I stayed at the Diplomat Hotel for five days while visiting family in the area. The stay was…read morepleasant and comfy for the most part. The hotel has a great view of the town of Llanelli, since it is high up on a hill. They also have lots of nice outdoor seating. I enjoyed going down there in the evening to have a drink. My room was spacious and the bed was comfortable albeit small, since it was a twin bed. But I believe that is the norm in the U.K, no complaining. I found most of the staff accommodating and friendly, particularly David at the front desk. My only warning particularly for summer guests, THEY DO NOT HAVE A/C in the rooms! So I suggest asking the front desk about lending a fan for your room. We told David at the front desk about the a/c situation and he suggested we could borrow one of the fans from the hotel. That was so nice of him! Another thing I wanted to express about my stay was their breakfast... for £16 it is severely underwhelming and I would suggest having it. Go anywhere else. I had breakfast down their once... and I'm glad I didn't purchase their packaged breakfast deal on their website... very underwhelming food. I ended up just having cereal and coffee. Also they only filled my coffee one time, since the staff was so busy flipping tables for lunch. The food in general at the hotel was not good... I had their tapas the first night and it was passable. I had their dinner - a mushroom risotto and it was so so. The atmosphere in their dining room is dreadful. It sort of reminded me of my high school (or secondary school) gymnasium. The elevator music in there made it worse... They also have a spa and indoor pool downstairs. I enjoyed the steam room a lot with the eucalyptus coming through the steamers...ah! I wished I used it more. All in all, I enjoyed my stay. I probably would return if I come back to the area.

This place is ok if you've nowhere else to stay. The food is ok but nothing special. The whole…read moreplace is rather dated and the bathroom in the room I stayed can only be described as grubby!. It's in desperate need of an overhall then this place can justify the room rates it currently charges.

There are not enough words to express my positive thoughts about this hotel. We ended up choosing…read morethis hotel as way to base a trip off to Wales. I had never been, and my boyfriend wanted to give me an introduction to the Welsh countryside. We stayed on a Sunday night and had their spa package. Therefore, when we arrived we went straight to the spa. The spa is a little small, but still a great treat. There is an ample hot tub and sauna. While we were there, two other guests also were. With the other guests we were able to time it so that it did not feel over crowded. The relaxation room is also a great treat and should not be missed! Our massages at the spa were perfect, we had them in the couples room. The food is absolutely delicious! Their chef really knows what they are doing. They made sure that the dining room did not get too empty, so while there were other people there we were mostly left alone in a corner. Overall this was a great introduction to Wales. It is worth the car rental to get here!

While visiting my grandmother in Llanelli, I visited Thomas Arms twice and I think it was the best…read morepub in the area. I didn't stay at the hotel, just came for the food and drinks. It's close to the downtown area so it's a central location. The first time I came for lunch. I had a shandy and a BBQ chicken melt sandwich. Both were quite satisfactory. Christine, the manager, served us and she was quite friendly. Next time, we came for dinner with the whole family. Great service. I ordered the Chicken Tikka masala, which was quite good for pub fare. Everyone was pretty satisfied with their meals. I think Thomas Arms was great. Their patio had a nice atmosphere as well. If I visit Llanelli again, I will return to it.

I have been to a wedding reception here and it was mediocre. The food wasn't very good and the hall…read morewas dingy. The bar was ok but I didn't think much of the pub area. There was nowhere at all to park and walking miles through the rain was not my idea of fun.

Country hotel in the hills above Aberdare, findable by a conspicuous sign on the highway, and…read morereachable via a one-lane dirt track about a quarter-mile in length. Made from a thoroughly converted country mansion. Not really for business travelers - there's a Best Western and Premier Inn in town - it can be pleasant for relaxation, and taking walks along the tracks and fields. The rooms upstairs are a bit shoddy (need painting, etc.) but clean and neat, and everything in the bathroom is functional. Staff are friendly and on duty 24 hours, which is good because this is still an old-fashioned place where you leave your keys at the desk. Restaurant on the ground floor serves dinner as well as breakfast, fairly good food. For the breakfast, a "full Welsh breakfast" turns out to be the same thing as an English breakfast. There's also cereal and fresh fruit on the bar, the latter when they remember to bring it. Servers are apt to disappear for 15 minutes on end after they've finished with you. There's a separate pub room, but I never saw anyone in it. The newspapers at the front desk are the Sun and the Daily Mail.

Wonderful guesthouse/B&B run by a lovely couple. I was staying on my own and I felt safe and…read morewelcome. Gorgeous room, spacious and clean. In center of town and opposite the Coop (open til 10pm) so super convenient. Good WiFi! Yummy hot breakfast cooked to order. Can't get over what good value it was. I will be back! Highly recommended.

