Hay-on-Wye

Bookshops, Hay Castle and a hike toward Hay Bluff

One day in Hay-on-Wye covers the restored Hay Castle, reopened in 2022, the bookshops around the Bull Ring, Lion Street and Broad Street, and a late-afternoon climb on Offa's Dyke Path towards Hay Bluff. Pick up the current bookshop map at the tourist office on Oxford Road, and stop for lunch at the Three Tuns.

Morning. Start at Hay Castle, which reopened in 2022 after restoration. The medieval tower and the 17th-century mansion beside it tell the town's story, including Richard Booth's bookselling crusade. From the terraces you can read the land: Herefordshire to the east, the Black Mountains to the south.

Late morning to afternoon. Work through the bookshops in the lanes around the Bull Ring, Lion Street and Broad Street. Shops range from general secondhand stock to specialists, so it pays to ask at the tourist office on Oxford Road for the current town map. Stop for lunch at a pub such as the Three Tuns on Broad Street.

Late afternoon. Pick up Offa's Dyke Path south out of town and climb towards Hay Bluff for a long view back over the Wye. Walk back in time for dinner, or cross the bridge to Clyro, Francis Kilvert's village. Travellers carrying on through Britain can head for Bath or London via the rail connection at Hereford.

Old inns of Lion Street and the Wye Valley table

Hay-on-Wye eats in its pubs. The Old Black Lion on Lion Street serves meals in a beamed bar, the Three Tuns on Broad Street is the other long-established inn, and Kilverts on the Bull Ring has a garden. Welsh lamb and Herefordshire beef and cider come from the farmland on both sides of the border.

There are no big-name restaurants. The Old Black Lion is one of the town's oldest inns, and Kilverts also lets rooms.

The produce comes from the border farmland around the town: Welsh lamb from the hills and Herefordshire beef and cider from the English side of the river. Cafés in town do tea and cake for book browsers, and a weekly market brings stalls into the centre.

For a drive, the Rhydspence Inn at Whitney-on-Wye is a 14th-century coaching inn on the A438 right on the border, with views over the valley. At festival time temporary food stalls appear around the festival site, and every table in town is booked, so reserve well ahead or eat early.

When the Hay Festival fills the town in late May

The Hay Festival runs for ten or eleven days in late May, sometimes into early June, with talks by writers, scientists and politicians; the 2026 edition ran from 21 to 31 May. Book rooms and tables early that week. Summer suits walking Offa's Dyke Path, and winter is quieter with shorter shop hours.

The Hay Festival has run since 1988 and is held over ten or eleven days in late May, sometimes running into early June; the 2026 edition ran from 21 to 31 May, and 2027 dates are announced on the festival website. Writers, scientists and politicians give talks in tents on the edge of town, and the X99 festival bus from Worcester and Hereford runs throughout, with a shuttle between the site and the town centre. Bill Clinton once called it a Woodstock of the mind, and the line has followed the festival ever since.

Outside festival week, the year divides between walking months and browsing months. Summer brings long evenings on Offa's Dyke Path and the Black Mountains, and the riverbank by the bridge fills with picnickers. Winter is quieter: shops keep shorter hours, the hills can be wet and exposed, and the town has gained a reputation as one of the UK's best Christmas destinations, with lights and festive shopping in December.

For a day away, Hereford's cathedral is an hour by bus, and Brecon and the heart of the national park lie to the south-west. Readers drawn to literary towns may also enjoy Edinburgh, a UNESCO City of Literature.