I could be by the Med: a car-free short break in Swansea

A vibrant waterfront sets the tone for a trip of cultural delights, Dylan Thomas sights, great food and the beauty of the Gower peninsula nearby

Tall plane trees, hanging baskets and pavement cafes line pedestrianised Wind Street as it passes the ruined castle. I don’t know what I expected Swansea to look like but it wasn’t quite this.

My preconceptions were partly based on Dylan Thomas’s “ugly, lovely town” by the sea, “white-horsed and full of fishes”. After three hours on an air-conditioned Great Western Railways train from London, I’m striding past the 17th-century No Sign bar towards the city’s five-mile-long beach.