Walk the Four Waterfalls Trail on the River Mellte and Afon Hepste at Ystradfellte, including Sgwd yr Eira, where a path leads behind the falls

Visit Henrhyd Falls, the 27m waterfall that is the tallest in South Wales, the entrance to the Batcave in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

See Porth yr Ogof, the cave where the Afon Mellte disappears underground

Around Ystradfellte the rivers of the southern Brecon Beacons drop through wooded gorges in a string of falls. The Four Waterfalls Trail follows the Mellte and the Hepste, and at Sgwd yr Eira the path goes behind the falling water. Nearby, Porth yr Ogof is the cave where the Mellte disappears underground, and Henrhyd Falls, 27m, the tallest waterfall in south Wales, was the entrance to the Batcave in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Waterfall Country: Sgwd yr Eira and Henrhyd Falls

Bannau Brycheiniog

Fishguard

Nine nights in a loop from Fishguard: Cardigan Bay's dolphins, the steam railway to Devil's Bridge, red kites and dark skies in the Elan Valley, then Pen y Fan and the waterfalls of Bannau Brycheiniog.

Mid Wales and the Beacons from Fishguard

See Adelina Patti's castle, now a hotel, from the country park

Walk up the valley to the show caves at Dan yr Ogof

The soprano Adelina Patti bought Craig y Nos in 1878 and built a private theatre inside it, with an auditorium floor that could be raised level to turn it into a ballroom. The country park around it runs along the Tawe under the Beacons, and the Dan yr Ogof caves are just up the valley road.

Craig y Nos: The Opera Singer's Castle in the Swansea Valley

Climb Pen y Fan, at 886m the highest peak in South Wales, by the graded path from the Storey Arms, a 460m ascent

Find the reconstructed Bronze Age cairn with its central stone burial chamber on the summit, and its twin on nearby Corn Du

Walk on round the horseshoe to Cribyn and look back at the north face

Pen y Fan rises to 886m, the highest point in south Wales, and the graded path from the Storey Arms climbs 460m to it. On the summit is a reconstructed Bronze Age cairn with a stone burial chamber at its centre, and another on Corn Du beside it; the whole ridge falls away north in glacial cwms.

Pen y Fan: The Highest Peak in South Wales

Ride White's Level, the 15.5km trail at Afan Forest Park

Ride the Skyline trail, the park's 46km trail

Ride the Penhydd Trail, now 14.4km, voted 'the trail to ride before you die' by What Mountain Bike magazine in 2004

Visit the South Wales Miners' Museum at the Forest Park Centre

The mountain-bike trails at Afan Forest Park are among the best known in Britain: the Penhydd, now 14.4km, was voted 'the trail to ride before you die' by What Mountain Bike magazine in 2004, and the Skyline runs 46km round the valley rim. The Forest Park Centre holds the South Wales Miners' Museum, a reminder of what the valley was before the trees.

Afan Forest Park: The Trail to Ride Before You Die

Find the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye on a clear, moonless night, 2.5 million light years away

Hike to the summit of Pen y Fan (886m) and photograph the pre-dawn sky before sunrise breaks over the Black Mountains

Photograph the Milky Way over the ridge on a moonless night

The Brecon Beacons became an International Dark Sky Reserve in February 2013, and on a clear night the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and meteor showers are all visible from the park's Dark Sky Discovery Sites, such as Usk Reservoir, Crai Reservoir and the visitor centre at Libanus. Pen y Fan, the highest point in the reserve, is a popular place to watch the sunrise.

Bannau Brycheiniog International Dark Sky Reserve

Take the underground tour led by former miners at the Rhondda Heritage Park in Trehafod, on the site of the Lewis Merthyr Colliery, which employed some 5,000 men and produced almost a million tons of coal a year by 1890

See the six-foot replica miner's lamp monument unveiled in May 2000 to those lost or harmed by the mining industry

Drive up the Rhondda, the valley that once had more than 53 working collieries in 16 miles

The Rhondda once had more than 53 working collieries in 16 miles of valley. At Trehafod, the Rhondda Heritage Park stands on the Lewis Merthyr Colliery, which employed some 5,000 men and produced almost a million tons of coal a year by 1890, and former miners lead the underground tour. A six-foot replica miner's lamp, unveiled in May 2000, remembers those lost or harmed by the industry.

Rhondda Heritage Park: The Lewis Merthyr Colliery

Step inside the entrance hall and staircase hall of Margam Castle, the Tudor Revival house Thomas Hopper designed for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, in the Grade I listed Margam Country Park

Visit the Margam Stones Museum, the early Christian carved stones by the site of Margam Abbey, the Cistercian monastery

Margam Country Park is a Grade I listed park. Its centrepiece, Margam Castle, is a Tudor Revival house Thomas Hopper designed for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot from 1830, at a cost of £50,000; its entrance hall and staircase hall are open to visitors. Beside the ruins of the Cistercian Margam Abbey, the Margam Stones Museum keeps the early Christian carved stones of the site, and a herd of deer lives in the park.

Margam: Hopper's Castle and the Abbey Stones

Walk Tenby's 13th-century town walls and through the Five Arches barbican gatehouse

Tour the Tudor Merchant's House, the National Trust's late medieval town house

Visit Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, with work by Augustus John, born in Tenby, and his sister Gwen John, who grew up here

Take a boat from Tenby to Caldey Island to see its monastery, completed in 1910 and considered the most complete Arts and Crafts building in the country, the 6th-century ogham stone and the lighthouse of 1829

Tenby still has much of its 13th-century town walls, entered through the Five Arches barbican gate. In the old town are the Tudor Merchant's House, a late medieval house kept by the National Trust, and Tenby Museum, with work by Augustus John, born in Tenby, and his sister Gwen John, who grew up here. From the harbour, boats cross to Caldey Island, where the monks' abbey, completed in 1910, is considered the most complete Arts and Crafts building in the country, with a 6th-century ogham stone and a lighthouse of 1829.

Tenby and Caldey: The Walled Town and the Monks' Island

Walk the Roman Amphitheatre at Caerleon, the most complete in Britain, which held about 6,000 spectators, in the fortress of Isca Augusta, home of the Second Augustan Legion from about AD 75

Visit the Roman Baths of the fortress, now in the care of Cadw

See the legionary barracks at the Prysg Field, the only visible Roman legionary barracks in Europe

The Romans called this place Isca, after the River Usk, and built the legionary fortress of Isca Augusta here for the Second Augustan Legion from about AD 75. Its amphitheatre, which held about 6,000, is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain, and the barracks in the Prysg Field are the only Roman legionary barracks on view anywhere in Europe. Gerald of Wales, touring in 1188, wrote that the Roman ambassadors had been received here at the court of King Arthur.