Self-Guided Tour of Hay On Wye Bookshops in Wales Book Town!
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a literature lover in possession of bookshelf space must be in want of a book town! There is a place called Hay-on-Wye made just for people like us. Found in Wales on the Wales-England border, Hay on Wye is a small place that is full to the brim with book stores!
Locally known as ‘Hay’, the town is an incredible place to visit for all bibliophiles especially in May when it holds the literature celebrations in Hay Festival as well as for tourists who just fancy a river stroll or exploring an old Welsh market town.
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Hay on Wye Facts
- The Hay on Wye population of just under 2000 people and was named the very first book town in the world. There are around 24 Hay on Wye bookshops which means there’s a bookshop per every 100 people.
- Hay on Wye in Wales is the number one town to find a gorgeous edition of your favourite book, discover a rare find to read while enjoying some Hay on Wye camping, try an unusual second hand novel in one of the pubs in hay on wye, admire poetry quotes, find maps of everywhere, get your literature freak on at the Hay on Wye book festival, weird things people say in bookshops and observe, like the keen eye of Shaun Bythell, the types and sub types of people you find in bookshops. Buy the book here.
- Hay on Wye is the very first fair-trade town (pop into Eighteen Rabbit to learn and shop fair-trade).
- And what’s great about this place? It doesn’t matter the weather Hay on Wye is the best place to be when it’s raining.
How to Get to Hay on Wye Wales
Hay-on-Wye is right on the border of two countries in the UK but is Hay on Wye in Wales? Absolutely. You’ll notice this with the road signs, Covid rules and several Welsh-only shelves and Welsh book shops in Hay on Wye. See the Hay on Wye map below for how close it really is! It’s part of Brecon Beacons National Park.
Related Post: How to Climb Pen Y Fan in Brecon!
By Car
The best way to get to Hay-On-Wye is to drive with many car parks available and a straight route. Plus the drive through Brecon Beacons is just glorious (why not stop on the way to find the four Brecon waterfalls).
Hay on Wye Postcode: HR3 5AJ for Oxford Road Car Park
Hay on Wye Parking: Oxford Road Car Park is the best option because it is right next to the Hay on Wye tourist information centre, public toilets and the starting point of this self-guided Hay on Wye tour. Another option is the Hay on Wye Car Park but it is only for 2 hour stays. The postcode for that car park is HR3 5EQ.
Find a car hire here:
- Hereford to Hay on Wye takes just 40 minutes in the car. Hereford is the nearest train station to Hay.
- Hay on Wye to Cardiff is 1 and 1/2 hour drive.
- It takes almost 4 hours to get from London to Hay-On-Wye. You could always check out the Hay-on-Wye bookshops online if you’re not stopping on a Wales road trip.
By Bus
The best bus route is getting the number 39, Hay on Wye to Hereford bus which takes an hour.
By Train
The best way to get to Hay on Wye by train is to get the train straight to Hereford and from most places in the UK, the price is usually under £40. Why not use Trainline to find your tickets to Hay today?
Guided Tours
There’s not many guided tours in Hay-on-Wye which is why this self-guided tour is perfect for the organised traveller or bookworm! Check out some of these tours near Hay and visit Hereford or the River Wye:
Hay-on-Wye Map
See below a map of Hay on Wye area. The grey dotted line is the border line; the country to the left is Wales and the country to the right is England. The river Wye runs through both countries and on one of the walks in Hay on Wye you can have one foot in Wales and one in England.
This is a Hay On Wye street map with markers of some of the bookshops on this guided tour.
Don’t forget to pack the essential LP book:
Hay On Wye Bookshops: A Self Guided Tour
Starting at Oxford Road Car Park, cross the road so you are facing the tourist centre and walk through the little lane to the right. Down here you’ll find quirky little stalls, book shelves and information. As you come out the lane, take a right and we arrive at the first bookshop on our Hay bookshop tour!
Tip: At the tourist information centre, pick up a purple Hay-on-Wye bookshops map to help you navigate this self-guided tour.
1. The Addyman Annexe
First on the list is The Addyman Annexe which starts off strong as it has clear signage for its one-way system, interesting browsing area of old books, easy area to pay and a lot of genres that range from contemporary to classic novels. The prices are extremely reasonable with books as little as £1.
The owners of this shop have two other book shops in hay on wye which well visit later: Addyman Books and Murder and Mayhem.
