My perfect winter staycation in wild Pembrokeshire

I’d spent the first morning enjoying friluftsliv (literally “free air life”) on the Wales Coast Path, catching a bus from Saundersfoot south to Tenby and then hiking the three-or-so miles back.

Leaving Tenby’s Castle Hill and terraces of pastel-coloured houses I soon lost any other people; it was just me and the sea gusts bothering southern Pembrokeshire’s clifftops that day. The trees’ leafless fingers allowed clearer views down to empty coves, while the bracken was in its dramatic death throes, blanketing the slopes in a copper glow.

The tide was far enough out when I reached Saundersfoot that I could tramp across the sand to Sea + Steam, a Scandi-style, wood-fired, wood-panelled sauna set-up behind the beach last July (25-minute communal sessions £9pp, one-hour private sessions £85pp; seaandsteam.co.uk).

Saunas like these — authentic Finnish-style outdoor public saunas with wooden walls, hot stones and cold plunges — are fast becoming a trend, with about 100 across the country, a number the British Sauna Society predicts will double in 2025.

The expansive Marloes Sands beach in Pembrokeshire

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“The health benefits are incredible,” the owner Kerry Evans explained as she led me through the process. “It gets the blood pumping, which is just what you need for heart and brain health.” Indeed, studies suggest regular sauna use reduces the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease and depression. They’re also a great way to take the chill out of an outdoor off-season break.

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Once I’d had coffee, I got changed and started broiling inside, pouring with sweat while watching gunmetal waves roll ever closer through the huge window. Finally, unable to deny the pull of the shore, I left the heat, dashed down the slipway and paddled ankle deep in the frigid sea. Many visitors will take a dip, but I wasn’t quite feeling it that day. The rain — “our shower facilities,” Kerry called it — did the rest of the cooling. Refreshed? Oh yes.

The Swan Inn on the shore in Little Haven

If the sauna’s hug was steamy, then the Swan Inn at Little Haven — my base for a two-night break — was Peak Cwtch. I drove there from Saundersfoot and arrived to find this west coast apartment so close to the waves it could have floated away. It was also right above the 200-year-old inn. I thought about popping downstairs to this convivial old boozer for a pint by the fire, or one of its Welsh cheese platters, but even that seemed too far to travel once I was inside my snug retreat (small plates from £7; fb.com/TheSwanLittleHaven).

No, I had a date with a pre-ordered fish pie (waiting in the fridge), a crackling wood-burner and an old Midsomer Murders. I snuggled up in my pyjamas, listening to John Nettles’s deductions and the sound of the sea.

In daylight my view was even better. Over a breakfast of fat Rhosgadw Farm sausages (also waiting in the fridge), I watched the waves ebb and a dry-robed group gather on the quay. By the time I stepped outside, they’d formed a circle and were busy breathing and stretching. One lady broke away: “We’re doing qigong, if you’d like to join us?” She said they were called the Bluetits, a wild-swimming community that started in Pembrokeshire and has since spread worldwide, espousing the joys of cold water. I was tempted. But then my bus bounced into view.

The Swan offers a snug retreat from the cold

In winter, bus schedules in this area are much reduced, but Transport for Wales’s on-demand Fflecsi service meant I’d been able to pre-book a ride to pick me up and drop me exactly where I wanted to go, for just £3.50 (tfw.wales/fflecsi). I’d chosen the village of Marloes, to the southwest, and from there planned to stroll back along the Wales Coast Path for 13 glorious miles (though you could do much less), enjoying “free air life” to the maximum.

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Pembrokeshire is magnificent, with Atlantic rollers smacking golden beaches, inaccessible coves and the wildlife-profuse isles of Skomer and Skokholm. Boat trips might not run over winter, but that doesn’t make the area any less dramatic.

For the first couple of hours I saw no one — not on the enormous Marloes Sands beach, nor gazing out to the isles, nor in the sheltered calm of Martin’s Haven. There were a few dog walkers at St Bride’s, where, continuing the Scandi theme, I stopped for fika, basking in winter sunshine with Welsh cakes and a Thermos. Continuing along the rollercoastering cliffs, my blood pumped, no sauna required this time.

Finally I arrived back in Little Haven, where I popped into the café-shop Lobster & Môr for a portion of lobster caught just outside the door. I took it back home to eat because, well, I had the best view in town (mains from £5.80; lobsterandmor.co.uk). A fairly friluftcwtch day.

The handcrafted Wildwater mobile sauna

It was a wrench to leave my little haven at Little Haven, but the following morning I was bound for north Pembrokeshire’s Pwllgwaelod Beach for another stroll-and-sauna. Pwllgwaelod is the starting point for a walk around Dinas Head, a three-mile loop that’s like a condensed shot of Wales Coast Path. First I walked the easy trail to Cwm-yr-Eglwys, where the ruins of St Brynach’s church rise by the sandy cove; as if not photogenic enough, shards of light suddenly gilded distant outcrops and a rainbow emerged. Then I picked up the headland trail and, within a magnificent hour’s walk, was served a bit of everything: driving rain, dazzling sunshine, blasting wind, plunging bluffs, bird-swirled pinnacles and grand views along the shore and up to the Preseli Hills.

