Walking Holidays & Outdoor Adventures in the Valleys of South Wales

Where Stories Rise from Stone, and the Land Remembers

‍A landscape of heritage trails, green ridges, and everyday resilience.

The Valleys of South Wales are steeped in memory — shaped by coal, community, and working landscapes. Beyond their industrial past, these valleys are now places of renewal, well suited to self-guided walking holidays rooted in landscape, history, and everyday life. Wooded hillsides, ridgeline paths, and riverside trails wind through a living story of recovery, resilience, and deep-rooted connection to land and culture.

Alongside walking, the region also lends itself naturally to slower outdoor adventures and scenic cycling holidays, following reclaimed railways, tramroads, and quiet valley roads that once carried industry and now carry movement and wildlife. In towns and villages throughout the Valleys, you’ll also find welcoming places to stay, making it easy to explore at an unhurried pace.

Here, you might climb former slag heaps transformed into green viewpoints, pass murals and mining museums, or walk through wildflower meadows reclaiming once-industrial ground. This is not walking for escape — it’s walking for meaning. In the Valleys, every step is shaped by people and place, past and future woven together in a landscape that invites reflection as much as exploration.

Where to Walk, Ride, and Explore

‍The Valleys Regional Park Trails

‍A growing network of nature-based and heritage-led walking routes through forest parks, community woodlands, and regeneration landscapes. With trailheads close to town centres, these routes are ideal for accessible day walks and local discovery.

Sirhowy, Rhymney & Taff Trails

‍Riverside corridors and former railway beds that link valley communities to surrounding hills and open countryside. These long, level routes combine industrial heritage, green space, and wide valley views, with excellent public-transport access.

Local Loops & Hidden Tracks

‍Short circular walks from hilltop villages and former mining towns that mix woodland, moorland, and cultural landmarks — revealing strong community character and quieter corners of the Valleys.

Adventure Highlights

• Forest, ridge, and riverside trails through rewilded and regeneration landscapes
• Cycling routes along former railway lines and heritage corridors
• Mining history, open-air art, and story-rich walking experiences
• Scenic routes close to Cardiff, Newport, and the South Wales coast
• Ideal for short self-guided walks, cycling days, and cultural breaks

The Valleys are not forgotten — they are evolving.
To walk here is to walk through memory and renewal, where nature, people, and history live side by side — and where every trail tells a story worth hearing.