While Number18 in Crickhowell is nice for a coffee, Askews bakery a few doors up is the cake Mecca.
If you go west along the A465 to Hirwaun there are a few nicer places to stay, and the Penderyn distillery is a little north. Merthyr council are doing a lot to boost the tourism in the area. Look at Visitwales.com
Disclaimer. I work for them.

Try and find a nice B&B in the Gurnos estate in Merthyr.
It’s nice there.

EDIT: Really don’t go there.I was joking.

There’s been plenty of petty crime and unemployment in Merthyr for years but I’d take that over major gun and drug crimes in all cities any day.
A holiday destination it’s not, but if its a couple of days riding and somewhere to sleep your after then you’ll find what you want.

i’ve lived in south wales all my life and spent the biggest part of the last 5 years working all over the uk, compared to most city’s i’ve worked in merthyr is a rural paradise, if you want to experience true filthy shithole estates try nottingham, derby, oxford, liverpool, aberdeen, dundee, northhampton, sheffield, leeds, birmingham or reading. the gurnos estate would be considered upper middle class in most of the above mentioned towns and cities.

Holy cow, this has to be a troll? Merthyr for a holiday? Did you even google image it?

Every city and large town in the uk has rough areas and Merthyr is no worse.

having worked all over the world, Merthyr is the only place we’ve had company vehicles firebomed on a clients site by bored locals. (this includes working in liberia during the 90’s and sierra leone)

yes there are rough areas everywhere but Merthyr, rhymney and bits of ebbw vale are a special kind of hive of scum and villainy

no, i’ll take MT and any of the other place that tazzymtb mentions over any of the above named shitholes east of the line.

No, not a troll. We fancied a trail centre oriented holiday and Merthyr has had a lot of development. I’m going to Tal y Bont for a few days in Sept. Will ride the natural stuff round there then.

We want a few days at BPW, a day a Brechfa, a trip to Cwm Rhyder, a go on that new blue/black one and a day at Afan. Trying to find somewhere nice to stay that will keep the travelling down.

Anyone done similar to the above? Where did you stay?

I live 15 mins from Bikepark its such a chore lol! Amazing place to ride, Merthyr has a bad rep and isn’t really that bad although there are pubs that are best avoided. If you want more quaint surroundings try anywhere in the Brecon Beacons area.

You could stay in Cardiff or Swansea and have a 35-45 minute drive to MT.

Lots of places around and in Merthyr that will be fine to stay.