Brecon Tourist Information and Travel Guide

Brecon in the Brecon Beacons

Tour and Tourist Information Guide

"One of the most popular market towns in South Wales"

This is a town where you'll enjoy losing yourself...not only in the narrow streets and passageways lined with Georgian and Jacobean shopfronts, but in the sense of timelessness about the place.

Ever since the Iron Age, this magical spot at the confluence of the Usk and Honddu rivers and sheltered by the mountains has been prized and protected. Now the commercial centre of the southern part of Powys, Brecon remains first and foremost a traditional Mid Wales market town.

The cathedral town boasts two museums; the Welsh Borderer's Museum houses a diorama of Rorke's Drift and the Brecknock Museum with a display of rural life, natural history and ancient Brecon.

The origins of the Cathedral, a Brecon landmark, reach back to a fortification built by the half brother of William the Conqueror after he captured the town in 1094. 300 years later, the priory he established within them was developed into the fortified Priory Church of St John the Evangelist 'half Church of God and half castle against the Welsh' as it was then described. Inside the embattled walls survives the most unique group of monastic buildings in Wales. The Brecon Cathedral Heritage Centre tells its fascinating history.

During the Napoleonic wars, French prisioners were incarcerated in the town. Some of the town's medieval walls survive and an area called Captian's Walk marks the place where the prisoners exercised.

There is a visitors centre at Brecon Cathedral along with a shop and cafe. Recreational facilities include boating, tennis, a new leisure centre with an indoor swimming pool, various children's parks and two fine golf courses.

There are many walks from the town centre, along the promenade, through the "Groves", up into the Beacons, along the river banks or canal or just into the surrounding countryside. In the surrounding area there are many country village Inns worth a visit.

Brecon lies in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons and is a popular holiday base which offers a range of activities and leisure facilities. The town lies on the bank of the River Usk and is the terminus of the Monmouth and Brecon Canal.