If you’re planning a visit to Wales, then you definately’ve come to the proper place! In this information we’re going to share every thing you want to know to plan the proper Wales journey. This relies on our experiences of touring in Wales and likewise my time dwelling in Wales, which I did for a few years. I used to be really born in Wales!
In this publish, we’ll cowl the perfect occasions of yr to go to Wales, highlights to not miss, find out how to get round Wales, the place to remain in Wales, what to eat in Wales, find out how to ebook excursions, and plenty of extra ideas that will help you plan the proper Wales journey.
We’d recommend studying this information alongside our detailed Wales highway journey itinerary, which will provide you with extra concepts of a particular itinerary and sights to see.
Let’s begin with an summary of Wales.
A Quick Overview of Wales
Wales is a rustic with a inhabitants of round three million individuals. It is a part of the Island of Great Britain together with England and Scotland. It is without doubt one of the 4 international locations (together with England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) that make up the United Kingdom.
Geographically, Wales borders England alongside its total east coast, from round Chester within the north down to close Bristol within the south. The remainder of the international locations border is made up of beautiful shoreline, principally alongside the Irish Sea.
The historical past of Wales is pretty advanced. People have been dwelling right here for tons of of 1000’s of years, with steady habitation for at the very least 9,000 years. Since the Roman occasions, many battles have been fought between the Welsh and the English as all sides fought for management over what’s current day Wales.
One of the negative effects of all these wars is that Wales now has an enormous quantity of castles you possibly can go to which is nice as a vacationer. There’s additionally numerous fascinating historical past and tradition which is exclusive to Wales.
Back to the current, and modern-day Wales exists as its personal nation with its personal language (Welsh) and, since 1999, its personal parliament. However, there are not any border controls or something like that when touring from England to Wales (they’re each a part of the UK), and English can also be in fact essentially the most extensively spoken language.
If you aren’t that acquainted with the historical past of Wales, we will extremely suggest studying a ebook on Welsh historical past earlier than or throughout your go to. This is not going to solely make it easier to higher perceive lots of the locations you might be more likely to go to in Wales (e.g., castles, museums, church buildings, Iron Age ruins), however it’ll additionally make it easier to higher perceive the fashionable tradition and politics in Wales.
What is there to see in Wales?
There is loads to see in Wales, one thing actually for everybody.
To begin with, with a lot historical past spanning 1000’s of years, Wales has an enormous quantity of cultural sights.
From iron age burial chambers to fascinating museums to distinctive cultural occasions just like the Eisteddfodd, there actually is a large quantity to select from.
Of course, the very first thing that probably springs to thoughts whenever you consider Wales are the castles, a facet impact of all the assorted wars over time. Wales has an enormous variety of castles, together with quite a lot of UNESCO listed medieval castles.
In reality, Wales has extra castles per sq. mile than some other nation in Europe! Suffice to say, in the event you like exploring castles as a lot as we do, Wales has no scarcity to give you.
If you do plan on seeing numerous castles, then we will extremely suggest selecting up a Cadw move. This contains entry to an enormous variety of historic websites in Wales, together with most the castles.
You should buy this on-line right here, or in individual at most Cadw websites. We discovered this saved us some huge cash on our most up-to-date journeys.
Lovers of the outside, like us, will even discover lots to do in Wales. There’s an enormous quantity of pure landscapes to discover, from beautiful coastal surroundings to lovely hills and mountains. It’s good for hikers of all skills. So whether or not you favor to wander alongside a beautiful little bit of seashore or climb to the highest of a mountain, Wales has you coated.
Speaking of seashores, with a lot shoreline, as you may think there are many seashores to select from. These run the complete gamut, from lovely sandy stretches to these coated in pebbles. So in the event you’re after swim or only a good stroll on the seashore, there are many choices for you.
All that beautiful outside area additionally means Wales is a superb vacation spot for wildlife. The selection in panorama and habitat means there’s numerous completely different fowl species you possibly can spot, and there are numerous nature preserves you possibly can go to the place you possibly can spot numerous sorts of fowl and study them.
