Things To Do in Swansea

In a once-dirty waterfront area, a Maritime Quarter has emerged. Lying between the city center and the seafront, it is centered on the historic South Dock and its Half Tide Basin and is complete with urban villages and a modern marina on the Swansea Yacht Haven. Open spaces, a promenade, and a seawall round out the scene.

The chief attraction here is the National Waterfront Museum, Oystermouth Road, Maritime Quarter (tel. 01792/638950; www.waterfrontmuseum.co.uk), open daily 10am to 5pm, charging no admission. Bus no. 118 runs here from the center of town. It's altogether fitting that Swansea has a maritime museum. After all, the copper plates that sheathed the hulls of the British fleet, making Nelson's ships faster than their enemies, were cast in Swansea. The exhibits are vast, including a display of the steel rails produced in Dowlaid that opened up the American Midwest in the mid-1800s.

The museum explores the history of industrial Wales through a series of exhibits -- Wales, incidentally, was the world's first industrial nation. Transportation is strong here, including a Cardiff-built monoplane and a full-size replica of the famous Pen-y-darren locomotive. The story of immigration and emigration in Wales is told, focusing on how the metal and coal industries created wealth, attracting workers to Wales while also making Welsh expertise an exportable commodity to other countries.

A statue of Dylan Thomas stands in the Maritime Quarter, and the Dylan Thomas Theatre is nearby at 7 Gloucester Place (tel. 01792/473238; www.dylanthomastheatre.org.uk). Many different types of plays are presented here (check the local newspapers for listings), not just works by Dylan Thomas. The poet was born in the Uplands, a residential area of Swansea, at 5 Cwmdonkin Dr., a steep street off Walter Road. You can walk in Cwmdonkin Park (pronounced Quam-don-kin) close by, which the poet made famous in his writings.

Swansea is one of the few Welsh cities to have a beach within walking distance of the center. A promenade leads all the way to Oystermouth, 6.4km (4 miles) away, although you can drive the route on the A4067. Along the way, you pass rugby and cricket grounds and the entrance to the city's largest park, Singleton. About halfway down the bay is a 9-hole golf course and a well-equipped resort beach, in an area known as Blackpill. It includes the entrances to the city's country park, Clyne Valley, and the Clyne Gardens. Before long, you come to the villages of Westcross and Norton, and then comes Oystermouth, which has a Norman castle renowned for its imposing position on a headland, commanding a view of the bay and Swansea.

Eight kilometers (5 miles) south of Swansea, across Swansea Bay, lies the Mumbles. It has been compared to the Bay of Naples because of its shape and beauty, especially after dark. This former fishing village has two faces (both pleasing): By day it has a tranquil atmosphere, but when the sun goes down, Mumbles bursts into action and becomes a nightlife center, with crowded pubs, clubs, and restaurants. Mumbles has been attracting tourists since Victorian times, when the handsome pier was built, as in most British sea towns. It protrudes 274m (900 ft.) from Mumbles Head into the bay and affords sweeping views. Away from the seafront, you can see fishermen's tiny cottages built into the limestone rock. Souvenirs and examples of local crafts are in shops that cling to the hillside. Yachting, swimming, fishing, beach games, and bowling are enjoyed here.

Long gone are the days when Swansea's nocturnal entertainment consisted of a handful of battered pubs with a jukebox blaring out pre-Beatles tunes. Since the 1990s gentrification of many areas of Swansea's central core, there has been an explosion of nightlife options, many of them focusing on the city's nightlife-related pride and joy -- Wind (it rhymes with "wined and dined") Street. The best way to explore the place involves popping in and out of any of the pubs, bars, and shops that appeal to you along this cobble-covered thoroughfare, especially on evenings when the city council has blocked off traffic, transforming it into a pedestrian-only walkway that on weekend evenings becomes very crowded.

Some of our favorites include the Bank Statement, 57-58 Wind St. (tel. 01792/455477; www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk), a pub and restaurant contained within the grandly ornate premises of what was built as a bank during the Victorian age. More self-consciously trendy, evoking a hip bar in faraway London, is the No Sign Wine Bar, 56 Wind St. (tel. 01792/465110), where you're likely to see members of the local TV news team, off-duty, sampling whatever French, Chilean, or California vintage happens to be uncorked at the moment.

Other streets, each nearby, but none as densely packed as Wind Street with bars and restaurants, also have goodly numbers of nightlife offerings. Exchange Bar, 10 Strand (tel. 01792/462896), offers glimpses of Ireland, with live music and generous amounts of Celtic joie de vivre. The Potters Wheel, 85 The Kings Way (tel. 01792/465113), a member of the same chain as the above-mentioned Bank Statement, offers food and drink in a setting that's nostalgically evocative of turn-of-the-20th-century Wales.

In addition to the Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea has a cultural side as well. The Grand Theatre, Singleton Street (tel. 01792/475715; www.swansea.gov.uk), adjacent to the Quadrant Shopping Centre, is a Victorian theater that has been refurbished and redeveloped into a multimillion-dollar theater complex. The venue hosts international opera, ballet, and theater companies, plus 1-night stands that often feature internationally known entertainers. It also has its own schools of song and dance.