Also on the map ofCambrian MountainsBannau Brycheiniog National Park
Pen y Fan
- Easiest route
- 3.1 km+440 m · about 1.5 h
- Prominence
- 675 m2,215 ft
- Isolation
- 102 km
- Tonight
- 2°CCloudy · Wind 23 km/h W
Pen y Fan is an 886 m (2,907 ft) mountain in the Brecon Beacons, Wales, United Kingdom.
All facts
- Elevation
- 886 m · 2,907 ft
- Nearest higher peak
- Cadair Idris (893 m)
- Range
- Brecon Beacons
- Region
- Wales, United Kingdom
- Protected area
- Bannau Brycheiniog National Park
- Coordinates
- 51.8837° N, 3.4365° W
How to get to the top of Pen y Fan
3 mapped walking routes from where a car can get you, with distance and climb from the terrain model.
Easiest route: from Pont ar Daf car park (parking)
- Distance
- 3.1 kmone way
- Climb
- +440 m(1,444 ft up)
- Time up
- about 1.5 h
- Difficulty
- Grade not mapped
Other routes 2
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL. Climb from the terrain model. Trails change and maps miss things: check conditions locally.
Pen y Fan 3D map
Drag to orbit · click, then scroll to zoom (or Ctrl/⌘ + scroll) · One finger scrolls the page · two fingers orbit and zoom · 6.6 × 6.6 km
Pen y Fan terrain and contours
25 m contours from the Copernicus GLO-30 terrain model. The route drawn is the easiest mapped one. Click two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.Tap two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.
West → east through the summit
Pen y Fan weather
Tonight · Cloudy · 2°C (36°F) · 0.2 mm · Wind 23 km/h W
Pen y Fan forecast for the summit, about 886 m. Summit vs base: the Base line is for about 327 m.
- Tonight2°0.2 mm23 km/h WBase 5°
- Sat3°10°30.4 mm41 km/h WBase 6 / 13°
- Sun3°6°1.0 mm42 km/h WBase 6 / 9°
- Mon4°11°14.3 mm33 km/h SBase 7 / 14°
- Tue5°8°3.8 mm30 km/h SWBase 8 / 11°
- Wed6°9°0.4 mm25 km/h WBase 9 / 13°
- Thu6°8°0.3 mm13 km/h SBase 9 / 12°
- Fri6°9°7.3 mm19 km/h SEBase 9 / 12°
- Sat2°7°0.3 mm14 km/h NWBase 5 / 10°
- Sun0°4°0.5 mm23 km/h NWBase 3 / 7°
Forecast data: MET Norway, CC BY 4.0; daily low and high, precipitation total and strongest wind from the hourly data, model run Oct 23, 23:18 UTC.
Camping & parking near Pen y Fan
Campsites, parking, trailheads and mountain huts mapped in OpenStreetMap around Pen y Fan, nearest first, by straight-line distance. Check access, fees and permits locally.
Nearest hut
Login
Nearest parking
Pont ar Daf car park
Nearest campsite
Cwm-llwch
Nearest caravan site
Aberbran Fawr Campsite
All mapped places 9
| Place | Distance |
|---|---|
| LoginHut | 2.3 km NNW |
| Pont ar Daf car parkParking | 3.0 km SW |
| Nant Cwm Llwch Car ParkParking | 3.0 km NNW |
| Cwm-llwchCampsite | 3.0 km NNW |
| Parking | 3.2 km WSW |
| Campsite | 3.4 km NE |
| Campsite | 5.4 km NNE |
| BIrch Hall BothyHut | 6.1 km SSE |
| Aberbran Fawr CampsiteCaravan site | 7.9 km NNW |
How steep is the route to Pen y Fan?
The easiest mapped route, 3.1 km from 438 m to 886 m. Steepest stretch: 17°.
- 0–15°3.0 km
- 15–30°0.1 km
Grades are averaged between profile points about 30 m apart, so short steeper steps don’t show.
Land cover
ESA WorldCover 10 m classification of the same area.
Snow & ice means glaciers and year-round snow (a yearly average), not today’s snow cover.
Nearby summits
Named peaks within 3.3 km, measured from the Pen y Fan summit.
Summit list 8
- 1Corn Du873 m 0.5 km WSW
- 2Craig-Gwaun-Taf826 m 1.1 km SW
- 3Cribyn795 m 1.2 km E
- 4Cefn Cwm Llwch701 m 1.3 km NNE
- 5Bryn Teg620 m 1.8 km ENE
- 6Rhiw yr Ysgyfarnog736 m 1.8 km S
- 7Cefn Cul740 m 2.3 km S
- 8Fan y Big719 m 2.6 km ESE
Wildlife seen nearby
Sightings of the most-seen species on iNaturalist (research grade) within 3.3 km; 286 species recorded in all.
Sightings per species 6
- Red Kite29
- Purple foxglove17
- Common Chaffinch16
- Common bilberry15
- Northern Wheatear12
- Common heather12
Where Pen y Fan sits
- Range
- Cambrian Mountains19
- Region
- Wales60United Kingdom371Europe2,143
- Protected area
- Bannau Brycheiniog National Park4
Ranked in 1
Nearby places
Llyn Cwm LlwchLake↑1.1 km WNW
Pontsticill ReservoirLake↑8.8 km SSE
Talybont ReservoirLake↑9.2 km ESE
Llwyn-on ReservoirLake↑9.6 km S
Llangorse Lake154 m↑13 km ENE
More in the Cambrian Mountains 6
Pen y Fan downloads: topographic map, heightmap, STL 3D model and DEM
Free files made in your browser from this page's terrain data. No sign-up; credit the sources below.
Print & wall
3D printing & 3D apps
Free to use with credit: see the data sources
How accurate is this?
within 10 m This 3D map reads 882 m at the summit; the official height is 886 m.
A 30 m terrain model averages each cell, so a few metres either way is normal.
| Source | Summit | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Official height (Wikidata) | 886 m | — |
| Copernicus GLO-30 (used on this page) | 882 m | -4 m |
| Copernicus GLO-90 | 876 m | -10 m |
Data sources
- Terrain
- Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Imagery
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025 (scene 2025-08-16)
- Land cover
- © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium
- Facts
- Wikidata (CC0)
- Routes, Camping & parking
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
- Summits
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overture Maps Foundation (ODbL)
- Wildlife
- iNaturalist community observations, counts only
- Accuracy comparison
- Includes Copernicus WorldDEM-90 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Forecast
- Weather forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)
- Sources
- Wikidata · OpenStreetMap · GeoNames · Wikipedia