Hotels in Brecon Beacons

Choosing where to base yourself in the Brecon Beacons matters more than it does in most destinations, because the park is long, the roads are slow and there is no single centre that serves everything. An hour's drive separates Hay-on-Wye from the western Black Mountain, and the mountain roads that look like shortcuts on a map rarely are.

Brecon is the safest bet for a first visit. It is the largest town inside the park, roughly equidistant from the central summits, the Black Mountains and the canal, and it has enough hotels, inns and B&Bs to give real choice at most price points. Expect around £90 to £140 a night for a comfortable double in town, more at weekends.

Couples looking for something quieter and more indulgent should look at the Usk valley between Crickhowell and Brecon, where several country house hotels sit in their own grounds with spas, gardens and river frontage. Prices here start nearer £160 and climb steeply in summer. Crickhowell itself works well for anyone who wants a proper town within walking distance of dinner.

Walkers are usually better served by village inns at Talybont-on-Usk, Llangynidr, Llanbedr or Libanus, where you can be on a footpath within minutes and where drying rooms and early breakfasts are taken for granted. Families often do best in self-catering cottages or in the larger hotels around Abergavenny and Merthyr Tydfil, both of which have more mid-range stock and better road access than anywhere inside the park.

Book ahead for late May and early June, when Hay Festival absorbs accommodation for twenty miles around, and for the September weekend of the Abergavenny Food Festival. August weekends and bank holidays fill quickly across the whole park. Outside those periods, midweek stays in spring and autumn are noticeably cheaper, and many country house hotels sell dinner, bed and breakfast packages that are better value than booking a room and eating out separately.