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North Wales & the Isle of Anglesey

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ORDNANCE SURVEY

You can plan your holidays around the children or you can de-stress by heading for those proverbial hills. By a happy coincidence, North Wales caters for both possibilities, blessed with bucket-and-spade beaches as well as snow-tipped mountains, sheltered valleys and shimmering lakes.

Porth Neigwl, Llyn Peninsula - © Wales Tourist Board

It’s the kind of landscape that implores you to abandon the car in favour of more intimate forms of transport; it matters not whether you walk or cycle as long as you breathe the air and touch the soil.

Here are some of Britain’s most beautiful vistas, from ocean views to neck-straining panoramas, from formidable castles and hillforts to historic stately homes and blue-rinsed bays.

The more isolated beauty spots held a strong attraction for the painter Turner but he was just one of many leading artists who felt compelled to immortalise the place in oils, verse and prose.

It is the mountains which define this ancient, sheep-grazed terrain, from the statuesque Berwyns of the Dee Valley – with its peat-stained waterfall at Pistyll – to Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales.

Part wilderness, Snowdonia National Park covers over 800 sq miles and includes both Snowdon at 3,650ft and the five-peaked massif of Cadir Idris.

As well as ever-changing skies, the Park boasts lowland woods, glacial lakes, dunes and heart-thumping scenery.

View from Snowdon - © Wales Tourist Board

Famously explored by 18^th century geologists and botanists, it welcomes over 14 million visitors each year. They can enjoy some 2,000 miles of designated paths and 23 miles of Cambrian coast.

Phllheli, Llyn Peninsula - © Wales Tourist Board

The region’s coastline has some of Britain’s most popular, traditional coastal holiday towns. Wealthy Victorians led the way in their headlong pursuit of sandy beaches and fresh air and the coast has a number of grand resorts replete with swell-washed piers and evocative buildings.

Coming to prominence with the arrival of steam power and the locomotive, they range from traditional resorts such as Barmouth and Criccieth to the sailing centre of Abersoch and evergreen hotspots like Llandudno – famous for its Great Orme – Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Pwllheli (home of both Plaid Cymru and a large Butlins site).

Inland are hundreds of likely destinations, including sedate Llangollen with its river views, canal trips and steam railway, not to mention its annual international music festival and a 14^th century bridge dubbed one of the ‘Seven Wonders of North Wales’.

National Eisteddfod, Meifod 2003
- © Wales Tourist Board

Llanbedrog, Llyn Peninsula - © Wales Tourist Board
Llanbedrog, Llyn Peninsula -
© Wales Tourist Board

The ancient hill fort of Dinas Emrys has legendary links to Merlin and still exudes a unique magic while the Italianate village of Portmeirion, built in the 1920s by architect Clough Williams-Ellis, is literally fantastic. It has since become famous as the setting of the cult TV series "The Prisoner".

Sweet-natured Betsws-y-Coed boasts a boiling river and the wonderful Swallow Falls and close by is Blaenau Ffestiniog offering darkly-atmospheric slate caverns. The Welsh Slate Museum at Llanberis also celebrates the importance of slate.

While visitors can choose to travel on numerous narrow gauge railways there is history galore round every corner; from Neolithic burial chambers to the largest – and oldest – prehistoric copper mine in Europe.

Meanwhile, the 150-mile earthwork that is Offa’s Dyke, at the eastern edge of the province, was once the violent frontier between England and Wales.

It was Edward I who left an enduring legacy of castle building in the 13^th century. His ‘ring of iron’ includes castles at Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris – all part of a continual war for control of Wales that has raged since Roman times.

The rivalry took an astonishing twist in the 15^th century when Owain Glyndwr, self-declared Prince of Wales, temporarily defeated the English and even won control of the immense fortress at Harlech. His victory may have been short-lived but it restored a sense of Welsh pride.

Conwy Castle - © Wales Tourist Board
Conwy Castle - © Wales Tourist Board

Although today’s North Wales still looks mostly rural, it underwent immense change when the brilliant Scottish-born engineer Thomas Telford drove a road from Holyhead to London
in the early 19^th century, crossing both valley and mountain alike.

He also designed the breathtaking, 126ft high Pontcysyllte Aqueduct as well as the wrought-iron Menai Suspension Bridge linking the mainland to Anglesey.

