PEAK WALES
Your master guide to an unforgettable, action-packed August.
August in Wales is unlike August anywhere else. The schools empty, the roads fill, certain mountains stay quiet in the mornings and the festival fields come alive. This year it is particularly good, with a week of culture in Pembrokeshire, jazz in Brecon, folk in the dunes, Green Man in the Beacons, a drone light show over a Carmarthenshire racecourse and on the night of the 12th, a partial solar eclipse coinciding with the Perseids meteor shower on the darkest skies in Europe.
Here is everything worth knowing.
CULTURE
GŴYL LENYDDOL LLANGWM (LLANGWM LITERARY FESTIVAL)
7–9 August · Llangwm, Sir Benfro (Pembrokeshire)
A small, quietly excellent literary festival in west Wales, with talks, walks, music, workshops, arts and food over a long weekend in early August. Authors, speakers and poets across three days in the pretty estuary village of Llangwm, with the Cleddau never far away. The kind of festival that rewards turning up without a schedule and seeing what you find.
7 to 9 August. Supported by Literature Wales.
GŴYL PORTMEIRION (PORTMEIRION FESTIVAL)
August · Portmeirion, Gwynedd
This summer Portmeirion celebrates its centenary, the Italian village on the Welsh coast turns 100 and the festival marking that anniversary promises to be one of the most special events in the village’s history. Open-air concerts against the backdrop of Portmeirion’s pastel towers and subtropical gardens, Welsh artists alongside international names, the estuary at high tide catching the stage lights. If you have been before you will know. If you haven’t, the centenary year is the time.
MUSIC
BRECON JAZZ FESTIVAL
6–9 August · Aberhonddu (Brecon), Powys
Brecon Jazz has been bringing world-class jazz to a small Welsh market town every August for decades. It remains one of the most charming music festivals in Britain, not because of scale but because of the contrast. Internationally acclaimed musicians playing in pubs, churches, market squares and dedicated venues across a town of 8,000 people. The Brecon Beacons as a backdrop. The kind of festival where you stumble into the best thing you hear all weekend through a pub door you almost walked past.
6 to 9 August.
GREEN MAN FESTIVAL
20–23 August · Ystâd Glanusk (Glanusk Estate), Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)
Green Man is Wales’ most acclaimed independent music festival and one of the finest in Britain. It takes place on the Glanusk Estate in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park, near Crickhowell, with the Black Mountains as the stage backdrop. The programming is wide, indie, folk, alternative, Americana, electronica, but the feeling is consistent: unhurried, genuinely warm, and completely unlike any corporate festival. Einstein’s Garden brings science and curiosity. The comedy and literature tents are brilliant. The food is better than it has any right to be at a festival.
This year’s headliners include Four Tet, Mogwai, WILCO and Wolf Alice.
20 to 23 August. The Settler’s Pass allows you to arrive early and spend a full week exploring the Beacons before the festival begins.
BETWEEN THE TREES
27–30 August · Coedwig Candleston (Candleston Woods), Gwarchodfa Natur Genedlaethol Merthyr Mawr (Merthyr Mawr National Nature Reserve), Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr (Bridgend)
The lesser-known one. Boutique, intimate, set in 100 acres of coastal woodland next to the largest sand dunes in Britain. Around 3,000 people. Indie and folk music on stages built into the trees, spoken word and nature talks in the Seren Barn, science workshops, woodcarving, willow weaving, meditation. Speakers from universities, Natural Resources Wales, The Wildlife Trust and Dark Sky Wales.
It runs over the August Bank Holiday weekend and tickets are far easier to come by than Green Man and the experience is completely different. If Green Man is the festival you go to with friends, Between the Trees is the one you tell people about afterwards.
ABERJAZZ FESTIVAL
27–31 August · Abergwaun (Fishguard), Sir Benfro (Pembrokeshire)
Five days of jazz in the harbour town of Fishguard at the end of the month, coinciding with the Bank Holiday. Local talent alongside visiting artists, indoor and outdoor venues, a relaxed atmosphere by the water. A good reason to be in Pembrokeshire for a second time in August.
FOOD AND DRINK
GWYL BWYD A DIOD ABERTAWE (SWANSEA FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL)
7–9 August · Abertawe (Swansea) city centre
Swansea city centre fills with independent food traders, chefs, street food and local producers for three days in early August. Free to attend. One of the better urban food festivals in Wales, the setting helps, with the bay visible at the end of most of the streets.
GŴYL HAF YNYS MÔN (ANGLESEY SUMMER FESTIVAL)
1–2 August · Parc yr Odyn, Pentraeth, Ynys Môn (Anglesey)
A note for regular visitors: the Menai Food Festival has moved this year. Because Menai Bridge is celebrating its 200th birthday in 2026, the town’s own events mean the festival cannot return to its usual site. Instead it has relocated to Parc yr Odyn near Pentraeth under the expanded banner of the Anglesey Summer Festival - Gŵyl Haf Ynys Môn. Over 100 food, drink, craft and homeware exhibitors, street food, live music across both days, and family activities. Same spirit, new site, slightly larger than before. 1 and 2 August.