Love this place and wish we'd found it earlier in our stay in Brecon…read more Genuine pub, genuine people, genuinely funny landlord and landlady and two of the friendliest dogs I've ever met! Oh, and the beer and ale's not bad as well! We visited on a Saturday and had missed the Friday night live music, which we were gutted about because it sounded like a good night had been had by all. The barman was hilarious; he was sneaking a half a lager before his wife came back from walking the dogs. I put it to him that half a lager wouldn't hurt, to which he replied 'it's my fifth half and what the wife'll do to me if she finds out will definitely hurt'. Priceless. They had a guest beer on tap, though I've forgotten it's name. I do remember that it tasted great, though. If we're in Brecon again and fancying a wee tipple, we'll head straight for The Bull's Head and its warm welcome.

Welshcake took me here on our way to Nanternis back in April 2008. It was--as he would…read moresay--stonking. The inn itself is cozy, but everything in the U.K. countryside seems cozy to me. I felt like I might see Bilbo Baggins at any moment, but if I did he'd be wearing Burberry. It's not a mid-grade pub by any means, though the front room is set up as such. We dined in the back room, which consisted of about six tables and a wee fireplace. The decor was rustic and the rooms were clean. Our meal began with a butternut-squash type amuse-bouche, which made our eyes pop in delight and set the tone for the rest of the meal. The soda bread was equally amazing. I ordered the scallops, which were divine and accompanied by a mushroom "marmalade," and Welshie had the local Welsh rib eye, (which I sampled--divine). He's always on about Welsh black beef--it's a delight any visitor to Wales should sink his or her teeth into. While I've categorized this as British, this is not standard, stodgy, British country fare. The chef is obviously French-trained (though maybe I'm wrong), inventive and experimental, serving up accessible, classy mainstay dishes alongside mind-bending and palate-pleasing "risks." I've been waiting for Yelp to go U.K.-side just so I could review the Griffin. We will always go back to this gorgeous little house of deliciousness when we are in Wales. Top notch!

After a beautiful day walking in the Brecon Beacons with people 30 years older than us but…read moreapproximately 30 times fitter, we decided to go all out and head for the Griffin, despite smelling and looking basically quite bad. The Inn is a cosy, well kept place with a nice bar and lounge as well as the restaurant which spills out into the tack room where we were seated. Like the other reviewers, I found the amuse-bouche of soup - broccoli this time - absolutely delicious (unlike the other reviewers, I had no idea what amuse-bouche was until I read this page). Squash soup to start was rich, spicy and creamy, the flavour of the vegetable only being strengthened by the other ingredients. The smoked salmon fish cakes were about as good as fish cakes can be - all about the fish and lightly crunchy. Main courses were also fantastic - pork belly was sweet and juicy, served with pancetta and I think mash - the accompaniments were not as excellent. The other main, suckling pig, was a huge hit and came with a tasty selection of roasted vegetables. Dessert was lemon tart, for which I didn't have particularly high expectations, but it was about the best I have ever had and - bonus - came with delicious blackcurrent sorbet. The other one we tried was some kind of chocolate/banana confection which was intensely good. The barman was very helpful in suggesting sherry, wine for the main course and pudding wine, the last of which was particularly outstanding. Service otherwise was all right but not particularly attentive and complicated by the fact that three people were sharing service of our table. Also, they made a major mistake with the bill that had I not been paying attention would have cost us about £25. This was related to us ordering a starter from the set menu and a main from a la carte. We heard someone else doing the same and being assured it was fine but when we asked they said this was only for guests staying at the Inn. Quite the put down!

Had a tremendous lunch at the restaurant at Gliffaes Country House Hotel, about an hour north of…read moreCardiff in Wales. There are beautiful grounds and a beautiful old country house with a great large restaurant. We had pre-lunch drinks in one of the salons. Service was truly great and the food was exceptional. We had a delicious three course meal. It's worth the drive through rolling hills of South Wales even if the day was a bit foggy.

I have just come back from a lovely weekend at this beautiful hotel. I must admit that I didn't…read morefind Gliffaes without help as I booked a cycling retreat via The School of Life - I will be forever grateful to be introduced to this gem and can't wait for an excuse to return! I was impressed even before we arrived as the website is extremely helpful and friendly, including a very good description of how to get here (satnavs can get it wrong without a little human intervention), pictures of all the rooms, as well as loads of ideas of how to spend your time in the Brecon Beacons. The hotel is set in beautiful grounds with stunning views across the valley. You are well looked after from the start and all staff seem exceptionally nice and helpful - you know straight away that you have arrived in someone's family home rather than a corporate establishment. All rooms are decorated individually, and contemporary Welsh art can be found throughout the building. I particularly liked the little touches of handmade soap and heated towels in the bathroom, as well as the pile of Wellington boots in the cloakroom reminding me of the rain more typically associated with these parts. We were incredibly lucky with the weather and enjoyed gloriously sunny days cycling up and down the surrounding hills, taking in castle ruins, ancient churches and picturesque villages along the way. We were served lovely three course dinners, ending on an exotic selection of home made icecreams; you can tell how much fun someone is having with the ice cream maker - Malibu and Coconut anyone? Everything was beautifully presented and delicious and not at all what culinary sceptics might expect in the backwaters of rural South Wales. Thank you!