Dolphin spotting and beautiful beaches! We had the most fantastic visit to New Quay in Wales this summer. Here’s a review of our time there with a child.
New Quay is a pretty seaside town on the Cardigan Bay coast of West Wales. It’s very special to us as this was the first place we ever saw wild dolphins in the UK. We were lucky enough to see a mother and calves jumping out of the water from the pier. We decided to visit New Quay in Wales again this summer. It was the perfect place to spend half our travels; here’s where we stayed, what we did and how many dolphins we spotted!
New Quay, Wales
New Quay, once a bustling shipbuilding centre and fishing port, is now a beautiful coastal town with miles of secluded coves. In the past, these coves were used for smuggling spirits and tobacco.
Now popular as a tourist destination, New Quay offers numerous attractions. Still, we love simply walking along the waterfront to watch the boats sail by or unwinding in one of the charming cafes overlooking the harbour while keeping an eye out for dolphins.
It’s also a great base from which to explore the West Coast of Wales.
We stayed at Quay West Holiday Park
Although we travelled in our campervan, we decided to enjoy a nostalgic summer holiday and booked a caravan a short walk from New Quay Harbour. Quay West Holiday Park is a Haven site, which is perfect if you visit the area with children.
This was our first time staying at a Haven site. It was well-maintained, and our caravan was clean and comfortable. The site featured crazy golf, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, an ariel adventure course, trampolines, activities for children, arcades, and an entertainment venue.
Our favourite thing about the site was the woodland walk to the beach, which is beautiful. We took picnics down to the beach and spent hours swimming and trying to spot dolphins. From here, you can continue your walk along the coastal path to the harbour. It only took us around 15-20 minutes with a 7-year-old.
We spent most of our time at the site enjoying the area and the outdoors. However, we caught a few of the evening shows, which were well put together but extremely busy! (We visited during the summer holiday, so we expected this!)
Haven Quay West Holiday Park, SA45 9SE
New Quay beaches we visited
I am a beach girl through and through. I love spending a day on the beach with my son. New Quay has the most perfect beaches in the UK.
Harbour Beach
A lovely sheltered beach, Harbour Beach is perfect for families with children. There is loads of space to play on the sand and in the water, launch paddleboards, and picnic.
This beach is recognised with a blue flag for its safety, water quality, and cleanliness. It is well-managed, has lifeguard services (at certain times of the year), and is designated as a safe swimming area. Harbour Beach is the base for the Cardigan Bay Watersports Centre and also provides mooring for local and visiting sailing boats.
Each year, the New Quay Regatta takes place on Harbour Beach, and on New Year’s Day, brave swimmers race across the sand to be the first into the water. The beach’s proximity to the town and its amenities, including local shops and beach-front cafes, make it a fab spot, but it gets busy in the summer.
Dolau Beach
If you have dogs with you, this beach would be great. Dolau Beach lies below low cliffs on the other side of the harbour wall. This is another excellent beach to launch a paddleboard or kayak. Just be mindful that this beach is more pebbly and has rocks. Dogs are welcome on Dolau Beach at any time of the year. It’s a great spot to spot dolphins, too.
Traeth Gwyn Beach
We accessed this beach via a woodland walk from Quay West Holiday Park. It extends in a broad sweep towards Llanina Point for almost a mile. At low tide, it is a wide sandy beach backed by shingle and boulders, but it can become cut off at high tide, so please take caution. This beach is popular with dog walkers.
We loved this wild beach. We saw many children bodyboarding in the waves with their parents or playing beach games. Beyond Llanina Point lies Cei Bach beach. This is a sand and shingle beach divided by groynes.
Dogs on New Quay beaches
Between May 1st and September 30th, dogs are prohibited from Harbour Beach between the Pier and Penpolion. Dogs can access both Dolau Beach and Traeth Gwyn Beach all year round.
Dolphin spotting, New Quay, Wales
You will see many Dolphin-Spotting Boat Trips leaving the harbour. On our first trip to New Quay, we booked with SeaMôr, which runs trips from New Quay Harbour.
Cardigan Bay is a Special Area of Conservation, and we were told that the boats have to follow one course; they do not follow the dolphins. The guides were knowledgeable, and we learnt a lot about the area.
The first time we visited New Quay, we didn’t see dolphins on our boat trip. However, we saw them from the pier numerous times, very close. We saw a mother and calves, and we watched them for hours. On our most recent visit, we also saw dolphins several times from the pier.
I recommend not worrying if one of the boat trips is out of your price range. When the sea is calm in the summer, you can likely see them from the pier wall.
Visit the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre
To learn more, we also visited the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, established in 1996 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to conserving Cardigan Bay’s marine wildlife through education and research. It is based in a heritage building in the heart of New Quay, overlooking the beautiful beach and harbour. The centre has become the focus of marine research in the area.
The displays offer insights into various topics, such as the local dolphin, seal, and seabird populations, the area’s geology, and crucial pollution and sustainable fishing issues.
The marine conservation team and volunteers are available to address any queries and provide detailed information about the marine wildlife in the region. This includes the Cardigan Bay Big 3: bottlenose dolphins, harbour porpoises, and Atlantic grey seals, as well as conservation efforts in Cardigan Bay and Wales.
You can also learn more about the Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project here.
The Dylan Thomas Trail
The Ceredigion County Council have created a brilliant, free, and detailed walk for you to follow. The Dylan Thomas Trail [PDF]
We love how easy this is to follow; each location is clearly marked. Please be aware the section to Llanina can only be done at low tide, so check the tides before starting.
This is a lovely way to explore New Quay, and if you have young children, you don’t have to complete it all in one go. We did it in a few parts during our visit.
Places to eat and drink in New Quay, Wales
New Quay in Wales offers a variety of dining options for a small place! There are plenty of lovely cafes, ice cream parlours, a few traditional pubs and places to pick up excellent quality fish and chips.
Located right on the pier, we had fish and chips from The Lime Crab, which were fantastic. (I promise we have tried a lot of fish and chips!) The portions were really generous, and I loved that they had gluten-free options too. Their seafood menu looked great and we will definitely visit here again.
We had coffee and croissants a few times at Quayside Cafe/Coffee Shop, which had benches overlooking the harbour. The staff here were really friendly, and we always managed to get a seat with a view. There are a few gorgeous cafes in the area.
We had a lovely pub meal at The Black Lion. They were great with our child – so friendly and welcoming. There was a gorgeous outdoor seating and play area with probably the best pub garden view ever. The food was homemade, proper pub-style, and we all enjoyed our meals. The roast dinners here were particularly great!
Why I loved visiting New Quay, Wales, with a child
I am a massive fan of taking my child anywhere we can spend as much time outdoors as possible. We hardly spent time indoors because there were endless opportunities for walks, beach outings, boat trips, and water sports.
There is a magic to New Quay that I have not found elsewhere. It feels authentic and less touristy compared to similar destinations we’ve visited in the UK.
Despite its size and popularity, we never felt overcrowded. We easily found a space on the beach or the pier to spot dolphins and barely had to make dinner reservations.
We cherished the hours spent on the pier, eagerly looking for glimpses of dolphins and sharing the excitement with other visitors.
There’s a true sense of peace in New Quay that makes it a special place for us. Sharing that with my son means so much, and I can’t wait to visit again.
I hope you found this article helpful. Maybe it has even inspired you to visit New Quay in Wales! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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