National Showcases Centre for Wales

This is anothger place in Wales that I love

There is loads of stuff about Khymric history, dinosaurs and loads and loads of caves to explore

Only thing I would advise is if you have a whining girlfriend at the time of visiting lock her in the car boot!!!! she will spoil your day!!!

:@P

We came here for the dinosaur park but were blown away by the caves. Although our little boy was at first reluctant to go into the caves when he realised it wasn’t pitch black inside he soon got into the spirit of things. Two months later he still talks about the Morgan Brothers ( the brothers who discovered the caves ). There is plenty to do once you have finished with the caves and the dinosaurs. Head down to the farm and you can play in the barn and stroll around the farmyard and learn about the history of the farm from a talking dog and see the beautiful shire horses. The cafe was good value for money. We discovered there is a campsite on the complex too which would make a good base to explore this part of Wales from.

The caves are the secondary point to the establishment, we all know the true selling point is the model dinosaurs!!!

That being said, the caves are very educational, and very interesting. I went there as part of my A Level geography course and took in a lot more about limestone landforms than I would of just reading out of a book.

This place is truly fab for a family day out. The show caves themself are awesome. You can spend ages inside just taking in the atmosphere and listening to the story of how they were discovered. Not only does Dan yr ogof have show caves it also has a dinosaur park which my little girl loved. Also there’s a farm at the bottom of the hill which you can wander around.. there are goats, lama’s and shire horses. Definitely worth a visit and really easy to find

I went there in October 2008. And I was really afraid that it was already closed for the public, as most of Welsh landmarks are during winter, but luckily I was lucky! When I went there it was time of Half Term Break so it was full of kids with their parents, I don’t know if it is the same throughout the year.

The centre, nearby the Breacon Brecons, itself comprises of 10 attractions by itself but each one doesn’t make an attraction, if you understand what I mean. I think this is one of the big bonus of the centre to be able to do several stuff there, since it is a bit isolated.

When you first enter you have the farm on your right, further ahead on your right you have a camping site and at your left the centre itself. On the centre you have a coffeshop with hot food and some places for you to eat, a shop (which is full of minerals, rocks and those sort of things) and the ticket office.

Each ticket is around £10.50, and as I said you get the full 10 attractions. You begin by seeing some dinosaurs, they will accompany you throughout your journey along the centre. The first cave you go to is the Dan-yr-Ogof, the first the Morgan brothers discovered and the reason why this centre started. When you enter it (and saying that when you enter the whole centre) you see that this is an old centre, it really needs an upgrade. The caves are raw, it could really benefit from a bit more interaction with the public, all you have is a recording passing all over again of the Morgan brothers relating their findings. It is quite a nice cave, long and with some strangely nice structures. It is worth going for a look. The next step of the park is the Cathedral cave, to go there you pass through a Neanderthal village, a very small group of huts with some representations of the villagers, good to know still. Then you go around it, see more dinosaurs and get to the cave, you can collect some cool mining Torches (flashlights) and get on touring the Cathedral cave. For what I collected this cave is called like this because you can marry there and in my view it is a very nice place to get married, you even have some inner waterfalls next to the altar. After this cave, you have another one, the Bones cave, where you have to wear a helmet because it has a very low ceiling which makes it a bit fun, but then you reach the cave and notice that it is only a hole in the mountain with fences and all dark. Then for about 20 seconds there is light and you can see 1/3 of the cave… then for another 5 minutes you are all in the dark. Not the best, but at least while walking to there you can see more unusual dinosaurs. You have a shop in the way out for the rocks and minerals I have mentioned before. And that’s it.

It was a fun day to explore Wales a bit, it is good if you are in a good mood and like to know about these little places around, the general feeling is that it is out of date and a bit expensive for what it is on offer. But well, it is worth to explore as I said.

Dan-yr-Ogof show caves are an excellent afternoon out. I wouldnt say you could spend all day there but there is enough there to hold the attention of the kids for a good few hours. The caves are interesting although I would note that if you have been to Cheddar that Dan-yr-Ogof hasnt got as much to offer.
I think the other attractions here help make this interesting for most ages of children. The dinosaur park meant my six year old will remember his visit for a long while and the Shire horses caught my daughters eye.
Its easy to find and well signposted, There is plenty of parking but take your walking shoes because you will need them.