Tourist Information Centres:

ABERDYFI (ABERDOVEY)
The Wharf Gardens, Aberdyfi, Gwynedd, LL35 0ED
Tel: 01654 767321 Fax: 01654 767321
E-mail: tic.aberdyfi@eryri-npa.gov.uk

BALA
Penllyn, Pensarn Road, Bala, LL23 7SR
Tel: 01678 521021 Fax: 01678 521021
E-mail: bala.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

BANGOR
Town Hall, Deiniol Rd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2R
Tel: 01248 352786 Fax: 01248 352786
E-mail: Bangor.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

BARMOUTH
The Old Library, Station Road, Barmouth, Gwynedd, LL42 1LU
Tel: 01341 280787 Fax: 01341 280787
E-mail: barmouth.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

BEDDGELERT
Canolfan Hebog, Beddgelert, Gwynedd, LL55 4YD
Tel: 01766 890615 Fax: 01766 890615
E-mail: tic.beddgelert@eryri-npa.gov.uk

BETWS Y COED
Royal Oak Stables, Betws y Coed, Conwy, LL24 0AH
Tel: 01690 710426 Fax: 01690 710665
E-mail: ticbetws@hotmail.com

BLAENAU FFESTINIOG
Unit 3, High Street, Blaenau Ffestiniog, LL41 3HS
Tel: 01766 830360 Fax: 01766 830360
E-mail: ticblanenau@eryri-npa.com
Seasonal.

CAERNARFON
Oriel Pendeitsh, Castle Street, Caernarfon, LL55 1ES
Tel: 01286 672232 Fax: 01286 678209
E-mail: caernarfon.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

COLWYN BAY
Imperial Buildings, Station Square, Princes Drive, Colwyn Bay, LL29 8LF
Tel: 01492 530478 Fax: 01492 534789
E-mail: colwynbay@nwtic.com

CONWAY
Conwy Castle Visitor Centre, Conwy, LL32 8LD
Tel: 01492 592248 Fax: 01492 573545
E-mail: conwy@nwtic.com
Seasonal.

DOLGELLAU
Ty Meirion, Eldon Square, Dolgellau, LL40 1PU
Tel: 01341 422888 Fax: 01341 422576
E-mail: ticdolgellau@hotmail.com

HARLECH
Gwyddfor House, High Street, Harlech, LL46 2YA
Tel: 01766 780658 Fax: 01766 780658
E-mail: ticharlech@hotmail.com

HOLYHEAD
Penrhos Beach Road, Holyhead, LL65 2QB
Tel: 01407 762622. Fax: 01407 761462
E-mail: tic.harlech@eryi-npa.gov.uk

LLANBERIS
41b High Street, Llanberis, LL55 4EU
Tel: 01286 870765 Fax: 01286 871924
E-mail: llanberis.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

LLANDUDNO
1-2 Chapel Street, Llandudno, LL30 2YU
Tel: 01492 876413 Fax: 01492 872722
E-mail: llandudnotic@conwy.gov.uk

LLANFAIRPWLL
Station Site, Llanfairpwll, LL61 5UJ
Tel: 01248 713177 Fax: 01248 715711
E-mail: llanfairpwll.tic@virgin.net

LLANGOLLEN
Town Hall, Castle Street, Llangollen, LL20 5PD
Tel: 01978 860828 Fax: 01978 861563
E-mail: llangollen@nwtic.com

MACHYNLLETH
Canolfan Owain Glyndwr, Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 8EE
Tel: 01654 702401 Fax: 01654 703675
E-mail: mactic@mail.powys.gov.uk

MOLD
Library, Museum & Art Gallery, Earl Road, Mold, CH7 1AP
Tel: 01352 759331 Fax: 01352 759331
E-mail: mold@nwtic.com
Seasonal.

PORTHMADOG
Y Ganolfan, High Street, Porthmadog, LL49 9LD
Tel: 01766 512981 Fax: 01766 515312
E-mail: porthmadog.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

PRESTATYN
Offa's Dyke Centre, Central Beach, Prestatyn, LL19 7EY
Tel: 01745 889092
Seasonal.

PWLLHELI
Min y Don, Station Square, Pwllheli, LL53 5HG
Tel: 01758 613000 Fax: 01758 701651
E-mail: pwllheli.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk

RHOS ON SEA
The Promenade, Rhos on Sea, LL28 4EP
Tel: 01492 548778 Fax: 01492 548778

RHYL
Rhyl Childrens Village, West Parade, Rhyl, LL18 1HZ
Tel: 01745 355068 Fax: 01745 342255
E-mail: rhyl.tic@denbighshire.gov.uk

RUTHIN
Ruthin Craft Centre, Park Road, Ruthin, LL15 1BB
Tel: 01824 703992

TYWYN
High Street, Tywyn, LL36 9AD
Tel: 01654 710070 Fax: 01654 710070
E-mail: tywyn.tic@gwynedd.gov.uk
Seasonal.

WREXHAM
Lambpit Street, Wrexham, LL11 1WN
Tel: 01978 292015 Fax: 01978 292467
E-mail: tic@wrexham.gov.uk

Useful Links:

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