Snowdonia Mountains and Coast Brochure
Activity and Attractions Guide (PDF, 2.01MB)
Another local attractions website: Welcome to Snowdonia
Pwllheli is a lovely little town with shops and banks. The station there is still open so you could consider a ride to Harlech or Barmouth. Myself, I would stay in Llyn. The sea front at Pwllheli is not like a traditional resort as its about half a mile form the town itself but it is sandy and there are pleasant walks by the sea. Try walking to Gimblet Rock.
If you are wanting to walk along the sea front try Criccieth with its two beaches and ruined castle. Go and find Cadwallader’s Ice Cream Parlour. The fish and chip shop just up the hill on the opposite side of the road comes highly recommended.
• Visit Portmeirion, the setting of the cult 60s TV show, The Prisoner. This is a fantasy village built by the quirky architect Clough Williams Ellis. It is a photogrpaher’s delight. There are some beautiful walks round the grounds.
• Go for a ride on either the Welsh Highland Railway or the Ffestiniog Railway. Scenically both are very good.
The Welsh Highland is a newly opened narrow gauge steam railway built on the trackbed of a line which closed in the 1930s. It is a marvellous run along the flanks of Snowdon, through Beddgelert and the Pass of Aberglaslyn. Line runs from Caernarfon to Porthmadog
The Ffestiniog Railway is a heritage narrow gauge steam railway which carried slate from the hills above Blaenau Ffesiniog to the slate wharves at Porthmadog. Think about breaking journey at Tan y Bwlch were there is a good cafe and a nice walk down the nature trail to the lake you see from the train.
• Visit the Llechwedd slate caverns at Blaenau Ffestiniog. There are two rides you can go on here - the deep mine and the miner’s tramway. Both are very different.
• Visit Beddgelert and go and find Gelert’s Grave.
• Spend a day exploring the Llyn Peninsula.
Visit Llanbedrog for Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Art Gallery and Aberdaron, with its beautiful old church on the beach. Look for the bakers in the tin hut as you drop down the road into the village, His scones are excellent, especially eaten overlooking the beach. Y Gegin Fawr in the village does meals and snacks. Drive to the coastguard station on the headland where there are some glorious walks. Go and find Porth Oer beach, at low tide one of the most beautiful on the peninsula with sand an, rocks and rock pools, The National Trust have a small cafe and shop by the beach. Go and find Garn. Park at the chapel and follow the track beside it, go through the gate and follow the footpath to the top of Madryn for one of the best views of the peninsula. Stop at Morfa Nefyn and walk along the beach (at low tide) to Porth Dinllaen and Ty Coch Inn and the lifeboat station. End up at Llithfaen and take the turn at the crossroads in the centre of the village to Nant Gwrtheyrn - an abandoned village in the 1970s following the closure of the quarries. The redundant houses, offices, chapel and shops constructed during the quarry’s heyday between 1860 and 1920,when over 2,000 men worked the granite, had fallen into rack and ruin.
Nant Gwrtheyrn . Leave the car in the car park and walk down the road. The village has been restored as a Welsh Language Centre. From the car park you can also walk to the iron age hill fort of Tre’r Ceiri with the remains of hut circles and stone wall
I forgot to mention the Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog which brews excellent real ale.
You should be able to sample this in Spooner's Bar on the Ffestiniog Railway Station. This is a regular CAMRA pub of the season/year winner and serves a range of real ale.
The cafe on the station serves meals and snacks and Spooner's serves evening meals.
Enjoy - stunning part of the country