It’s extra than simply birds in fact, with viewing alternatives for all types of wildlife, from seals and different marine life by to mammals, reptiles, and extra!
Finally, Wales can also be an amazing vacation spot for lovers of mythology. This ought to be apparent from the flag, which is emblazoned with a purple dragon, arguably the world’s coolest flag. Naturally, you possibly can study all concerning the mythology of Wales, from the origin story of King Arthur by to dragons and druids.
Overall, we predict it’s truthful to say that Wales shouldn’t be a vacation spot the place you’ll run out of issues to do!
Some Basic Information for Traveling in Wales
Let’s cowl some primary data for touring in Wales.
Wales and the broader UK
Wales is part of the United Kingdom (UK), so after you have entered the UK then you possibly can journey out and in of Wales freely.
If Wales is your first level of entry into the UK (comparable to in the event you arrive into Cardiff Airport from exterior the UK), then you definately would wish to undergo passport management and have the proper visa and any obligatory documentation.
You can see extra data on any required visas to your go to on the UK authorities web site right here or from your personal authorities’s official journey web site.
If you arrive into one other a part of the UK comparable to England or Scotland, then you definately don’t have to undergo any additional controls whenever you journey to Wales, be that by automotive, practice, or aircraft.
Getting to and from Wales
Wales is a simple nation to get to. In phrases of flights, the one business airport in Wales is Cardiff airport, which provides each native and worldwide flights to a restricted variety of locations.
Wales can also be effectively served by regional transport connections from the UK. By practice, Cardiff is round 2.5 hours from London, 50 minutes from Bristol, and 4 hours from Liverpool.
North Wales locations like Conwy are round an hour by practice from Chester, or 3.5 hours from London.
You may simply drive to Wales from areas across the UK. It’s round 3 hours by automotive to from London to Cardiff, 4 hours from Liverpool to Cardiff and seven hours to Cardiff from Edinburgh.
Wales can also be served by ferry routes which hyperlink Wales with the Republic of Ireland. So if you’re doing a visit like our two week UK itinerary, this might allow you to join between Wales and the Republic of Ireland.
There are additionally a number of excursions that embrace Wales, departing from areas comparable to London or Bristol. More on excursions in a while on this information. Suffice to say, you’ve loads of choices for attending to and from Wales!
Language in Wales
Wales has two official languages: Welsh and English. Just beneath 20% of the inhabitants of Wales speaks Welsh, however just about everybody additionally speaks English.
However you’ll virtually actually hear Welsh being spoken throughout your go to.
The foremost method you’ll encounter Welsh as a customer is more likely to be on indicators. Most indicators are offered in each Welsh and English. Place names are additionally almost at all times written in Welsh.
Welsh is a fairly difficult language to study and the pronunciation is unquestionably not at all times apparent! Place names can simply journey guests up, though the excellent news is that the majority Welsh persons are fairly used to it.
If you’d like to enhance your pronunciation, this can be a good starter information. A superb information ebook to Wales also needs to embrace a information to pronunciation.
Driving in Wales
Driving in Wales is identical as driving in the remainder of the UK, with the primary distinction being that almost all of the highway indicators are in Welsh in addition to English.
If you drive in Wales, you’ll shortly study some Welsh phrases from the highway indicators, significantly “Araf” which implies “Slow”. In nearly all of instances although, indicators can be in each English and Welsh.
Other than that, driving in Wales is identical as driving in the remainder of the UK. Drive on the left of the highway and you’ll want to observe all velocity limits and highway guidelines. Speed limits are usually posted, with the nationwide restrict at 60 miles per hour and limits for built-up areas usually 20 to 40 miles per hour. You can see extra ideas in my information to driving within the UK.
If you might be renting a automotive (evaluate costs right here), you possibly can drive the automotive between England and Wales with none points.
Be conscious that almost all of vehicles within the UK use a guide transmission, so you’ll want to specify an automated if that’s what you might be used to driving. Just be aware that these do usually carry a value premium as they don’t seem to be as frequent.
