Bore da! I am looking for a nice town to base a stay of 4 nights. Would like to have places within an hour or so to see on day trips. I am thinking of Aberaeron. It has a coastal view, several pubs listed on the CAMRA website, seems to have hiking trails, etc. Is there another town in that general vicinity I should look at? And is there anything I should not miss in mid-Wales? Looking at Pentre Ifan and the narrow gauge train out of Aberystwyth...

Our bet is on Aberystwyth. We are hoping that our week that we booked for this fall in Aberystwyth will work out just fine. It seems to have enough "city" amenities without being a city - our rental is in the countryside nearby, and so far it all looks just right. Distances for day trips, proximity to the ocean, with shops and pubs in town, and the train for some in our party to get there from London...

Aberaeron is small, but lovely and Georgian. It is not a typical Welsh town, having been planned from the start. Aberystwyth is bigger, not a favourite place of mine, but it does offer more "life".
A bit further down the coast is Llangrannog which is a lovely village on the coast.

You may enjoy the Dolaucothi Gold mine https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dolaucothi-gold-mines up near Lampeter (which is also worth a visit). I assume you will have a car.

Aberystwyth is a really good option, our Spaniel is from there.

We went to pick her up in a storm last winter, arrived at 11pm, walked into a restaurant on the front which Aberystwyth absolutely drenched. The place was packed to the roof and they had finished serving, the staff bent over backwards to help us and feed us.

It summed up the welcome we received in the whole town, it just feels comfortable with its identity. North and South Wales can have issues with "out of towners" but we didn't find any hostility here.

The town has many small boutique interior type shops and food local cafes. There's a large university in the town which ensures a vibrancy to the place.

Shame it's puppy spaniels are so head strong!

Okay, I love "Hinterland" and I just get the feeling there are too many gruesome murders in Aberystwyth. ;-) I also worry about the university student culture. Maybe I shouldn't?

hetismij2: We live in a place that has absolutely no planning at all, so a planned community doesn't sound SO bad...We like to look at the boats and tides, have a nice cask ale, some local Welsh cheese and lamb, the go out during the day (in our car) and see the old stuff and the countryside. The gold mine sounds interesting and I will look at Llangrannog, thanks...