Caldey Island


Connected to Tenby by a seasonal boat service, Caldey Island is home to grey seals, sea birds and a red-topped, whitewashed monastery that houses a community of around a dozen Cistercian monks. Make sure you visit sandy Priory Bay, the lighthouse, the village museum, the old priory and St Illtyd's Church, with its oddly shaped steeple. Inside is a stone with inscriptions in Ogham (an ancient Celtic script).

The monks live an austere life but make various luxurious products for sale, including essential oils, soaps and perfumes derived from the island's wildflowers and herbs. You can buy these products on the island or in the Caldey Abbey Shop in Tenby.

Little St Margaret's Island at the western tip of Caldey is a nature reserve (landings are prohibited); it's home to grey seals and Wales' biggest colony of cormorants.

From Tenby, boats to Caldey Island depart half-hourly from about 10.30am during opening days (depending on demand). They leave from the harbour at high tide and from Castle Beach at low tide. Tickets are sold from a kiosk at the harbour slipway.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. St Catherine's Island

2.29 MILES

At low tide you can walk across the sand to little St Catherine's Island, but it's a long, cold wait if you get trapped by the tide – check tide tables in…

2. Tudor Merchant's House

2.39 MILES

This handsomely restored 15th-century town house is set up as it would have been in its heyday, with colourful wall hangings and period-style beds and…

3. St Mary's Church

2.41 MILES

The graceful arched ceiling at the centre of this 13th-century triple-naved church is studded with fascinating wooden bosses, mainly dating from the 15th…

4. Tenby Museum & Art Gallery

2.42 MILES

Housed within the ruins of Tenby's Norman castle, this museum covers the town's development from a fishing village into a 19th-century seaside resort…

5. Castle Hill

2.42 MILES

Separating North Beach from Castle Beach, this modest headland is capped by the scanty remains of Tenby's 11th-century Norman castle. On the very top is a…

6. Laston House

2.45 MILES

This unassuming building was built by William Paxton in the late 18th century to house Tenby's original saltwater baths. The Greek writing on the pediment…

7. Tenby Lifeboat Station

2.47 MILES

It's worth popping into this swanky lifeboat station to see the boat, watch footage of it being launched and learn a little about one of the UK's busiest…

8. Reptile Experience

5.03 MILES

Come face to face with huge snakes, hairy spiders and all sorts of other slippery, creepy and crawly critters during a two-hour-long hands-on experience.

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "wales/south-wales/tenby-dinbych-y-pysgod/attractions/caldey-island/a/poi-sig/473844/360999",
      "position": "superzone"
    }