The showcaves at Dan-yr-Ogof are the most spectacular caves I have ever visited. There is the Dan-yr-Ogof cave, the Bronze cave and my favourite the Cathedral cave. The stalagtites are thousands of years old and the lighting really adds to the ambience of the cave.
There is a Dinosaur park for the children and you can also camp there too. A great holiday base in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

There is so much to see here at the Dan-yr-Ogof Showcaves, and the opening times are so brief that the first thing I can recommend you do is get here early. This may not be easy given that it is in the middle of some beautiful countryside, that you will feel guilty about speeding past to get to this wonderful place.

The caves were discovered by two local chaps at the start of the Twentieth Century, and so far cavers have uncovered 10 miles of mostly inaccessible [to us normal people] caves, caverns and potholes.

The most colourful feature is the huge dinosaur park which extends over the entirety of the main site. Evidence of life at the caves in pre-history has been discovered in the Bone Cave, whilst in modern times the Cathedral Cave has been host to a number of marriages, with its purpose built chapel in the middle of the cave.

There is plenty here for the kids, from Barney’s Playpen, the Shire Horse Centre, a wildlife park, and even a play area in the cafe!

This site is also somewhat of a Mecca to cavers and dry-slope skiers, as well as off-roaders, hill-walkers, bikers and other tourers.

Nearby there are some lovely pubs and bed & breakfasts, all set in the beauty of the Brecon Beacons National Park, home to some gorgeous tourist attractions. This makes Dan-yr-Ogof the perfect start to a fabulous holiday in Wales.

Another place in Wales that was a real treat to go to as a kid.

The caves are, well, cavernous. Sorry.

The caves are amazing, there’s loads of them and you get taken through them with or without a guide (I think). There are really tall ones, little ones, ones where cavemen used to live (and they put in some cavemen mannequins to get the point across), really massive ones that have fun acoustics, ones with rivers running through them. Oh, basically a lot of caves = a lot of fun.

There’s also sort of musuemy bits which tell you how Welsh workers would use coracles to navigate through the caves, and what the caves have been used for over the millenia.

There are some big fibreglass dinosaurs, which are fun. And a shop and cafe.

Glorious to visit on a nice summer day, when you step outside and the sun blinds you after the darkness of the caves. It’s quite a good rainy day place too, as you can spend lots of time in the caves, away from the rain. It is freezing inside them though. So take a coat.

A fascinating family day out.

This is a fasanating place you can walk deep into the side of a Welsh Valley and go deep under ground to see the natural formations that have been created over time and they truely are amazing.

You can get the full story of how these caves were discovered and the dangers that the men faced in bringing them to life and truely going into the heart of wales.

The Dinosaurs were somewhat primative to say the least but they were an added bonus as we had paid to see the caves and wow we were no disappointed.

The cafe was reasonable and the gift shop had the usual suveniers but on the whole the place was amazing.

One thing I must add that is as part of this attraction to get to go and see a small farm at the bottom of the hill which had horses, ponies, pigs and various other farm animals and working attractions so it was a real bargain day out and great for the entire family.

This place is excellent, the brochures boasted a must see natural wonder with 10 attractions in one place and it did not disappoint.
The park is beautifully set in Brecon National park and set around 3 amazing caves.
The three caves
Dan-yr-ogaf cave: Discovered by 2 local farming brothers
Cathedral Cave: You can get married in there
Bones cave: burial site discovered
are wonderfully set out and lighted, each telling there own stories of how they were discovered and used in the past. This is a brilliant experience and must be one of the best natural wonders I've seen in Britain and that’s only 3 of the exhibitions.
They also have an informative Iron Age village, Stone Circles, dinosaurs and a kids play barn.
The museum depicts life within the valleys of Wales from the past to the present and The Farm and Shire-horse Centre allow you to get up close to the animals that work and play on the farm.

This place is brilliant, the cafe's great and reasonably priced, there’s a lovely gift shop selling the usual stuff and some very nice unique pieces and the staff are very helpful and friendly.

If you are in the area and you pass this by trust me you've just missed out.