Depending on the place on this planet you might be visiting from and the language your license is in, you might also want an worldwide driver’s license from the nation which points your driver’s license.
Public Transporation in Wales
Wales has a fairly good public transport community, with each buses and trains which hyperlink lots of the cities and cities throughout the nation. You can see the primary transport routes on the Transport for Wales web site right here.
For journey planning by public transport in Wales (and the UK normally), we suggest and use the Traveline web site. It’s a free service offered by a partnership of public transport operators within the UK, and can make it easier to plan your journey between just about any two factors within the nation.
For nearly all of public transport in Wales and the UK (particularly on longer distance routes) you’ll get higher costs in the event you ebook on-line prematurely. We suggest the trainline web site for practice and bus reserving, we’ve used them for years for our public transport wants within the UK.
Other choices to think about, particularly for lengthy distance bus journeys embrace National Express and Megabus.
Electricity in Wales
Wales makes use of the identical energy system as the remainder of the UK. It’s a 220v system which makes use of a three-pin plug (plug kind G).
Travellers from a lot of the remainder of the world, together with mainland Europe and the United States will want an adapter like this.
American travellers will even need to verify their tools helps the 220v customary, because the U.S. makes use of a 110v customary. The voltage a tool helps can be written clearly on the ability adapter, often within the type of 110v – 240v.
In our expertise most trendy laptops, telephone and digicam chargers, and different small electronics are common, while bigger units like hair dryers and hair straighteners should not.
See extra on journey adapters and the way to decide on one to your journey in our information to the finest journey adapters.
Currency in Wales
Wales makes use of the identical foreign money as the remainder of the UK, particularly Pound Sterling, or GBP (Great British Pounds). Wales makes use of the financial institution notes issued by the Bank of England, so the foreign money in use in Wales seems to be precisely the identical as that utilized in England.
Note that that is completely different to Scotland and Northern Ireland, the place financial institution notes are issued by Scottish and Irish banks respectively. These financial institution notes will also be utilized in the remainder of the UK (and Bank of England notes can be utilized in Scotland and Northern Ireland).
Time Zone in Wales
Wales is on the identical time zone as the remainder of the UK, which is both GMT, or GMT+1, also referred to as British Summer Time (BST).
BST runs from the final Sunday in March by to the final Sunday in October.
Best Times to Visit Wales
You may be questioning when the perfect time to go to Wales is. Whilst Wales is a year-round vacation spot, there are actually benefits and drawbacks to visiting at completely different occasions of yr.
Best for Weather
Wales has a comparatively gentle local weather year-round with out great extremes.
If you need hotter climate and longer hours of daylight for sightseeing, then the perfect time of yr to go to goes to be from late May by to mid-September.
This time of yr will provide you with the perfect likelihood of fine climate and sunny days, though be aware that rain and cooler temperatures are doable year-round.
The summit of Snowdon in summer time – good climate not assured!
Avoiding Crowds
Wales is a well-liked vacation spot, particularly for guests from different areas of the UK. There are quite a lot of massive English cities close to Wales comparable to Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, and Manchester, and guests from these cities usually take journeys to Wales. It is an particularly standard vacation spot for households.
As a outcome, the busiest time of yr in Wales is mostly going to be over the varsity holidays (college breaks) in England and Wales.
The precise timing of college holidays varies slightly by space, however typically there are main holidays over the Easter interval, and over the summer time months from mid-July by to the top of August.
There are additionally “half-term” holidays which happen midway by every college time period and are typically per week in period. There is generally one in mid-February, one across the finish of May and one across the finish of October.
The hottest time for individuals to go to Wales is in the course of the hotter summer time months, and through college holidays, particularly the Easter holidays, spring half-term, and summer time holidays.
As a outcome, if you wish to go to Wales when it’s more likely to be quieter then you definately could be finest served avoiding these occasions.
If you continue to need good climate, we’d recommend June or September to be optimum months, though April and May can supply good climate when you have a little bit of luck in your facet!
