An hour north of Cardiff, the little town of Crickhowell sits right on the edge of Brecon Beacons National Park — technically inside it. Around 2,000 people live here, yet its High Street won the Great British High Street Award for the whole UK in 2018, and it's still the best reason to linger.

Arrive from the south and you cross the River Usk on Crickhowell Bridge, Wales' longest stone bridge, dating to 1706. Ten minutes' walk brings you to the town centre, where Georgian buildings shelter a genuinely local shopping street. Book-ish, a bookshop-café hybrid that has picked up multiple Bookshop of the Year titles at the British Book Awards, doubles as a cultural hub with author readings — owner Emma Cornfield Walters was named a High Street Hero in that same 2018 competition. Also worth a browse: Natural Weigh, one of the county's first zero-waste stores, selling package-free pasta, nuts and sweets alongside plastic-free household goods, and Crickhowell Adventure, an outdoor gear shop trading since the 1970s that's handy if you've arrived under-equipped for the hills.

The hills are the other draw. Start at the CRiC information centre in town for maps and local art exhibits, then wander to two historic sites within a short stroll: 14th-century St Edmund's Church, still holding Sunday services with its original spire, and the ruined 12th-century Crickhowell Castle (also known as Alisby's Castle), which crowns a small hill next to the cricket ground with views over town and countryside.

For a proper walk, the 4.5-mile Crickhowell to Table Mountain loop takes about three hours and delivers panoramas of the Usk Valley, the Black Mountains and the ruined fortifications from the top. Longer option: follow a stretch of the Beacons Way roughly 12 miles to Llangynidr, tracing the River Usk and passing above Llangorse Lake, formed in the Ice Age. Bus number 43 gets you back. If you fancy coast after hills, Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower — golden dunes and dramatic cliffs — is about 1.5 hours by car.

Where to sleep is refreshingly simple: Crickhowell has exactly two places to stay. The Bear Hotel is a 15th-century coaching inn, and The Dragon Inn pairs a historic hotel and restaurant with a grassy beer garden looking up at Table Mountain.

Why it matters: this is Wales at a human scale — a walkable, independently-minded market town that doubles as a national park base, close enough to Cardiff to combine with the capital's castles and museums (don't skip Cardiff itself; it drew over 18 million visitors in 2025). Best suited to walkers, slow-travel types and anyone tired of cloned high streets. No car? Train plus bus from Cardiff takes about 1.5 hours.