CAERPHILLY CHEESE FESTIVAL
August · Caerffili (Caerphilly)
Caerphilly cheese has been made in Wales since the 19th century and the festival celebrating it is exactly what it sounds like. Live music, food, cheese and a great family day if you are in the south.
CARDIGAN RIVER AND FOOD FESTIVAL
15 August · Aberteifi (Cardigan), Ceredigion
Held along the River Teifi in Cardigan, this is one of the nicest small food festivals in Wales, with local producers, street food, live music and the river as a backdrop. 15 August.
SPORT AND THE UNUSUAL
RACE THE TRAIN
15 August · Tywyn (Tywyn), Gwynedd
Exactly what it sounds like. Runners race a steam train travelling on the historic Talyllyn Railway, which is one of the oldest narrow-gauge railways in the world. The route covers about 14 miles. Some people beat the train. Most do not. It is one of the most Welsh sporting events imaginable and worth going to watch even if you have no intention of running.
15 August.
WORLD BOGSNORKELLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
30 August · Llanwrtyd Wells (Llanwrtyd Wells), Powys
Llanwrtyd Wells is the smallest town in Britain and it hosts the World Bogsnorkelling Championships every August Bank Holiday. Competitors wear a mask, snorkel and flippers and swim two lengths of a 60-yard peat bog trench without using conventional swimming strokes. The current world record is 1 minute 18.82 seconds. Around 200 people enter. Thousands come to watch.
30 August.
The Bogathlon - bog swim, bike ride and run, also in Llanwrtyd Wells — is the day before, on the 29th.
WORLD MOUNTAIN BIKE CHARIOT RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS
15 August · Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys
Also in Llanwrtyd Wells, also on 15 August: teams of three compete in mountain bike chariot racing. Two riders on mountain bikes tow a third on a chariot behind them. Speed, teamwork and creativity are required in roughly equal measure. It is not a sentence you expect to type about a sporting event in mid-Wales.
WALES STRONGEST MAN 2026
30 August · Caerdydd (Cardiff)
Part of the official UK strongman circuit. The strongest man in Wales is decided in Cardiff on 30 August. Atlas stones, log lifts, truck pulls. Worth knowing about.
AGRICULTURAL SHOWS
THE ANGLESEY COUNTY SHOW
11–12 August · Mona Showground, Ynys Môn (Anglesey)
One of the largest agricultural events in north Wales. Livestock, horses, horticulture, cookery, crafts. Two days at the Mona Showground. An honest, rooted celebration of what Anglesey is.
PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY SHOW
19–20 August · Hwlffordd (Haverfordwest)
Farming, food and rural life in Pembrokeshire, two days at the County Showground. Livestock competitions, local produce and family attractions. The county’s biggest annual event outside the Eisteddfod.
SIOE CHEPSTOW (CHEPSTOW SHOW)
8 August · Cas-Gwent (Chepstow)
A great family day out at Chepstow Racecourse. Livestock, horticulture, vintage, dogs. New for 2026: a circus workshop and live music stage.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
SPACE SAFARI: THE DRONE LIGHT SHOW
15 August · Ffos Las Racecourse, Sir Gaerfyrddin (Carmarthenshire)
Hundreds of synchronised drones illuminate the sky over Ffos Las Racecourse on Saturday 15 August, narrated by BAFTA award-winning presenter Michaela Strachan. The show travels through space and the animal kingdom. Family-friendly, dog-friendly, with fairground rides and a food village on the ground.
A one-night-only event. Worth booking ahead.
LLANDRINDOD WELLS VICTORIAN FESTIVAL
24–30 August · Llandrindod Wells, Powys
The spa town of Llandrindod Wells transforms into Victorian Britain for a full week every August. The whole town dresses up, including residents, shopkeepers and visitors. Carriages, corsets, markets, concerts, theatre. It has been running for decades and is one of the most charming and unexpected events in the Welsh calendar. If you have never been, add it to the list.
24 to 30 August.
THE NIGHT OF 12 AUGUST
One more thing.
On the night of 12 August, a partial solar eclipse covering up to 94% of the solar disc, the Perseids meteor shower peak and a new moon all fall on the same night. That combination has not happened in the UK this decade.
The new moon means the darkest possible skies. The Perseids will produce up to 100 meteors an hour at peak. The eclipse adds a quality of light in the hours leading up to sunset that is unlike anything else.
Wales has the highest percentage of protected dark sky land of any country on earth. If you are going to be in Wales in August, try to be somewhere dark on the night of the 12th.
Hwyl am y tro.
Nick - Discover Wales · wales.org
P.S. I've also put the whole guide together as a downloadable PDF.
Save it, share it or print it out for the fridge.