2 Best Sights in Wales

Modest on the outside but surprisingly cavernous on the inside, this cathedral stands on the hill above the middle of town. The cathedral was built on the site of an 11th-century priory, which was destroyed during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. It was rebuilt as a parish church fairly soon after and was remodeled in the 1860s. It became an Anglican Cathedral in 1923. The heritage center does a good job of telling the building's history, and there's also a handy café-bookshop called the Hours. Local choirs perform concerts here regularly; check the website for event listings.

Literally a stone's throw from the English border, Tintern is one of the region's most romantic monastic ruins. Founded in 1131 by the Cistercians and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536, it has inspired its fair share of poets and painters over the years—most famously J. M. W. Turner, who painted the transept covered in moss and ivy, and William Wordsworth, who idolized the setting in his poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey." Come early or late to avoid the crowds. The abbey, 5 miles north of Chepstow and 19 miles southeast of Abergavenny, is on the banks of the River Wye.