Discover South East Wales
Personalised tours of heritage sites!
Welcome to South Wales Heritage Tours
We offer bespoke and pre-planned walking and bus tours throughout South East Wales, taking you on a journey through the rich history and stunning landscapes of this remarkable region. Led by a fully qualified Green Badge tour guide, our tours explore iconic landmarks, hidden gems, and heritage sites that tell the stories of Wales’ past.
Whether you’re visiting for the first time or looking to learn more about your local area, our tours cater to small groups, providing a personal and insightful experience. With options for tailored tours, including educational visits and future plans for cycling and driving tours, South Wales Heritage Tours is perfect for curious explorers, history buffs, and nature lovers alike.
From ancient castles and industrial heritage sites to the picturesque Welsh countryside, join us for an unforgettable adventure into the heart of Wales. Book your tour today and experience the magic of Welsh heritage firsthand.
castle tours
heritage sites
personalised tours
group tours
walking tours
multi day tours
accessible tours
bi-lingual tours
Croeso! I’m MiKE, your guide….
My name is Michael Griffiths, and I am the founder of South Wales Heritage Tours. I’ve always had a deep connection to Welsh culture, history, and language, a passion that started during my time studying Welsh in London and grew stronger when I returned to live in South Wales. Over the years, I’ve not only achieved fluency in Welsh but also had the opportunity to teach it. This journey has always been about more than just learning the language—it’s been about discovering and sharing the real history of Wales, beyond the Anglo-centric version we were taught in school.
Organizing trips for other Welsh learners became one of my favorite ways to introduce people to the rich history of South Wales, highlighting the events and stories that often go unnoticed. My love for Welsh history and culture eventually led me to retrain as a Tourist Guide. In 2023, I earned my Green Badge qualification for South East Wales, allowing me to share this passion with a wider audience.
Fluent in both Welsh and English, I bring a personal touch to the tours I offer, combining my love for storytelling with my knowledge of Welsh history. As a dual national, with French citizenship through my wife, I also have a European perspective, speaking conversational French and a little Italian.
South Wales Heritage Tours is my way of connecting visitors with the real spirit of Wales. I offer a variety of walking and bus tours, both bespoke and pre-planned, that showcase the incredible history, culture, and beauty of South East Wales. For me, the goal is to educate, entertain, and inspire—sharing the history of Wales in a way that’s both authentic and memorable.
WALKING TOURS
GROUP TOURS
INDUSTRIAL SITES
CASTLES
Green Badge Certified Tours
Take A Tour With Us:
Cardiff City Center
(Includes and introduction to Cardiff Castle)
Cardiff has had a bad habit, going back centuries, of pulling down it’s old buildings and starting again.
This means there are only 2 buildings that go back to medieval times – the Castle and St John’s Church.
However, between these lie the 19th century arcades, the Principality Stadium and Cardiff Market, dating from 1891, with the site of Dic Penderyn’s hanging 60 years earlier near its entrance.
It also has one of the finest civic centres in Britain at Cathays Park and some interesting statuary.
SWHT will show you Cardiff’s development from a small fishing village to the capital city of Wales, taking in the Norman stranglehold, the Marquesses of Bute and Aneurin (Nye Bevan) in the course of a 2 hour gentle walking tour starting at the Castle gates.
Cardiff Bay Tour
Although the original Bute Dock East, first opened for the export of coal and steel in 1839, is now buried under the road leading to Cardiff Bay, the 500 acre freshwater lake created by the building of the Cardiff Barrage in 1999 that is surrounded by many of the old features that made Tiger Bay world famous.
It also holds the Millennium Centre, Wales’ premier concert hall and home to Welsh National Opera (WNO), along with the Welsh Parliament buildings.
As well as these iconic buildings, a walk around the Bay with SWHT will take in a series of sculptures that commemorate famous events in Welsh history, including the Scott Memorial that celebrates tragic British Antarctic expedition of Ronald Falcon Scott, the Merchant Seamen’s Memorial and the sculptures of John Clinch that celebrate the recent history of South Wales and Cardiff Bay.
