This review of Aberystwyth Castle is going to be fairly short and sweet because there isn’t a huge amount of Aberystwyth Castle left. But what is left is very cool!
The castle itself is on what I believe to be the quieter end of town. If you can find a parking space, you can park on the promenade free which is what we did. There’s toilets nearby, although you have to pay 40p for wee which is rip-off. There’s also a really nice playground right next to it. We went to playground first because the kids were not actually that keen on going to the castle and they thought it was going to be really really rubbish. So we went to the playground basically just to pacify the kids.
Castle Park play area
I’ve managed to find the sister playground to the pirate playground in Halton, Buckinghamshire except this one has a much more stunning backdrop and less bird poop. It’s quite a decent playground. This one’s actually got three different play frames, swings, a couple of rockers and some other stuff. There is this terrifying spinning seated contraption thing. I don’t even know how to describe it! But it’s quite a good playground.
Aberystwyth Castle
Eventually we dragged the kids away from the playground and if I’m honest there was a couple of “Ugh, do we have to?” As we were actually walking up to the castle literally within a nanosecond all of that was gone though as soon as they actually saw the ruins. A fair amount of the castle has gone, but there is still quite a few walls standing. And the great thing about this place is that actually you can climb onto the walls themselves and then run around the walls. Essentially, Aberystwyth Castle is now one massive parkour park. I’m also fairly convinced that the students of Aberystwyth University hang out here all the evening and I don’t really blame them.
One thing that is missing from here, and it’s quite sad, is there’s no real signage anywhere. There’s one plaque and one bit that tells you about the jail and that’s it. You don’t actually know what anything is so you don’t know what any of the rooms are. . And there’s no model of the actual letdown of the castle itself. However, later on in the day we did go to the nearby Museum adding the name of the museum and they did have a model of the castle which shows you what it would have looked like back in its heyday. It just would have been useful if you could have had it on site here.
This review of Aberystwyth Castle is based on our experiences at the time of our visit. Things can change over time, including the facilities available. If you have any specific requirements such as access it’s always best to check with the site directly before visiting. If anything I’ve said in this review is no longer accurate then please do let me know. Thank you.
Our Aberystwyth Castle review
We spent much more time at Aberystwyth Castle than I thought we were going to when we initially arrived. It’s one of those places that you don’t expect to be family friendly but that turns out to be so. It is quite a lot of fun scrambling around all of the walls and there are some stunning views up there. However you can’t get any sense of history from the site because there just isn’t the information there. That really is a bit of a letdown and I do think that they could do more about that, but it is a really cool little castle to visit and I’m so glad that I added it to our itinerary of the day.
Admission cost
Free
Parking / How to get there
Parking – You have a few options;
St Michael’s car park – St. Michael’s Church, Laura Pl, Aberystwyth SY23 2AU – £4 all day
The south promenade – S Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth SY23 1JX – free
Address – Aberystwyth SY23 1DZ
Toilets
Next to the playground – 40p
Food
Picnics allowed. There’s a little kiosk on the beach front as well.
What else is there to do nearby?
This review of Aberystwyth Castle was actually part of a day out in Aberystwyth. With that, we try to keep as cheap as possible, but we did multiple things during the course of the day. If you click on this link, you can see all of my reviews that are in Aberystwyth and if you click here you can see all of my reviews in Wales
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Hi, I’m Vicky. My husband and I live in Aylesbury with our three children; a 14 year old son, an 12 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. I (mostly) love spending time together as a family. We visit all kinds of places and we’re quite happy to drive a fair distance for a decent day out. A few years ago I decided to set up Free Time with the Kids as a way to share our experiences of these family days out.
You’ll find the essential information you need to know before your visit that can be surprisingly hard to find out. Where do I park? How much will it cost me to get in? Are there any discounts available? Are there loos? Can I take a picnic or get food? My aim is to be your go-to guide for all your free and cheap family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon, Herts & slightly beyond. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook