Exploring Wales

Snowdonia National Park includes the beautiful Snowdonia Mountain range in Gwynedd County. There are fourteen peaks with the most famous being Snowdon. The summit can be reached by train. The park is a popular destination for hiking, climbing, mountain biking, and horse riding.

Portmeirion is a lovely hotel resort and visitor attraction on the coast of Snowdonia National Park. It was built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975. The resort was designed to look like a quaint Italian fishing village. There are comfortable overnight accomodations. Visitors can enjoy the beautiful gardens and fountains.

Not far from the national park you'll find Beddgelert and Betws-y-Coed. These are two beautiful riverside villages with B&Bs, guesthouses, inns, tearooms, and restaurants.

Beddgelert is popular with hikers who use the village as a base to access trails and paths of Snowdon.

Betws-y-Coed is also a good base for taking on Snowdonia adventures. There are impressive historic building and you can walk to nearby waterfalls among them Conwy Falls.

Brecon Beacons National Park is a paradise for hikers taking on the Black Mountains. The park has many caves and waterfalls to explore. Recreational activities include mountain biking, horse riding, canoeing, sailing, fishing, climbing, and camping.

One of the highlights is Henrhyd Falls.

Devil's Bridge is located near the seaside town of Aberystwyth. It is actually three bridges stacked atop of each other spanning the Rheidol Gorge, where River Mynach plunges 300 feet into the valley below.

You can take the Falls Nature Trail to the bottom.

Hafod Estate is surrounded by woodlands and 18th century gardens. The manor house is gaone but there are well-marked trails for hiking. Visitors enjoy the waterfalls, ancient trees, and the old, walled formal gardens.

Old Hawthorn Cottage provides quaint and comfortable accommodations.

Caernarfon Castle was built by King Edward in the 13th century as the seat for the first Prince of Wales. The large castle has 13 towers and two gates and is one of the most impressive and best-preserved medieval fortresses in Europe.

The small town of Conwy offers visitors views of the Conwy Castle and River Conwy with a suspension bridge.

The National Trust's Aberconwy House is Conwy's only surviving 14th century merchant's house.

Wales has a coastline on three sides. There is the coastline along Pembrokeshire Peninsula jutting out into the Irish Sea.

Much of it is within the boundaries of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

The scenery is magnificent walking along the Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail.

Other highlights on the Pembrokeshire coast include Pembroke Castle.

St. David's Cathedral

There are lovely fishing harbors like Laughame, where Welsh poet Dylan Thomas spent much of his life.

His boathouse home is now a museum.

Bodnant Garden has grand formal terraces and great views across River Conwy toward Snowdonia and the famous Laburnum Arch.

See the Georgian Pin Mill which was moved to this spot from Gloucestershire.

It took ten years to design and build the aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the wide valley of the River Dee in northeast Wales. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 18-arched bridge is built of stone and cast iron and is one of the longest navigable aqueducts in Great Britain and the highest in the world. A narrow walkway with a railing lets people cross the bridge.

Horse-drawn canal boats take tourists on a tree-shaded stretch of the canal from Llangollen Wharf.

The Isle of Anglesey is seperated from mainland Wales by the Menai Strait. It is spanned by the Menai Suspension Bridge. Anglesey has many quaint fishing villages.

Among the best-known landmarks is the South Stack Lighthouse.