Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon (A nation without a language is a nation without a heart)
Old Welsh Proverbs
The picturesque mountains and beaches of northern Wales make perfect road trip material. We only live two hours from the Wales border, so we hopped in the car and celebrated the unofficial end of summer, Labor Day weekend, exploring little towns, stunning castles, and beautiful landscapes.
Here is our Top 10 list of places we visited:
10) Llandudno and Conwy Castle
Llandudno is a cute, coastal town with a nice boardwalk along the waterfront.
The highlight for us here was definitely the fresh seafood. I went back for seconds! Fresh lobster, shrimp, and crab…
After a quick stroll and bite to eat, we were on our way again as there wasn’t much else in town aside from a cable car ride that did not sound fun on a windy, chilly day. However, nearby is Conwy Castle, and we were able to catch some great views from the road.
We didn’t go inside this one as we had lots of great castles along our route to explore.
9) Holyhead Point
Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey is the most western point in northern Wales, so we headed out there for our first sunset and dinner. With an Instagram-worthy lighthouse, this is a great place for a quick photo stop (like we did) or for a picnic and hike as we saw many others doing.
Although the views from the point were fantastic, Holyhead didn’t claim a top spot on our list as we were disappointed by the restaurant and bar options. We were hoping to find a lovely water view restaurant to watch the sunset and enjoy a cocktail and fresh seafood. The only two restaurants near the water were by an ugly harbor, and their fresh fish options were surprisingly dismal. We ended up at an Indian restaurant instead in the town center.
8) Newborough Beach and Llanddwyn Island
Newborough Beach is known to be one of the nicest golden sand beaches in the UK, and the beach is popular for long walks because, along with the golden beach, the view of the mountains in Snowdonia National Park across the water is breathtaking.
We ended up coming on a cloudy day at high tide, so most of the beach was covered up while clouds blocked our view of the mountains. Otherwise, we may have bumped this up the list. The highlight at the end of this walk is Llandwyn Island with its photogenic lighthouse built in the late 1800s.
Unfortunately, due to high tide, we couldn’t cross over to walk around the famous island (technically becomes a peninsula at low tide). But we still thought the views at this spot were pretty.
7) Betwsy-y-Coed
Betws-Y-Coed is a small village with a picturesque stream running through it that many people use as their base for exploring Snowdonia National Park.
Along with being a scenic town, the Welsh won us over with their food here too. We had lunch at The Grill Room of the Royal Oak Hotel and tried one of their traditional dishes, Welsh rarebit.
Welsh rarebit is toasted, thick-cut bread smothered in a savory cheese sauce made with ale, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Absolutely delicious! We shared that as an appetizer, and then I enjoyed a smoked bacon loin chop with fried eggs (and yes, it tasted like a giant piece of bacon) while Jimmy ate a chicken and leek pie for our mains. For dessert, we grabbed hot Welsh cakes straight off the griddle at a local shop. However, our favorite Welsh cakes from the trip we actually found from a local bakery sold at a convenience store.
Perfect road trip food! We thought these were similar to the British scone but with a bit softer texture.
6) Beaumaris Castle
Beaumaris Castle is known for its impressive symmetry and being the greatest castle never built. This was supposed to be the crowning glory of King Edward I and his architect James of St George on the Isle of Anglesey. They had already built Conwy and Caernafaron and were planning a masterpiece with 4 concentric ring wall defenses and an outer moat. But with trouble brewing in Scotland in the early 1300s and a loss in funding, the project never was completed.
Although the six towers never reached their intended height, the highlight visiting this castle is walking the top of the castle walls as you get great views over the Strait of Menai and Snowdonia National Park mountains.
The squat shape of this castle tells the story of a dream castle that never came true, but the beautiful symmetry and impressive defenses (the outer wall alone had 300 arrow loops) may still well be the greatest achievement for the famous military architect.
5) Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Pontcysyllte Aquaduct was an engineering feat when it was built between 1795 and 1805. There are 18 piers made of local stone and cast iron that carry the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee for use by narrowboats. We just took a quick walk across to check it out, but there is an option to ride one of the canal boats. This navigable aqueduct is the highest canal aqueduct in the world and a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site.
4) Watkins waterfall
Snowdonia National Park has some of the most iconic hikes in the UK including trekking to the top of the highest peak in Wales, Snowdon. With so much to see and do in northern Wales on a quick weekend trip, we opted to not spend an entire day hiking to the top, but we did go far enough up one of the paths to enjoy the beautiful Watkins Path waterfall.
We were lucky to catch some sheep grazing nearby, so we decided to plop down for a little snack too. Not too shabby of a view for a picnic.
3) Portmeirion
Portmeirion is an Italian-inspired village built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975. This resort village is a magical place to spend an evening. Our room was in this colorful building with a tower and gorgeous views over the estuary of the River Dwyryd.
We ate dinner at the castle on the outskirts of the village. The cuisine was on point, and we decided Welsh cuisine doesn’t get enough hype. I had the roasted lamb shoulder, which just fell off the bone and melted in my mouth. Quite possibly one of the best lamb dishes I’ve ever had.
For dessert, Jimmy got a “posh” Eton Mess. This typical British dessert is normally messy layers of broken meringue, berries, and whipped double cream. Here, they served it deconstructed and beautifully arranged on the plate. We had a good laugh when a little old British woman eating nearby chatted with us when she saw the dessert and called it “posh”.
After dinner, we enjoyed a walk through the castle gardens followed by a stroll through the quiet village lit up at night. In the morning, we walked stairs down the cliffside to have breakfast in the manor house by the shore.
Here is the view looking back up from the manor house to the village and the tower above our room.
After breakfast, we took a leisurely walk around town to admire the architecture and soak in the Italian vibe while on holiday in Wales.
2) Caernafon Castle
Caernarfon Castle was our favorite of all the castles we saw in northern Wales and is known as one of the greatest buildings of the Middle Ages. This fortress-palace on the banks of the River Seiont was built by King Edward I and his military architect Master James of St George in the late 1200s.
We underestimated how much there was to see in this castle and actually ran out of time, but we definitely got through the highlights. We loved exploring the Eagle Tower. This 3-turreted tower with 18-feet-thick walls is the largest of the castle and the birthplace of Edward of Caernarfon, the first English Prince of Wales, in 1284 to King Edward I and his queen Eleanor.
The climb to the top of the turrets affords a wonderful view over the quaint town and waterways, which definitely helped win us over to make this UNESCO World Heritage site a clear Top 3 highlight from our road trip.
1) Llyn Idwal
The top spot on our northern Wales road trip goes to the loop trail and hikes around the brilliant lake, Llyn Idwal.
Not only is this one of the most visually stunning hikes in Wales (and perhaps even the UK), we also lucked out to see the wild, pint-sized mountain ponies.
This hike took our breath away, and we were surprised that Scotland gets so much more hype for its scenery. Wales is gorgeous!
A road trip through this country is perfect as there are stunning views, awe-inspiring castles, and quaint villages around every corner. The people are friendly here, and the language itself can provide some entertainment trying to figure out the proper pronunciation. Wales has the longest place name in Europe and 2nd longest in the world, so of course, we had to swing by the village’s train stop. We will leave you with the picture and mission to try to pronounce this name and figure out its meaning.
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