One night in Swansea with Admission to Dylan Thomas Birth Place

Make your way to Swansea, where you’ll check in to a 3- or 4-star hotel for your time in Wales’ second city. Your itinerary is at your leisure, so you can visit Dylan Thomas’ childhood home on your own schedule: the house has been entirely furnished in period antiques using photographs from Thomas’ time, including the poet’s study and bedroom.

Swansea also has a series of “Dylan Thomas Trails,” which you can follow to landmarks from Thomas’ lifetime. Visit the city center that was hit hard by German bombing during World War II, then take in the Mumbles and the scenic Gower Peninsula, which Thomas called “one of the loveliest sea-coast stretches in the whole of Britain.”

You’ll also find a series of scenic beaches, and the city center is packed with boutiques, cafés, and restaurants with classic British fare, all looking out on the 5-mile (8-kilometer) long Swansea Bay, where the Tawe River meets the ocean.