My book purchase: Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Address: 27 Castle Street, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR3 5DE
Website: https://www.addymanbooks.com
Number on purple map: 14
Next, take a right and you can opt to visit Mostly Maps for a souvenir or something you’ve wanted a map of as their selection is huge! The next book store is across the road.
2. Hay Castle Bookshop (Honesty Bookshop Hay on Wye Wales)
How to find Hay Castle honesty bookshop is to go to Mostly Maps shop and cross the road so you are walking with the castle to your right and once you reach a door passage, you’ve made it!
Hay on Wye honesty bookshop is hidden beyond what looks like a door leading to nowhere. Where it actually leads, my friends, is to this glorious little sun trap outside Hay Castle with two covered bookcases and boxes full to the brim with second hand books.
This is also a great spot for Hay on Wye eating after you’ve got your lunch from the outdoor food trucks. My friend and I shared a pizza in the sunshine before rooting through these glorious shelves to find some treasures.
What is an honesty bookshop?
The rule when visiting this 24/7, open-air, unguarded, honesty bookshop is that you leave £1 for every book you take. Simple as that. Note: there is no till and you leave the pounds in a little, locked blue tin box.
Tip: The only place to get cash in the entire place is near Londis Hay on Wye.
My book purchases: Last Night a DJ Saved My Life by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton
Address: Hay Castle, HR3 5DG
Website: https://haycastletrust.org
Number on purple map: No number but look for the castle!
Coming back out of the passage, look across the road and you’ll see the sign for the next Hay bookshop.
3. Hay-On-Wye Booksellers
This one is hard to miss because its exterior has an old black and white frame with large bookshop name signs outside. This exterior reminds me of old homes that belonged to magic folk.
This is an ideal option for collectors with the selection of second hand and antiquarian books. In all of the bookshops Hay on Wye has to offer, this one has a good travel section located upstairs and at the back underneath and opposite the windows.
My book purchases:
- The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
- The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by John Baxter
As you can see, I was loving the travel book options.
Read my travel books reviews here!
Address: 13/14 High Town, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire
Website: www.hayonwyebooksellers.com
Number on purple map: 12
From here, you can walk through the town square where they hold the street food vans, various blue plaques with historical information and the weekly market. If you walk to the right hand side of the market building you’ll reach number 4 on this self-guided tour of Hay bookshops!
Tip: Hay on Wye market day is a Thursday and a great time to visit the town.
4. Clock Tower Books
This little bookshop holds a big selection of book genres that are first and second hand and some that are from Hay on Wye booksellers. Think war, history, Welsh, Children’s and hobby-focused like fishing, photography and architecture.
Address: The Pavement, 5 Market Street, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR3 5AF
Number on purple map: 10
Take a right and then your first left and you’ll come to Green Ink Booksellers shop.
5. Green Ink Booksellers
This was the nicest experience in a book shop I had all day! The staff here were super friendly and helpful, I admired the organisation of the book displays and there were clear sections of book genres with quirky signage.
There was a strong focus on philosophy, psychology and history in this store. Highly recommended on the walking tour.
Books I Purchased: Book Towns by Alex Johnson (featuring none other than Hay-on-Wye)!
Address: Grove House, High Town, Hay on Wye, HR3 5AE
Website: www.greeninkbooksellers.co.uk
Number on purple map: 11
Related Post: Best Cardiff Bookshops to Visit!
Take right outside the shop and right again and you will pass the Londis (and cashpoint). From here, take a left and head to Lion Street for the next few shops.
6. Addyman Books
For one of the best second hand bookshops in Hay-on-Wye, the most beautiful decor in Hay on Wye bookshops, thoughtful areas and helpful staff, visit Addyman Books.
Each of the areas, with comfortable chairs, wild interior design, and thematic spots felt like I was walking through separate book stores. It really added to the vibes of the products. I found a gorgeous design of my favourite book too so I had to get it! Addyman Books deserve your custom.
My favourite book with beautiful cover.
The Great Gatsby Chiltern Edition.
Address: 39 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR3 5AA
Website: https://www.addymanbooks.com
Number on purple map: 9
Directly across the road is the triplet of the Addyman shops: Murder and Mayhem.
7. Murder and Mayhem
The best themed bookshop in Hay-on-Wye is definitely Murder and Mayhem which specialises in, you guessed it, crime, mystery, thriller and horror. You need to get your Halloween reads in this shop. Think Agatha Christie, Mary Shelley, John Grisham and Bram Stoker.
