Pen y Fan is the mountain people come here to climb. It is 886 metres high, and there is nothing higher anywhere in Britain to the south of it. The A470 runs past the foot of it.
6 places to stay · showing 1–6
Brecon, Brecon Beacons
An iconic hotel on the site of a Norman castle in Brecon, blending historic charm with modern comfort and panoramic views.
Abergavenny, Brecon Beacons
A reliable, great-value hotel in Abergavenny on the edge of the Brecon Beacons — ideal for families and walkers exploring the national park.
Llanhamlach, Brecon Beacons
A 5-star Georgian country house hotel and spa near Brecon, with views towards Pen y Fan, a vaulted-cellar spa, pools and fine dining by the River…
Brecon, Brecon Beacons
A magnificent 17th-century country house hotel in the Wye Valley near Brecon — an exquisite blend of elegance and tranquility.
Brecon, Brecon Beacons
A historic 16th-century hotel in the centre of Brecon, with characterful rooms and exposed stone — a central base for the town and the Brecon Beacons.
Crickhowell, Brecon Beacons
The famous Bear Hotel — a historic coaching inn in the heart of Crickhowell, full of oak beams, antiques and roaring fires. A characterful Brecon Beacons…
Pen y Fan is not a hard climb. The path starts at Pont ar Daf, a car park eight miles south of Brecon. It is four miles there and back and takes two to three hours, and families do it all the time, though it is open ground with no shelter and the weather turns fast, so take a forecast.
The top is flat and the ground falls away in a cliff on the north side. Corn Du stands beside it at 871 metres and Cribyn on the other side at 795, and you can take all three in a day if the weather holds.
Start early if you can. Around six hundred thousand people walk up Pen y Fan in a year, and on a fine Saturday the parking below it is full by mid-morning.
Walkers call the stone-laid path the Motorway, which tells you how well used it is. The National Trust still keeps it in repair with stone flown in by helicopter, at over £300 for every square metre of path.
These hills are old red sandstone lying in flat beds, which is why the tops are flat. Ice cut the northern side of them into cliffs, and Corn Du has the clearest of those.
The signs and maps here say Bannau Brycheiniog as well as Brecon Beacons, and both names come from the same man. Brychan was a king in this corner of Wales about fifteen hundred years ago, and Brycheiniog was his kingdom.
Brychan wore down into Brecon over the centuries, and bannau simply means peaks. The park took the Welsh name back as its main one in 2023.
Take a coat whatever it looks like at the bottom. Cloud comes down fast up here, and the north side of the ridge is a sheer drop. There is no shelter on the top at all.
On a clear day you can see the Bristol Channel and Exmoor away to the south, and the Cambrian Mountains rolling north. Get up there for the last hour of light and you will have most of it to yourself.
The park has been an International Dark Sky Reserve since 2013, so the drive back down is worth taking slowly. On a clear night you can pick out the Milky Way from a lay-by, which is not something most people can do at home.
There are six hotels and inns listed in the park, from £40 a night, and five of the six include breakfast. Three of them are in Brecon, with Pen y Fan twenty minutes down the A470 from there. For somewhere smaller see the B&Bs and guest houses, or go back to the Brecon Beacons.
See all: Brecon Beacons accommodation
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Towns in the Brecon Beacons: Abergavenny · Brecon · Crickhowell
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