Best for Hiking / Climbing Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa)
Whilst you possibly can hike in Wales at any time of yr, we might recommend that the perfect occasions for mountain climbing are going to be much like that for visiting for the perfect climate. So that’s going to be from late May to mid-September.
Whatever time of yr you intend to go mountain climbing although, remember that the climate can change in a short time. So it would be best to be ready, guarantee somebody is aware of your route and the place you’re going, and pack appropriately. For extra data, this security information may be very useful.
The hottest hike in Wales by far is the hike up Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh). You can each hike and take a practice to the summit, each of that are standard choices.
In our expertise, Snowdon will be busy yr spherical, however the hotter summer time months are positively the preferred time to sort out the hike.
If you need to keep away from the crowds on the hike itself, then we’d recommend avoiding the Llanberis path which tends to be the preferred, and taking one of many different much less standard routes such because the Snowdon Ranger path or the Rhyd Ddu path.
Of course, Wales has an amazing many extra mountains you possibly can hike, nearly all of that are far much less busy and standard than Snowdon. A private favorite is Cader Idris, which additionally provides spectacular views throughout the Snowdonia National Park, and attracts a fraction of the guests!
Major Festivals in Wales
Wales performs host to quite a lot of festivals and festivals all year long, together with music festivals, meals festivals, literary festivals, craft festivals, artwork festivals, and extra (see a reasonably complete checklist of festivals in Wales right here).
The largest pageant in Wales is generally the National Eisteddfod of Wales, which is held for round per week on the primary week of August annually. The location for the pageant modifications annually, and it usually attracts upwards of 100,000 guests. The pageant celebrates Welsh tradition, with the occasions and actions all going down in Welsh.
If you intend on visiting the Eisteddfodd (or some other pageant in Wales), you’ll positively need to plan effectively forward as lodging can ebook out, and the world the place the occasion is being held is more likely to be a lot busier than regular.
Conversely, it’s price being conscious when and the place festivals are being held even in the event you don’t plan on attending them, so that you don’t get caught up within the crowds!
How Long to Spend in Wales
As ought to hopefully be apparent by now, though Wales is a comparatively small nation, there’s a large quantity to see and do in Wales. You might simply spend many weeks exploring the nation with out operating out of issues to see and do.
Our suggestion could be to spend at the very least per week if doable to get a good suggestion of what’s on supply and to have time to discover a number of the nation’s highlights.
If you’ve much less time, say three to 5 days, then we might suggest specializing in one space or area of the nation quite than making an attempt to cowl an excessive amount of floor.
So, for instance, with three days you may need to concentrate on visiting Cardiff and south-west Wales or discover a part of north Wales with visits to Caernarfon and Snowdonia National Park.
If you’ve per week or extra, then you possibly can increase your itinerary to cowl extra of the nation.
We will share some urged itineraries additional on on this information that will help you plan, and we even have a 7 – 10 day Wales highway journey itinerary it’s best to discover useful. That itinerary can simply be expanded to 2 or extra weeks.
Where to Stay in Wales
Wales has a variety of lodging choices throughout all budgets. Whether you favor tenting, glamping, self-catered lodging, family-run guesthouses, nation home resorts or common resorts, you will discover one thing to go well with.
We have stayed at an enormous vary of lodging choices throughout Wales, together with residence leases, guesthouses, mattress and breakfasts and resorts. Usually we favor to both keep at a domestically owned mattress and breakfast or small resort. But for longer stays, we usually ebook an residence or cottage.
When searching for lodging, we suggest a mixture of the next websites:
- Booking.com – that is often our first cease for all kinds of lodging sorts, from resorts to company homes to flats. We just like the highly effective filter system that enables us to hone in on precisely what we would like in every location, in addition to the map software that lets us see completely different choices in several areas.
- Sykes Holiday Cottages – for longer stays in Wales (and the broader UK) we additionally use Sykes. They focus on vacation cottages, and we have now stayed at some actually beautiful properties by their system.
- Vrbo UK – if we’re particularly searching for an residence or trip rental, we’ll additionally often look on Vrbo. They supply a wide selection of choices and it’s good to have a comparability.
