as well.

Turn the calendar back to the 15th century with a visit to the Tudor Market House on Quay Hill. It’s a National Trust property. It’s the oldest house in Tenby and would have been lived in by a merchant trader who would peddle goods from around the world after it had arrived in Tenby Harbour. The house was in poor health, but it was donated to the National Trust in 1938. Since then, they have done an incredible job transforming it into a historic house museum, with all the furnishings and decorations you would have seen in Tudor times.

Last but not least, the Tenby Museum & Art Gallery on Castle Hill is perfect for anyone wanting to delve into the history of the town. It’s the oldest independent museum in Wales, dating all the way back to 1878, and boasts an intriguing collection of artefacts and art from a wide range of Welsh artists.