Snowdonia is the mountain country of north-west Wales: a national park holding all 15 Welsh summits over 3,000 feet, among them Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), at 1,085 metres the highest point in Wales and England, along with the slate quarries that 'roofed the world' and the castles Edward I built to hold the land. Since November 2022 the park authority has used only its Welsh name, Eryri, though most visitors still search for Snowdonia. Visiting Caernarfon Castle is on the United Kingdom page; this page covers the mountain on foot or by train, the slate country from Penrhyn to Llechwedd, the railways out of Porthmadog, Portmeirion, and the castles of Conwy and Harlech.
Plan transport before anything else. In the 2026 season, which ran to 1 November, the Pen y Pass car park at the foot of the Pyg Track was pre-book only, from £25, and parking in the Ogwen Valley is extremely limited, while the Sherpa'r Wyddfa buses reach the start of every path to the summit. The National Slate Museum in Llanberis has been closed for redevelopment since November 2024, so for slate history go underground at Llechwedd.
Climb Yr Wyddfa by the Pyg Track or the Llanberis Path
Pen y Pass and Llanberis
About 6 hours by the Pyg Track, 7 by the Llanberis PathFree
Join more than 600,000 walkers a year on the highest mountain in Wales, first glimpsing Llyn Llydaw from Bwlch y Moch.
What it is
More than 600,000 people a year climb Yr Wyddfa, at 1,085 metres the highest mountain in Wales, by six main paths. Two suit a first ascent, and both are graded hard.
How to do it
The Pyg Track starts at Pen y Pass, climbs to Bwlch y Moch for the first view of Llyn Llydaw, then joins the Llanberis Path at Bwlch Glas for the summit: 11 km there and back, about 6 hours, rocky and steep. The Llanberis Path, from the far end of Victoria Terrace in Llanberis, is longer, 14.5 km and about 7 hours, but climbs more gradually. In the 2026 season, to 1 November, Pen y Pass parking was pre-book only, from £25, so many walkers arrive on the Sherpa'r Wyddfa buses; check the rules for your dates.
Good to know
Do not take the turning onto Crib Goch, a knife-edge ridge with no escape route.
Time needed
About 6 hours by the Pyg Track, 7 by the Llanberis Path
Ride the 1896 rack railway from Llanberis to the summit
Llanberis
About 2.5 hours return, with 30 minutes at the summitTimed entry
Ride a rack railway that has climbed towards the summit of Yr Wyddfa since 1896, past a waterfall and the drop into Rocky Valley.
What it is
The Snowdon Mountain Railway has climbed 4.75 miles from Llanberis towards the summit of Yr Wyddfa since 1896, past the Ceunant Mawr waterfall, Halfway station and the drop into Rocky Valley. The Heritage Steam Experience runs in reconstructed carriages built on 1896 chassis and pushed by original Swiss locomotives.
How to do it
The return takes about 2.5 hours, with 30 minutes at Hafod Eryri, the summit visitor centre, and the cairn. In 2026 an adult diesel return to the summit cost £45 off peak and £48 at peak times; the Heritage Steam Experience cost from £62. Online bookings carry a £4 fee, and you should arrive an hour before departure.
Good to know
Diesel trains reach the summit from about May to late October; earlier in the season, or in high winds, they stop at Clogwyn, three-quarters of the way up. Trains can sell out weeks ahead in fine weather.
Time needed
About 2.5 hours return, with 30 minutes at the summit
Fly the Velocity zip line over Penrhyn slate quarry
Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda
About 2 hours from check-inBook ahead
Fly head-first over a flooded slate quarry at up to 100 mph on a zip line billed as the world's fastest.
What it is
At the end of the 19th century Penrhyn, near Bethesda, was the world's largest slate quarry, worked by nearly 3,000 men; since 2021 it has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Zip World now flies people head-first over its flooded pit on Velocity, formerly Velocity 2, billed as the world's fastest zip line and the UK's longest: just over a mile at up to 100 mph, in about 50 seconds, with up to four riders side by side.
How to do it
Allow around 2 hours: check in 30 minutes early, kit up, try the little zip, then ride a red ex-army truck 3 km up the quarry to the start. Prices start at £99 plus a £5 booking fee.
Good to know
Riders must be at least 1.2 m tall and weigh up to 130 kg, and under-18s need an adult.
Walk the towers of Conwy Castle and the town walls
Conwy
No booking needed
Climb Edward I's castle, then walk the free town walls, three quarters of a mile with 21 towers.
