Pembrokeshire ends the year the way a working coast always has: in the water. Three organised sea dips run across the Christmas week, and they split neatly onto two dates. Boxing Day belongs to Tenby, whose North Beach swim has been running since 1971. New Year’s Day then belongs to two beaches at once — Whitesands at St Davids goes into the sea at noon, and Saundersfoot follows two hours later. Thousands swim, and far more stand on the sand to watch. Everything below was checked against the three organisers’ own pages in October 2026; where a theme or a price has not yet been published, the article says so rather than guessing.
The Tenby swim falls on Saturday 26 December 2026. Swimmers assemble on North Beach from 11:00am and dash into the sea around 11:30am, so the whole thing is done before lunch. It is run by the Tenby Sea Swimming Association and calls itself the “world famous Boxing Day Swim for local charities in Tenby” — a claim that has stood up for a long time, since 2026 marks the 54th year. Fancy dress is strongly encouraged and most years carries a theme; 2025’s was “All Things Welsh”, but the 2026 theme had not been announced by late October, so check the swim’s own site before you start planning a costume. More than a thousand swimmers took part in 2025, and the crowd on the harbour wall is part of the event itself.
Entry is a suggested £10 donation per person made through the official site at tenbyboxingdayswim.co.uk, rather than a strict fee. The donation buys a wristband that covers hot soup after the swim and a commemorative medal, and it puts you in the prize draw, which is open to swimmers and non-swimmers alike. Safety cover comes from the RNLI and surf lifesavers on the day. The swim has raised over £300,000 for local causes across its history; the 2025 event alone brought in more than £5,500, shared between Tenby RNLI, Tenby Sea Cadets, The Old Chapel community café and Sandy Bear Children’s Bereavement Charity, with further donations to Tenby Surf Lifesaving Club and Tenby Rowing Club. The 2026 beneficiaries had not been named when this was written, but the pattern is a local one and the organiser’s page is where the list appears.
Saundersfoot’s dip is the one that claims the numbers. Billed by its organisers as the UK’s largest festive dip, it registered 3,323 swimmers in 2026 with somewhere around 10,000 spectators on the beach and the harbour. The 2027 swim falls on Friday 1 January, the 41st edition run by Saundersfoot Festivities Ltd; the first, in 1984, set off with ten swimmers. The start has moved to 2pm for 2027 because of the high tide, later than the usual early-afternoon slot, and the 2027 fancy-dress theme is “Music Legends”. The event has raised more than £800,000 over its history, with more than £31,000 from 2026 alone. See the Saundersfoot guide for the village itself.
Tickets open through the organisers’ page at saundersfoot.co.uk/nyds/tickets/, and wristbands are collected at Salt on the Strand or the NYDS Hut before the swim. Fees have historically been £5 for an adult and £3 for under-16s, though the organisers can change them year to year, so check the ticket page for this year’s price before you book. A park & ride runs from Folly Farm on the day, and it is the practical way in, since Saundersfoot’s lanes fill early on a bank holiday morning.
Whitesands Bay runs its own New Year’s Day swim at noon on Friday 1 January 2027, and it is a different creature from the other two: smaller, more local, and tied to one beach’s surf club. Registration opens from 11am at Porthmawr Surf Life Saving Club and the swim goes in at 12 noon. It is the 23rd year, organised by the St Davids Penknife Club, a local charity built around what it calls “Friendship, Fun and Fundraising”. Entry is a minimum £5 donation, which brings a wristband. Safety cover comes from Porthmawr Surf Life Saving Club, often alongside the St Davids RNLI crew’s first training exercise of the year, and hundreds take part in a typical year. After the swim the day moves to The Farmers Arms in St Davids for hot cawl, live music and the New Year’s Day Quiz — free with the wristband, or a donation on the door. The swim can be postponed or cancelled in rough weather, so check closer to the date rather than assuming it will go ahead.
Late December water off this coast is genuinely cold, and the three swims are short dashes rather than long swims for good reason. Wear something you can strip off quickly over a swimming costume, keep old trainers or beach shoes for the run across the sand and shingle, and bring the warmest dry clothes you own for afterwards — the change back into dry layers is when the cold bites. The RNLI and surf lifesavers work the Tenby swim, and Porthmawr Surf Life Saving Club covers Whitesands; go in as part of the flagged group, stay inside the area the organisers mark out, and follow the marshals on the beach. None of the three is a solo swim, and the safety cover is there for exactly that reason.
Spectating is the easy way in, but it has its own logistics. Tenby town centre fills early on Boxing Day morning, and the harbour wall is the natural grandstand — arrive well before the 11am assembly to get a place above the sand. At Saundersfoot, use the park & ride from Folly Farm rather than trying to park in the village. Whitesands car park is small and tightens further on a New Year’s morning; the parking guide sets out the systems across the county and is worth a read before you set off. Wrap up warmer than you think, take a flask, and stand back from the tideline — the wet sand belongs to the swimmers.
Each swim is a fundraiser first and a spectacle second. Tenby’s donation has raised more than £300,000 across its history, and the 2025 list shows where the local focus falls: Tenby RNLI, Tenby Sea Cadets, The Old Chapel community café and Sandy Bear Children’s Bereavement Charity, with more to the surf lifesaving and rowing clubs. The St Davids Penknife Club has passed more than £34,000 to Shalom House, the palliative care hospice in St Davids, the RNLI and Porthmawr Surf Life Saving Club, among other local causes. Saundersfoot Festivities has raised more than £800,000 over its four decades. That money is the reason the swims keep running, and the answer to anyone who wonders why thousands of people run into a cold sea on a bank holiday.
The dips sit inside a fuller festive calendar. Tenby’s Christmas Market, lights switch-on and Santa Run land on Saturday 28 November 2026, run by Tenby Town Council. Pembroke Castle holds its Christmas Market from 27 to 29 November, and Picton Castle Gardens runs its own on 21 and 22 November. Carew Castle opens for Christmas weekends on 5–6 and 12–13 December. The Torch Theatre in Milford Haven runs its panto, Puss in Boots, from 5 December through to 2 January, and the Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society Christmas Fair runs at Withybush, Haverfordwest, on 12–13 December. Dates move and things sell out, so check each organiser’s page before you travel — the castles, the theatre and the society all publish their own timetables.
The Christmas week is a busy one for Pembrokeshire’s accommodation, and the swims pull people in from across the county, so book a room early if you want to be near one of the beaches. Tenby and Saundersfoot sit on the rail line, and the without-a-car guide covers what the trains and coastal buses can reach over the holiday period, when timetables thin out. For the season as a whole — seal pups on Ramsey, empty beaches and which castles stay open — the winter piece is the companion read. One practical note closes it out: the three swims are weather-dependent events run by small local teams, and a rough sea can move or cancel a start time, so check the organiser’s page the night before, and again the morning of, before you set out.