Monmouth

Monmouth's accommodation runs from Michelin-starred restaurants with rooms tucked into the Wye Valley to straightforward coaching inns on Agincourt Square, giving visitors a genuine choice between a quiet rural retreat and a walkable town-centre base. The villages just outside town - Whitebrook, Usk and the lanes around Redbrook and Mitchel Troy - are where the more distinctive stays are found, often attached to a serious restaurant or set in a converted farmhouse with its own grounds.

In the town itself, expect solid, well-run hotels rather than boutique addresses: former coaching inns that have been serving travellers on the Wye crossing for two or three centuries, updated for modern stays but still built around the same courtyards and beamed bars. A short drive out, family-run country house hotels in Usk and Michelin-recognised restaurants with rooms in the valley villages offer a more special-occasion stay, often geared towards weddings and longer dinners as much as overnight guests.

Budget for a straightforward town-centre double from around £80-100 a night, rising to £150-plus for the valley's restaurant-with-rooms addresses and country house hotels, particularly at weekends when many double as wedding venues. Booking ahead is worth doing year-round for the smaller guest houses, which tend to have only a handful of rooms, and essential in summer and around the Monmouth Show in August, when the town's limited hotel stock fills quickly.

The town rewards a slow pace, with most of its sights within a short walk of Agincourt Square, and plenty more within a short drive along the Wye.

• Monnow Bridge - the only remaining fortified river bridge in Britain, complete with its thirteenth-century gatehouse, and free to walk across at any time.
• Monmouth Castle and Regimental Museum - the ruined birthplace of Henry V, with a small museum next door telling the story of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.
• Shire Hall and Agincourt Square - the handsome Grade I listed courthouse at the heart of the town, fronted by the statue of Charles Rolls holding a model aeroplane and, separately, one of Henry V.
• Monmouth Museum - a compact museum with one of the best collections of Nelson memorabilia outside Greenwich, alongside displays on the town's history.
• The Kymin - a National Trust hilltop above the town with a curious Naval Temple built in 1800 and sweeping views over the Wye Valley and the Black Mountains.
• Wye Valley walking and canoeing - the river is easily explored by canoe or kayak from operators based around Monmouth and Symonds Yat, or on foot along the Wye Valley Walk and Offa's Dyke Path.
• Puzzlewood and Clearwell Caves - a short drive over the border into the Forest of Dean brings you to this atmospheric ancient woodland and network of show caves, both popular family days out.
• Monmouth Market Hall and Savoy Theatre - the town's Victorian market hall still runs regular stalls, while the Savoy, one of the oldest working cinemas in the world, doubles as a small theatre and arts venue.

Monmouthshire markets itself, with some justification, as the food capital of Wales, and Monmouth sits at the centre of that reputation. The Whitebrook, a few miles south of town, holds a Michelin star for its tasting menus built around foraged and home-grown ingredients, while The Bell at Skenfrith and the Michelin-starred Walnut Tree near Abergavenny extend the county's culinary reputation into the surrounding villages. In town, Monmouth's own restaurants lean on Welsh lamb, Wye salmon and Herefordshire beef, alongside a strong café culture around Church Street and Agincourt Square.

The Tuesday and Friday markets in Monmouth's Victorian market hall are a good source of local cheese, bread and produce, and the town's independent shops include long-standing butchers and delicatessens rather than chains. Cider and perry are a local speciality, with several small producers in the surrounding villages, and a handful of the town's older pubs - many housed in former coaching inns around Agincourt Square - still serve as the default choice for a straightforward Sunday roast or a pint after a day on the river.

Monmouth is ringed by campsites rather than crowded with them, with the best options spread across the Wye Valley and the neighbouring Forest of Dean rather than clustered in the town itself. This suits the area: most visitors are here for walking, canoeing and quiet river views, and the campsites reflect that, favouring grass pitches, woodland settings and dark skies over swimming pools and entertainment programmes.

Just over the border into Gloucestershire, the Forest of Dean's large Forestry England sites offer some of the most extensive and best-value pitches in the area, with hundreds of grass pitches spread through mature woodland and easy access to the Wye's canoe trails and the Forest's cycling and walking network. Closer to Monmouth, smaller family-run sites in the surrounding Monmouthshire countryside offer a quieter, more personal stay, often with riverside pitches or a short walk to a village pub.

Facilities vary considerably between sites: the larger Forest of Dean campsites have a full range of showers, electric hookups and on-site camping pods but relatively basic shops, while the smaller Monmouthshire sites tend to be simpler still, geared towards tents and touring caravans rather than glamping. Across the area, expect pitch prices from around £16-25 a night depending on season and hookup, with the summer months and school holidays the busiest and best booked well in advance.