What it is
Edward I and his architect Master James of St George built Conwy Castle and its town walls in about four and a half years from March 1283, and the castle holds the most complete surviving set of medieval royal apartments in Wales, with a Great Hall that still stands to its full height and a Royal Chapel in the North East Tower. The wall walks look over Eryri behind and the harbour below. Plas Mawr, nearby, is one of the finest surviving Elizabethan town houses.
How to do it
Check opening times and prices before you go; a joint ticket also covers Plas Mawr. Then climb the town walls, free apart from the sections inside the castle: three quarters of a mile with 21 towers and three gateways.
Good to know
The steep climb to the Upper Gate is worth it for the view.
Wander Clough Williams-Ellis's Italianate village at Portmeirion
Minffordd, near Porthmadog
Book ahead
Wander a coloured village of domes, colonnades and salvaged buildings that played The Village in The Prisoner.
What it is
Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis bought a neglected estate above the Dwyryd estuary in 1925 and kept building Portmeirion until 1973: a coloured village of domes, colonnades and buildings salvaged from demolition sites, which he called 'a home for fallen buildings'. It became world famous as The Village in The Prisoner, the 1960s series with Patrick McGoohan, and fans still hold a convention here every year. The Gwyllt woodland adds some 19 miles of paths, a Japanese garden and about 70 varieties of rhododendron.
How to do it
In the 2026 main season, 23 March to 1 November, adults paid £20; entry runs from 9:30 to 17:00, or 16:30 in winter, and online tickets carry an arrival slot. Minffordd station, on the Cambrian Coast line and the Ffestiniog Railway, is 1.5 miles away.
Ride the slate trains from Porthmadog to Blaenau or Beddgelert
Porthmadog Harbour station
About 3 hours return to Blaenau, 2 hours 40 minutes to BeddgelertBook ahead
Ride narrow gauge slate trains round the spiral at Dduallt to Blaenau, or along a ledge high above the Aberglaslyn Pass.
What it is
The Festiniog Railway Company, founded by Act of Parliament in 1832, is the oldest surviving railway company in the world, and its 13.5-mile narrow gauge line was built to bring slate down from Blaenau Ffestiniog to the ships at Porthmadog. The Welsh Highland Railway runs 25 miles to Caernarfon.
How to do it
Both railways leave Porthmadog Harbour station. The Mountain Spirit crosses the Cob embankment and climbs the Vale of Ffestiniog, round the spiral at Dduallt, to Blaenau: about 3 hours return, with Pullman observation cars, from £49.75 for adults in 2026. The Aberglaslyn follows the Welsh Highland through a tunnel and onto a ledge high above the river in the Aberglaslyn Pass to Beddgelert: 2 hours 40 minutes return, £43. Children pay a flat £5.
Good to know
Booking online, with a 6% fee, guarantees your seat.
Time needed
About 3 hours return to Blaenau, 2 hours 40 minutes to Beddgelert
Go 500 feet underground in the Llechwedd slate caverns
Llechwedd, Blaenau Ffestiniog
About 1.5 hoursBook ahead
Go down 90 steps to some 500 feet below ground, through 10 chambers to an underground lake with a light show and a miners' song.
What it is
Blaenau Ffestiniog, the town that 'roofed the world', is ringed by slate tips, and the national park boundary was drawn around it rather than through it. At Llechwedd, in its day one of the world's largest slate quarries, the Deep Mine has taken visitors underground since 1979. Zip World reimagined the tour in 2025: a guide leads you down 90 steps to some 500 feet below the surface, through 10 chambers where projections tell the miners' stories, ending at an underground lake with a light show and a song sung by Llechwedd miners.
How to do it
Allow about 1.5 hours. Tickets start at £29 plus a £5 booking fee, and booking more than 30 days ahead saves at least 5%.
Good to know
The minimum age is 5, everyone must be able to walk the route, and you need warm clothes and sturdy shoes.
Time needed
About 1.5 hours
Best time
Any day, rain or shine: it is 6 to 8°C underground all year
Cross the bridges of Betws-y-Coed and see Swallow Falls
Betws-y-Coed
45 minutes for the bridges walk, plus the fallsNo booking needed
Loop over the bridges of the 'prayer-house in the wood', then watch a rock split the water like a swallow's tail.
