Welcome To the e-travelguide to Hotels, guest houses and attractions in Aberystwyth

Make the most of your time in Aberystwyth, use the information provided on this web site by clicking on the links above to plan your visit.

Aberystwyth is an attractive town on the West coast of Wales. It is situated on Cardigan Bay, at the confluence of the Rivers Ystwyth (from which it derives its name, meaning ‘Town on the Ystwyth’ in Welsh) and Rheidol. It is one of Wales’ most historic towns, having been a mining town, a bustling port and prosperous market town, and also a seat of learning. Today much of the town’s traditional industry has disappeared, but despite this and its somewhat remote location (Aberystwyth is over 100 miles from Cardiff, the town is still a popular holiday destination. Aberystwyth is very much a traditional Victorian seaside town, and the characteristic handsome architecture from this era is joined by examples of Gothic and Classical Revival buildings, giving the town an appearance vaguely similar to that of Oxford. The links with the Dreaming Spires are more than just visual – the A44 road runs between Aberystwyth and Oxford and, like Oxford, Aberystwyth is also home to one of the UK’s most famous universities. There are some buildings from the old University College of Wales near the town’s Norman castle, but a very much larger campus has been built towards the east of the town; the university swells the population of Aberystwyth from approximately 12,000 to over 20,000 inhabitants.

Aberystwyth’s earliest recorded inhabitants fortified Pen Dinas – one of the hills that tower above the modern day town - with a fort, possibly in the 8 th Century BC. It was not until the early 12 th Century AD, however, that Aberystwyth’s importance began to grow. A fortress was built on Castle Hill, and this was considerably fortified by Edward I in 1277, although the sad remains of Aberystwyth Castle today are due to its partial destruction by Parliamentarian forces in 1647. The 18 th Century and the Industrial Revolution were in many ways kind to Aberystwyth, and the town became a prosperous port, used to export the lead and silver ores that were mined (until the 20 th Century) in the hills of the Cambrian Mountains and Rheidol Valley to the east of the town. The Victorians enjoyed seaside holidays in the town, and many people today still come to visit the town’s unique attractions (Aberystwyth boasts the largest Camera Obscura in the world) and revel in the unhurried pace of life.

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