The Sailors’ Safety pub

KATE CONVERY

I was damp by the time I tumbled back into Pwllgwaelod, but not for long. First, I’d arrived at the warming, welcoming Sailors’ Safety, an old pub that has been given a new lease of life by the team from Newport’s foodie-focused Llys Meddyg Hotel (mains from £16; @the.sailorssafety). I settled in amid its low ceilings, dark walls and wood smoke and ate rich, zesty bouillabaisse, all my winter boxes ticked, before it was time for the next rush of warmth at Wildwater (55-minute communal sessions £15pp, private £85pp; wildwatersauna.com).

A handcrafted mobile sauna that roams north Pembrokeshire, changing location every few weeks, Wildwater was launched by Richard Lynch and Scott Chambers, two friends inspired by their years of Nordic travels. It’s obviously popular. As I walked up, four ladies piled out towards me. “We’re on a girls’ weekend,” they grinned. “This gets the gin out of our pores.”

A sea view from the Wildwater mobile sauna

It was gorgeous inside, duvet-warm, with a huge window onto Pwllgwaelod’s soft sand and hurrying weather that turned from battleship grey to seraphically light. Richard had laid down a challenge: “If you can, do 15 minutes hot, then into the cold, and repeat.” So, having gone only ankle-deep in Saundersfoot, and having refused the Bluetits, I felt the need to go full friluftsliv. In a gap in the rain, body nicely cooked, I opened the door and Chariots-of-Fired across the sand, running beneath the cliffs I’d so recently walked across, straight into the sea. No half measures this time: in I plunged, icy waves slapping nature’s wellness onto my hot skin. It was bitingly, thrillingly cold. But bearable, knowing the sauna was waiting ashore. It was a perfect pairing of the elemental outdoors and a cosy embrace — true friluftcwtch.
Sarah Baxter was a guest of Coastal Cottages and the Swan in Little Haven, which has seven nights’ self-catering for four from £650 (coastalcottages.co.uk); and of Sea and Steam and Wildwater

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More beach breaks in Wales

By Sarah Baxter

Porth Tyn Tywyn, near Rhosneigr, Anglesey

Sawna Bach sits next to one of Wales’s best beaches

For a lovely walk on Anglesey, catch a bus from Rhosneigr to Aberffraw then walk eight miles back along the coast path, a route that passes St Cwyfan’s peninsula-perched church, which is cut off at high tide (walescoastpath.gov.uk). Back on Porth Tyn Tywyn, one of north Wales’s best beaches, near Rhosneigr, and set amid dunes, Sawna Bach seats up to eight, offering regular sauna sessions including monthly full moon ones (from £15; saunawales.co.uk). Stay nearby at Sandy Mount House, in Rhosneigr, which has B&B doubles from £165 (sandymounthouse.co.uk).

Oxwich Bay, Gower

These wood-fired sauna barrels look out over one of the best bays in the area

JAMES RICHARDSON/@HALFWIT0.5

There are two wood-fired Tŷ Sawna barrel saunas here on Oxwich beach — one for eight, one for ten — overlooking one of the Gower’s finest bays (from £15; tysawna.co.uk). To work up to them, make a 4.5-mile loop around Oxwich Point via Saint Illtyd’s Church near Port Eynon Bay (visitswanseabay.com). The Oxwich Bay Hotel has B&B doubles from £109 (oxwichbayhotel.co.uk).

Llangrannog, Ceredigion

Keep an eye out for dolphins from this seaside sauna

SAWNA LLOSGI

Lovely Llangrannog Beach is a great spot for all sorts of watersports, and where you can take a good four-mile stroll around the village and Lochtyn headland, from which dolphins might be spied. Then head to Sawna Llosgi, founded by local surfers (from £15; sawnallosgi.co.uk). The Pentre Arms has B&B doubles from £115 (pentrearms.co.uk).

Jackson’s Bay, Vale of Glamorgan

The wellness club at Môr A Sawna is sauna-going at its most sociable

2024 KATE STUART PHOTOGRAPHY, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

In this region, there’s a fabulous seven-mile stomp from Limpert Bay back to Jackson’s, on Barry Island, following the coast path via Rhoose Point, the southernmost point of mainland Wales. It’s there on Jackson’s Bay that the smart, ten-seater barrel of Môr A Sawna serves a thriving community of wild swimmers and anyone else who fancies a steam. The weekly Wednesday Wellness Club is sauna-going at its most sociable (from £10; morasawna.com). Stay at Gileston Manor, north of Limpert Bay, which has B&B doubles from £100 (gilestonmanor.co.uk).

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