What it is
Betws-y-Coed, the 'prayer-house in the wood', grew into a resort after Thomas Telford's London to Holyhead road, now the A5, came through in 1815, followed by the railway in 1868. The boom in visiting painters such as Turner and David Cox led to the founding of the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1881. Upstream, at Swallow Falls, Rhaeadr Ewynnol, a rock splits the water like a swallow's tail.
How to do it
The park authority's Betws-y-coed Bridges walk is an easy 3.6 km loop, about 45 minutes, from the Cae Llan car park through woods and over the River Llugwy. Then head upstream to Swallow Falls. Conwy Valley line trains and the S1 bus stop in the village.
Good to know
Entry to the falls is paid: the council started charging in 1913, when the landowner gave it the falls, to pay off the village's water and electricity debt.
Walk round Llyn Idwal in the glacial bowl of Cwm Idwal
Ogwen Valley
About 2 hours for the 5 km circuitFree
Walk round a lake in a glacial bowl of 450-million-year-old cliffs where Darwin found fossil sea creatures.
What it is
Cwm Idwal, at the head of the Ogwen Valley, is a glacial bowl of 450-million-year-old cliffs around Llyn Idwal, one of the UK's best hanging valleys and the first National Nature Reserve in Wales; Charles Darwin found fossil sea creatures in its rocks. In spring and summer, look on the crags for Ice Age survivors such as Lili'r Wyddfa, the Snowdon lily.
How to do it
The park authority's 5 km circuit starts at the Ogwen Centre, climbs 140 metres and takes about 2 hours. Take the T10 bus from Bangor to the Llyn Ogwen stop, a minute from the start.
Good to know
The full loop rises steeply towards Twll Du, the Devil's Kitchen, over loose rock and boulders, but a shorter path round the lake avoids it. Parking is extremely limited, and the Ogwen Centre car park costs £6 a day, card only.
Time needed
About 2 hours for the 5 km circuit
Best time
Spring and summer, when the Snowdon lily may flower on the crags
Follow the Gelert legend through Beddgelert to the hound's grave
Beddgelert
1 to 2 hours, or a day with the trainFree
Walk to the grave of the hound from one of Wales's best-known legends, then read who really made it.
What it is
Beddgelert, whose name means 'Gelert's grave', trades on one of Wales's best-known legends: Prince Llywelyn comes home from hunting to find the cradle overturned and his hound Gelert's mouth bloody, kills the dog, then hears his baby crying, unharmed, beside a wolf Gelert had killed. The grave is a plot marked with stones in a field below the hills. Glaslyn Ices is the famous ice cream stop.
How to do it
Walk to the grave just south of the village. Come on the Welsh Highland Railway through the Aberglaslyn Pass, or on the S3 or S4 Sherpa'r Wyddfa buses.
Good to know
Read the small print, though: the grave was made in the late 18th century by David Pritchard, landlord of the Goat Hotel, to bring in visitors, and the village is really named after Saint Gelert, an early Celtic Christian who settled here in the 8th century.
Cross the floating bridge into Harlech Castle above the dunes
Harlech
No booking needed
Cross a 'floating' footbridge through the gatehouse of a castle on a sheer crag, the way in its architect intended.
What it is
Harlech Castle crowns a sheer crag above the dunes, with the peaks of Eryri behind. Edward I built it between 1282 and 1289 to the 'walls within walls' design of Master James of St George, and it shares World Heritage status with Conwy, Caernarfon and Beaumaris. The sea once reached the rock, and the 108 steps of the 'Way from the Sea' let ships supply the garrison besieged by Madog ap Llywelyn. Its surrender to the Yorkists in 1468, after seven years in Lancastrian hands, inspired 'Men of Harlech'.
How to do it
A 'floating' footbridge now takes you in through the gatehouse as Master James intended, for the first time in 600 years. Harlech station is on the Cambrian Coast line.
Good to know
Check Cadw's opening times and prices before you go.
Best time
A clear day, when the peaks of Eryri rise behind the castle
Climb the Eagle Tower and walk the walls of a castle whose banded stone was meant to echo Constantinople.
What it is
Edward I and his architect Master James of St George built the castle, the town walls and a quay at once, a project that took 47 years. The banded stone and polygonal towers were meant to echo the walls of Constantinople, and the climb up the Eagle Tower and along the wall walks is the core of the visit.
How to do it
Cadw opens it from 9:30 to 17:00 most of the year, until 18:00 in July and August and from 10:00 to 16:00 between November and February, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. An adult ticket costs £14.90 until March 2027, and booking online saves 5% but is non-refundable.
