Family Holidays in Pembrokeshire

What the 27 family stays tell you

There are 27 family places published on BritStays in Pembrokeshire, and the first useful thing to know is what kind of holiday they represent. Fifteen are caravanning, eleven are camping, and just one is a hotel. If you were picturing a cottage with a key safe and a kitchen table, this isn't that region's strength — here, family holidays mean holiday parks, farm sites and pitches, with a lot of the daily life happening outdoors and in shared facilities.

That shapes the packing list and the budget. It also explains the facility pattern: 17 of the 27 have a swimming pool, 15 have a playground, 15 have toilets listed and 15 have WiFi. Laundrettes appear on 11, which matters more than people expect when you're a fortnight into sandy towels and wet swimsuits.

Tenby and around: the busiest, most equipped end

Sixteen of the 27 sit in or around Tenby, so if you want choice, this is where you'll find it. These are the stays that lean towards the full holiday-park experience. Kiln Park Holiday Centre lists a swimming pool, hot tub and evening entertainment; Whitewell Holiday Park has evening entertainment, a clubhouse and a bar; Manorbier Country Park combines a pool, gym and bar; and Swallowtree Gardens pairs a pool and hot tub with a gym.

It's a good fit if your children are at the age where a pool and something to do after tea makes or breaks the week. If you'd rather not share a dancefloor with 300 people, look at the quieter Tenby-area entries — Frowen Fields lists a playground, toilets and indoor areas, which is a sensible combination for younger children and changeable weather, and Wisemans Bridge Inn Caravan Site offers a bar, restaurant and playground without the full entertainment programme.

St Davids and the smaller clusters

Five family stays sit around St Davids, and they feel different in character. Caerfai Bay lists a playground, toilets and pet-friendly pitches; Pencarnan Farm Caravan & Camping Site has a swimming pool, bar and toilets; and Glan y Mor Campsite adds a restaurant and takeaway food to its pool. These suit families who want beach days and walking rather than a clubhouse, and who don't mind simpler on-site facilities.

Beyond those two areas, the listings thin out to single entries — one each in Ludchurch, Whitland, Poppit, Penparc and St. Clears, plus one listed simply under Pembrokeshire. The Savoy Country Inn at St. Clears is the odd one out in a useful way: a bar, playground and pet-friendly policy, which is worth remembering if you want somewhere with an indoor evening option. Dunston Hill, listed under Pembrokeshire, has a pool, restaurant and toilets.

Dogs, cars and getting about

• Dog owners: 13 of the 27 are pet friendly — roughly half — so filter early rather than assuming. Caerfai Bay and the Savoy Country Inn both list it.
• Electric cars: 18 list EV charging nearby, the single most common facility in this set. Allensbank and Pinewood both include it.
• Without a car: Allensbank lists being near a train station, which is unusual enough here to be worth noting if you'd rather not drive the whole way.

What to do once you're there

Pembrokeshire's days out split neatly between castles, coast and small museums. For castles there's Upton Castle, Castell Cilgerran / Cilgeran Castle, Newport Castle, Cardigan Castle and Castell Llanhuadain — enough to build a whole week around if your children like ramparts. Freshwater West and Colby Woodland Garden cover the National Trust side, the latter being good for younger children who need somewhere to run.

For wet afternoons, the museums do a lot of heavy lifting: the Tudor Merchant's House, Wilson Museum, Carew Cheriton Control Tower and Cardi Bach Heritage Centre around Tenby, the Treasury of the Cathedral at St Davids, the Welsh spitfire museum, and Amgueddfa Sir Gâr - Carmarthenshire Museum a little further out. Blue Lagoon, a water park at Tenby, is the obvious rainy-day release valve — and the obvious reason to book ahead in August.

When to book

With only 27 family stays in the whole region and 16 of them clustered around Tenby, the pool-and-entertainment parks are the first to fill for the summer holidays and the late-May and October half terms. If you need a specific size of caravan or a pet-friendly pitch, treat the previous autumn or winter as your window.

Camping is more forgiving — the eleven camping listings tend to hold availability later — but shoulder-season pitches depend on the site's own season, so check the dates before you commit to anything else. If you're flexible, aim for term time either side of the school holidays: you'll have a better pick of the pool sites, and the museums and castles will be calmer too.