Graig Goch

The walk up to Graig Goch isn't long, but it's steep enough that you'll feel it in your legs. What you get for the effort is a proper vantage point over Aberystwyth and the Cardigan Bay coastline - the kind of view that makes you understand why people settled here in the first place.

It's a bare hilltop rather than somewhere you'd spend hours. Rock outcrops, rough grass, and sky. The view shifts depending on weather and light, which is worth timing if you're fussy about photography. Clear days give you miles of coastline stretching south towards New Quay. In mist, it's moody and a bit eerie. Both have their appeal.

Walkers and hill types will get the most from this - it's genuinely worth the detour if you're based around Aberystwyth, especially if the weather's cooperating. Kids might manage it, though the ascent is relentless and there's nothing at the top to keep them occupied once they've burned off steam. An hour up and back is realistic.

If you're staying at Woodlands or Brynllwyd Glamping just outside Aberystwyth, this makes a solid morning walk before coffee. It's the sort of place that doesn't appear in guidebooks much, which means you won't fight crowds for the view. That's rather the point of it.