Good to know
It shuts on 24 to 26 December and 1 January, and may close at short notice in extreme weather.
Express trains from London Euston run along the North Wales coast to Llandudno Junction and Bangor. From Llandudno Junction the Conwy Valley line climbs to Betws-y-Coed and Blaenau Ffestiniog, where it meets the Ffestiniog Railway. Bangor is about 10 miles from Llanberis, linked by the Sherpa'r Wyddfa S2 bus. For the south of the park, the Cambrian Coast line, with connections from Shrewsbury and Birmingham at Machynlleth, stops at Harlech, at Minffordd for Portmeirion and at Porthmadog. Manchester Airport has the most flights into the region.
Getting around
The Sherpa'r Wyddfa buses circle Yr Wyddfa and stop near every path to the summit: the S1 from Caernarfon through Llanberis to Betws-y-Coed, the S2 from Bangor to Llanberis and Pen y Pass, the S3 from Caernarfon to Beddgelert, the S4 from Porthmadog through Beddgelert to Pen y Pass and the S5 shuttle between Llanberis and Pen y Pass. A 1bws day ticket, £7.50 for adults, covers every bus in North Wales, and the myTrip app tracks buses and sells tickets. The TrawsCymru T10 runs from Bangor through the Ogwen Valley.
How many days
In must30's view, four days: one for Yr Wyddfa from Llanberis, on foot or by train; one for Conwy Castle and the Velocity zip line, with Cwm Idwal on the way back; one around Betws-y-Coed and the Llechwedd slate caverns; and one in Porthmadog for the railways, Beddgelert and Portmeirion. Add a fifth day for Harlech, and keep a spare one if the summit matters to you, because cloud and wind can close it at short notice.
When to go
The 2026 season ran from late March, when the Sherpa timetables, Portmeirion's main season and the first trains to Clogwyn began, to 1 November. The railway reaches the summit only from about May to late October, and Hafod Eryri, the summit visitor centre, opens in the same months, weather permitting. In winter Yr Wyddfa is a different mountain: snow and ice make crampons and an ice axe essential, and the park authority publishes daily ground conditions reports. Come prepared for rain in any month: Crib Goch, above the Pyg Track, is the wettest spot in the United Kingdom.
Where to base yourself
Llanberis has the railway station, the start of the Llanberis Path and the S1, S2 and S5 buses to Pen y Pass. Betws-y-Coed, on the Conwy Valley line and the S1, suits the east of the park, Swallow Falls and Llechwedd. Beddgelert sits on the S3 and S4 routes and has a Welsh Highland Railway station. Porthmadog, where the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways meet, puts Portmeirion and Harlech within reach on the Cambrian Coast line. Conwy suits a stay on the coast with its castle and walls on the doorstep.
Questions travellers ask
Is Snowdonia now called Eryri?
In November 2022 the national park authority stopped using Snowdonia in English and now says Eryri, and Yr Wyddfa rather than Snowdon. In law the park is still Snowdonia National Park in English, and both names are understood everywhere. Eryri is the old Welsh name for the mountain region, first recorded in 1191.
What is the easiest path up Yr Wyddfa?
The Llanberis Path, from the far end of Victoria Terrace in Llanberis, has the most gradual climb, but it is also the longest: 14.5 km there and back, about 7 hours. The park authority still grades it hard and strenuous, so you need fitness, boots, waterproofs and a map. Keep off the railway track that runs beside it.
Can you take the train up Snowdon and walk down?
Yes, with a single ticket up on the diesel service, which can be booked online. Single tickets down are sold only at the summit, on the day and if seats are left. A return ticket is valid only when you board at Llanberis, so you cannot walk up and use it to ride down.
Do you need to book parking at Pen y Pass?
In season, yes: in 2026, until 1 November, the car park was pre-book only through JustPark: £25 for up to 8 hours, £35 for 8 to 12 hours and £45 for a full day, with no extensions. If it is full, park at Nant Peris, Llanberis or Caernarfon and take the Sherpa'r Wyddfa bus, or get dropped off.
Is the National Slate Museum in Llanberis open?
No. It closed in November 2024 for a major redevelopment, and no reopening date has been announced. Meanwhile the Llechwedd Deep Mine Tour near Blaenau Ffestiniog and the slate route of the Ffestiniog Railway tell the story, and Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda can be seen on a Zip World quarry tour or from the Velocity zip line.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