Books Purchased: The Dark Half by Stephen King
Address: 5 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR3 5AA
Number on purple map: 8
Turn left outside Murder and Mayhem and keep walking until you see Eighteen Rabbit on the left for the next book store.
More Hay-On-Wye Bookshops
8. Eighteen Rabbit (Tangled Parrot)
The actual book shop is called Tangled Parrot which is inside Eighteen Rabbit and when you walk in you’ll find the books in their own area.
Tip: Visit Batruns Stationary across the road for all your best book accessories.
Address: 2 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye postcode HR3 5AA
Website: www.tangledparrot.com
Number on purple map: 7
Turn left and cross the road to find the grand bookshop they call Booths Hay on Wye.
9. Richard Booth’s Bookshop (Hay on Wye cinema bookshop)
For the mother of all bookstores in Hay-on-Wye, Booths is the place to go. If you mention Richard Booth Hay on Wye comes to mind and vice versa because he was the man who, in 1961, opened Hay on Wye first bookshop.
The exterior is striking and inviting. Once inside, you are greeted with new releases in the same way as standard bookshops but the deeper you go, the better it gets. There are decorative words on the stairs, handy signs for genres and three floors of thousands of books up for grabs. Get travel at the back on the ground floor and horror in the basement.
If you want to find, in one place, a bookshop, cafe and cinema Hay on Wye has it in Richard Booth’s Bookshop.
Address: 44 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, HR3 5AA
Website: https://www.boothbooks.co.uk
Number on purple map: 6
Cross the road, turn right and walk down this hill: (then the next shop is on your left).
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10. The Poetry Bookshop
Does what it says on the tin, this is the Hay on Wye bookshop for poetry. Fun fact: This is the ONLY bookshop in the UK dedicated solely to Poetry. Tidy.
Address: The Pavement, Lion Street, Hay on Wye, Herefordshire, HR3 5BU
Website: www.poetrybookshop.co.uk
Number on purple map: 5
Take a left and walk through the town past the clock tower and cross the street until you see the small sign for Outcast Books.
11. Outcast Books
This bookshop is a speciality for country life. Down a cute little lane in what looks like an addition to someone’s house.
Address: 15A Broad Street, Hay on Wye, HR3 5DB
Number on purple map: 4
Turn left and on the same street is The Old Electric Shop.
12. The Old Electric Shop
I loved this shop! Not only is it a bookshop but it’s also a vintage homeware and clothes store and a vegetarian cafe. The book section was a humble, eye-pleasing area with contemporary fiction, autobiographies and hobby-focused books.
Address: 10 Broad Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5DB
Website: www.oldelectric.co.uk
Number on purple map: 3
Take a left and on the same street is Broad Street Book Centre.
13. Broad Street Book Centre
This is home to lots of Hay on Wye booksellers and books to choose from. They also have music and a print room available.
Address: 6 Broad Street, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, HR3 5DB
Number on purple map: 2
Walk out of the shop and turn right so you go all the way past the last two shops and keep going down Broad Street. Keep going all the way down Belmont Road and turn right onto Castle Street. From here, you may be able to see the tourist centre but do not turn here, keep going until you see a sign for the Hay Cinema Bookshop.
14. Hay Cinema Bookshop
Okay, I’ve saved one of the best Welsh book shops in Wales until last on this tour of Hay-on-Wye! Everyone talks about the cinema bookshop Hay on Wye has and this is it.
Let me start by saying, it’s HUGE with over 200,000 second hand books here. You can spend hours on end here (which I did)! And their travel section is the best I’ve ever seen.
Tip: Students get 10% discount with valid student card.
Books I Bought:
Address: Castle Street, Hay on Wye, HR3 5DF
Website: www.haycinemabookshop.co.uk
Number on purple map: 17
Other Things to Do in Hay-on-Wye
There are so many other Hay on Wye things to do other than bookshop tour. There’s lots of Hay on Wye restaurants and pubs in Hay on Wye. You can go antique shopping, Hay on Wye walks near River Wye, street food stalls, Hay on Wye Market on a Thursday, explore the history of the town and visit Hay Castle.
Hay on Wye Accommodation
Search below to find Hay on Wye hotels or go straight to booking.com here.
Booking.comAnd herein ends the self-guided bookshop tour of Hay-on-Wye!
Did you know? Hay-on-Wye is linked with Timbuktu!
Thanks for reading my Hay-on-Wye bookshops self-guided tour route!
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