In addition to the well-known attractions, SWHT will point out some of the often missed features of the Bay and their significance to modern Cardiff, including the place where the first £1,000,000 cheque was signed, in the course of this 2-3 hour leisurely walk.
Caerphilly History Trail
SWHT proposes you discover the history of coal production in South Wales during the course of a 2 hour circular walk.
The walk is mostly flat but there is one gradient of around 300 yards that may not be accessible to wheelchair users or people with heart or lung problems that prevent them climbing one flight of stairs.
It starts and finishes at Caerphilly Station and discusses the development of the Taff Vale and Rhymney Railways (TVR & RR) to carry coal to the newly created docks at Cardiff.
It shows the geological structure of the South Wales Coalfield and the history of coal mining from the 16th century to the present day, including looking at the source of the bricks that built the miners’ and railway workers’ homes. Part of the walk follows a local nature trail and nature lovers may be interested in the amphibia, dormice, birds, bats and the flora that supports them.
If you have a history in the industrial history of South Wales, in the environment or are a railway enthusiast, there is something in this walk to interest you.
Castell Coch
Around 75,000 visitor’s come to see William Burgess’s masterpiece every year and regularly vote it Wales’ favourite building. Standing on the hill overlooking the A470 at Tongwynlais and visible from the M4, this fairytale castle is every bit as magical inside as out. It was originally built in the 13th Century as one of a series of forts protecting the Norman headquarters at Cardiff from the raids of the Welsh down from the surrounding hills.
It was captured and spoiled during one of these raids and lay in ruins for 500 years before the 3rd Marquis of Bute decided to renovate it as a summerhouse.
He commissioned Burgess and his team of artists to rebuild the 3 towers in a style that would amuse and impress his business colleagues at the same time as they were renewing Cardiff Castle.
Here Catholicism meets Spiritualism meets Classical Mythology. Aesop’s fables come to life, the Language of Flowers is expressed fluently, the Fates spin the thread of life and St Lucius is martyred once again.
On this tour SWHT will point out some of the secrets of “The Red Castle” that are not found in the guide book.
**Admission £9.50 Adults, £6.70 age 5-17, £8,80 over 65. Free to Cadw members
Caerphilly Castle
Originally built in the late 13th century to keep out the marauding Welsh led by their last home grown Prince, Llewellyn, Gilbert de Clare’s masterpiece is the second largest castle in the UK (after Windsor).
This is due to an elaborate series of water defences that made the walls almost impossible to reach. Inside you can see some of the siege engines designed to overcome this before the use of gunpowder made castles redundant, except as expensive, draughty homes, and sieges became unnecessary.
SWHT can show you all these features, along with others, such as the brewery and the tapestries, that made castle living more comfortable. The castle was spoiled during the English Civil War and stood as a ruin for nearly 300 years before the 4th Marquess of Bute undertook major restoration. His stature can be see propping up the famous “leaning tower” along with a series of sculptures that illustrate some of the history that was enacted here.
**Admission £10’90 Adults £7.60 age 5-17 £10.40 over 65. Free to Cadw members
PLEASE NOTE: This could be added to the South Wales coalfields walk at Caerphilly by those that want a full day in the town.
Cardiff Castle
Caer Taff (the castle on the river Taff) was first built as a wooden fort by the Romans in around 55ad in their attempt to conquer the Silures, a local Celtic tribe that stubbornly resisted the Roman invasion and who had one of their main hill forts at nearby Ely.
Roman walls can still be seen, but are part of a later construction against pirates in the Bristol Channel and date from around 300ad. Following the Norman conquest, Robert FitzHamon, Duke of Gloucester incorporated them into his new castle, built to suppress the Welsh as the Normans invaded the lowlands of the Vale of Glamorgan.
After the War of the Roses, the castle passed to the Herbert family and then to the Marquesses of Bute. SWHT will walk you through the evolution of the castle through the millennia, including its use during world War II. A walk through Cardiff town centre or through Bute Park can be added to this visit to fill the whole day.
** Admission £15.50 Adults; £10.50 age 5-16; Free to Cardiff Key Holders. Entrance to the Public Square is free. A guided tour of the Bute Apartments with a local guide is extra.
Please complete the form below to book your tour!