A Guide to the Four Waterfalls Walk, Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park

Are you planning a trip to Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park in South Wales? If so, then make sure you put the Four Waterfalls Walk onto your itinerary.

In this guide we tell you all you need to know about hiking the Four Waterfalls Walk trail in the Waterfall Country of the national park.

About the Four Waterfalls Walk

The trail is located to the south of Ystradfellte in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons National Park). Due to the large number of waterfalls within the head of the Vale of Neath, this area is also known as Waterfall Country. 

The route is relatively easy to follow as they have numbered signs along the way so you can always check where you are. Every time you reach a waterfall, you’ll see some boards containing information about them. Three out of the four waterfalls are along River Mellte and the fourth one is on River Hepste.

The approximately 8 km long trail is well maintained and relatively easy to complete. However, the main trail runs along the rim of the valley. Therefore, there are many steps as you have to walk down to each waterfall before climbing back up again. Rain can also make the trail slightly challenging so just take your time as safety comes first. 

Allow a minimum of 3 hours to complete the route. This depends on your pace, level of fitness, weather conditions and how long you admire the falls for!

Where to Park for the Four Waterfalls Walk Trail?

You can park at either Gwaun Hepste or Cwm Porth car park. You can easily start the Four Waterfalls Walk from either. We parked at Cwm Porth which is actually a better alternative if you’d also like to visit the biggest cave entrance in Wales. It’s quite a big parking area but we would still arrive early as it can get full during peak times.

You have to pay £4 for cars and £7 for campervans but that allows you to park there between 8 am and 6 pm. 

The car park has toilet facilities and a picnic area so make sure you take advantage of it if the weather is lovely.

If you don’t have your own car but would like to enjoy the freedom of a private vehicle, then you can always hire a car to get to the Four Waterfalls Walk.

What to Wear for the Four Waterfalls Walk Hike?

Even though we visited the trail at the end of July it rained all day. Therefore, the path got wet and muddy very quickly, so we highly recommend wearing comfortable and waterproof shoes. We suggest wearing layers too, as you might get warm one minute and cold the next.

Check the weather forecast prior to your visit and dress accordingly. Like Ranulph Fiennes said, “…there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.”

After all you’re in Wales so anything can happen! 

See the Largest Cave Entrance in Wales

Make sure to check out the biggest cave entrance in Wales before starting the Four Waterfalls Walk. Porth Yr Ogof actually has around 15 entrances, but the largest one is over 17 m wide and around 5 m tall. 

You can easily access the entrance to the Cave via the path leading down from Cwm Porth Car Park. Due to wet conditions and the fact that we weren’t here for caving purposes, we didn’t enter the cave. However, if you’re into caving, make sure you check it out in more detail.

The Four Waterfalls Walk Trail

From the car park, there are actually two routes to the waterfalls. We accidentally started our walk along the river (white dots). This route takes you along the eastern bank of River Mellte before joining with the main route (red).

If you’d like a more fun way, then definitely take this route. The path is narrow and can be uneven and rocky but not particularly hard. Check out our South Wales Instagram stories if you’d like to see what it was like to walk along the route.

It takes a good half an hour before you join the main route and reach the first waterfall.

1. Sgwd Clun-Gwyn

The first waterfall you will reach is Sgwd Clun-Gwyn, located approximately 3 km from the car park. It has a height of 9m, and its name means something like ‘fall of the white meadow’. Even though it was July, the amount of rainfall made the drop and the water look even scarier.

From here you can follow the official route (red) and reach Sgwd Y Pannwr next or follow an alternative route along the river. This is an unofficial and more challenging route so we decided to take the official one as at the time of our visit the path was pretty wet, so we didn’t want to risk it. 

2. Sgwd Y Pannwr

If you’re doing the official route, you’ll get to a crossroads where you can decide to either carry on towards Sgwd Yr Eira or walk towards Sgwd Y Pannwr and Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn. The decision is yours, but we decided to leave Sgwd Yr Eira to last. Therefore, the second waterfall we reached was Sgwd Y Pannwr.

The 8 m high waterfall in Welsh means something like ‘fall of the fuller’. It was pretty impressive on the day we visited. 

3. Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn

If you follow the official route your third waterfall should be Swd Isaf Clun-Gwyn. It’s only a few minutes’ walk from Sgwd Y Pannwr and you’ll probably hear it before you see it. This 30 m high waterfall was without a doubt our second favourite. Its name translates to ‘lower fall of the white meadow’.

It was pretty intense at the time of our visit, and we loved the fact that we could get super close to it. If you’re planning on taking some close-up photos just bear safety in mind! It was pretty wet and slippery, and you only need one wrong movement… 

Unfortunately, if you do the trail the official way, after seeing Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn you will need to walk back along the same route and pass Sgwd Y Pannwr again. Once you’ve walked back up the trail you can carry on towards the fourth waterfall located approximately 10-15 minutes away.

4. Sgwd Yr Eira

Last but not least you’ll reach the fourth waterfall called Sgwd Yr Eira. Hands down this was our favourite waterfall out of the four and we’re happy we left it for last!

After reaching the crossing point of the green and red route, it’s another 10 minutes to reach the fourth falls. You have to take some steps and a slope with loose rocks down to get to the waterfall. Of course, you have to climb back up again but believe us it’ll be totally worth your effort.

The 10 m high waterfall translates to the ‘fall of the snow’. It normally drops at three separate points although as you can see, due to the weather, the fall had merged into one. 

You can actually walk behind this one and we highly recommend you do that if you dare. As it had been raining all morning, we decided that we had nothing to lose as we were already pretty soaked. As the waterfall was powerful, walking behind it made the experience even better. Definitely a great way to end your waterfall trail. 

You can then head back to the car park via the purple dotted trail to complete the route. It’s a nice walk at the start providing a great view of the National Park, but towards the end it got a bit dull. That’s probably why we’re happy we started the trail along the river.

Additional Things to Do in Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)

If, after seeing four waterfalls, you feel like you could see another one, we highly recommend heading towards Henrhyd Falls, located only 15 minutes’ drive from the Four Waterfalls Walk. If you enjoy hiking, then consider completing the Pen Y Fan Horseshoe ridge trail.

Although it rained pretty heavily all day, we absolutely enjoyed the Four Waterfalls Walk and we cannot recommend it enough. Have you ever been to the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park before? How much of the area did you manage to explore? Let us know in the comments below.