If you want to extra choices for lodging reserving in Wales and the UK, see our information to reserving vacation properties within the UK for some concepts!
What to Eat in Wales?
You may be questioning what meals it’s best to strive in Wales whenever you go to, and if there are any uniquely Welsh dishes. Well, the reply is sure there are.
Whilst there are actually numerous similarities between Welsh meals and English meals, together with staples comparable to fish and chips and the complete fried breakfast expertise, there are some dishes which are frequent to Wales. Here are some to strive:
- Cawl – certainly one of extra conventional Welsh dishes, cawl (pronounced cowl) dates again to the eleventh century at the very least and is actually a stew made with meat, greens, and potatoes.
- Welsh Rarebit – while this sounds prefer it’s going to contain rabbit, this quintessential Welsh dish is definitely melted cheese on toast. There are variations on the recipe, with mustard or a bechamel sauce added to the cheese. Delicious nevertheless it’s made!
- Glamorgan sausage – this standard “sausage” is a standard vegetarian sausage primarily made out of leeks, cheese, and breadcrumbs. It dates again to at the very least the 18th century however rose in recognition throughout World War II resulting from meat rationing and stays standard right this moment.
- Welsh desserts – this small cake is made out of dough, raisins, currant and candied fruit peel after which cooked on a griddle. It will be eaten scorching or chilly and is texturally extra much like a shortbread than a cake. We prefer it served scorching and eaten with butter!
- Bara brith – this fruit loaf is a well-liked choice to have with afternoon tea and is usually served with butter on it. It’s principally a fruit cake crammed with raisins, currants and dried candied fruit peel.
- Laverbread – This is a really attention-grabbing delicacy, which regardless of the title, isn’t a bread in any respect. Instead, it’s a puree made out of a particular kind of seaweed which grows alongside the Welsh shoreline. The seaweed is cooked for hours to type the puree, which is then mostly served with bread.
- Welsh cheese – Wales is dwelling to many milk producing animals, together with cows, goats, and sheep. As such, there are a lot of conventional Welsh cheeses to get pleasure from. The most well-known is Caerphilly, which is a tough however crumbly white cheese. Others embrace Y Fenni, Tintern and Pantysgawn
- Local drinks – Wales produces a variety of native drinks, together with domestically brewed beers and ciders. There are additionally over 20 vineyards in Wales producing Welsh wine, and Welsh whisky is gaining popularity as effectively!
As effectively as particular dishes, there are additionally many meals that Wales is mostly identified for. These embrace Welsh lamb and beef, seafood, seaweed, and leeks, the latter of which is definitely the nationwide image of Wales.
If you will be procuring and cooking throughout your time in Wales, you should not have any downside discovering some native Welsh produce.
We may suggest The Welsh House for making an attempt quite a lot of Welsh meals. They are in a couple of areas, together with in Cardiff close to the fortress. The final time we visited they’d a “Taste of Wales” menu choice which allow us to strive numerous completely different Welsh dishes for a really affordable value.
Suffice to say, we don’t suppose you’re going to go hungry throughout your keep in Wales.
How to get round Wales?
There are fairly a couple of choices for getting round Wales, which we’ll undergo now.
By Car
Our most well-liked choice for touring in Wales is to drive ourselves. Wales has numerous sights which are slightly off the crushed path, and a automotive makes it loads simpler to succeed in these tucked away castles or hidden seashores.
That mentioned, try to be conscious that the highway community in Wales is primarily made up of standard two-lane roads quite than multi-lane freeways (generally known as motorways within the UK).
As such, journey occasions can take a bit longer than in different elements of the UK. It is tough to zip throughout Wales and journeys might take longer that you just anticipate from simply wanting on the map.
This isn’t a nasty factor, because the surroundings is mostly beautiful, and there are many issues to cease and have a look at anyway. However, you’ll simply need to remember when planning that even when the distances don’t look significantly lengthy, it could possibly take a little bit of time to get from place to position.
