Wales' history and culture have been exploited to attract tourists. The scars of the industrial revolution and its industrial heritage can still be seen on parts of the Welsh landscape today. The Museum of Welsh Life, which focuses largely on the industrial past of Wales, is currently the most popular tourist attraction in Wales, attracting over 600,000 visitors annually. Other historical destinations, such as the many castles across Wales, such as Caernarfon Castle or Caerphilly Castle — most of them built to either enable or to consolidate English conquest of Wales, during the reign of the English king Edward I — also attract large numbers of tourists.

The varied landscape of Wales also helps tourism. There are three national parks in Wales, the Brecon Beacons National Park, Snowdonia National Park and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Popular activities at the national parks include hill walking, hiking, canoeing, hang gliding, kayaking and climbing. Wales is also becoming increasingly popular for 'extreme' sports, such as surfing, mountain biking and downhill cycling (in which Wales hosts the 'Dragon Downhill Series'). The terrain of Wales has also attracted the World Rally Championship (WRC). The Wales Rally GB is held annually. The 2005 Wales Rally GB saw the first WRC stage to be set indoors, at the Millennium Stadium.

In Cardiff, the regenerated Cardiff Bay area is one of the most popular destinations.

Another increasingly popular reason for going to Wales, as with the rest of the UK — especially by those from North America — is genealogy, with many visitors coming to Wales to explore their family and ancestral roots. 1.8 million United States citizens are estimated to have Welsh ancestral roots, including former presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.