If you might be planning on touring by automotive and have to hire, we suggest evaluating automotive rental costs on Discover Cars right here. They evaluate all the primary suppliers so you will get the perfect value to your journey.
Public Transportation
As talked about within the part on public transport, Wales has a fairly good public transport community.
The foremost factor to know if you’re planning to journey in Wales by public transport is that you just’ll positively need to plan effectively prematurely. You will even need to remember that it could possibly take fairly a little bit of time to get between areas.
I’ve carried out a good bit of journey by practice and bus in Wales, and while the surroundings is at all times very fairly, it could possibly take some time to get from location to location. So simply remember that if you’re on a restricted timetable, you’ll need to plan rigorously in order to not spend all of your time sitting on a bus or practice.
It’s additionally price noting that while trains and buses join numerous the nation, they don’t go completely in all places. So if there may be someplace you actually need to see, do verify to make sure you can really get there by the mode of transport you want to use.
Overall, while you possibly can positively get round Wales by public transport, for folk on a restricted timeframe who need to see loads, we might most likely suggest both driving or taking a tour.
Easiest Places to go to in Wales by public transport?
If you might be planning on visiting Wales by public transport, you may be questioning what the perfect areas are for doing so. Here are some ideas.
First, we’d recommend specializing in a particular area of Wales in the event you plan on visiting by public transport, as then you definately’ll have the ability to spend extra time sightseeing and fewer time touring.
Cardiff is a really well-connected metropolis, after which from right here you can simply discover alongside the south coast to Tenby and even St. David’s.
Alternatively, in the event you’d favor to discover extra of the mountains, then head to North Wales. I’d suggest taking the practice line alongside the north coast from the English metropolis of Chester (or Liverpool), which connects to quite a lot of different practice and bus routes.
This will permit you to discover many highlights of the area, together with Conwy, Bangor, Caernarfon, the Snowdonia National Park, in addition to the northeast shoreline together with Harlech and Barmouth.
You might simply make a loop by North Wales by public transport, going into Wales from Chester throughout to Conwy and Bangor, then heading south down the coast to Barmouth and Aberdovey, after which lastly east by Machynlleth to Shrewsbury.
This route will allow you to discover castles, see shoreline and expertise the mountains, all with no need a automotive.
Join a Tour
One of the easiest way to see Wales in our opinion, particularly in the event you favor to not drive, is to affix a tour. A tour lets another person deal with all of the logistics, from planning what to see and do to find out how to get from place to position.
You do lose a little bit of flexibility when taking a tour in fact, as they often observe a hard and fast itinerary. This is especially the case in the event you be a part of a bunch tour. A non-public tour will usually supply much more customization, with the draw back that they are typically costlier.
That mentioned, in our expertise most group excursions concentrate on the highlights that guests need to see anyway. Just be certain when selecting a tour to make sure it visits nearly all of sights and sights you actually need to see in Wales.
We have some beneficial excursions of Wales within the part of this information on beneficial excursions. You may see a spread of excursions by numerous suppliers at completely different value factors and durations on TourRadar right here.
Best Guided Tours of Wales
An effective way to see the highlights of Wales with out having to fret concerning the logistics of planning transport and lodging is to take a guided tour.
There are quite a lot of excursions to select from that go to Wales, of various period and value.
The longer Wales excursions typically depart from London, Bristol, or Cardiff.
Some we recommend are as follows:
- This 5 day highway journey with Rabbies could be our first decide of obtainable small group excursions of Wales. We’ve taken an amazing many excursions with Rabbies and we love their educated driver guides and small group sizes. This tour departs from London and covers lots of the highlights of the nation, from Snowdonia all the way down to south west Wales.
- This 8 day tour from Cardiff follows the same path to our personal urged Wales highway journey itinerary. This tour contains time in Cardiff, the Brecon Beacons mountains, Snowdonia National Park, Conwy Castle, St. Davids, Tenby, and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
- If you’ve much less time to spare, then this 3 day tour with Rabbies departs from Bristol and focuses on the highlights of south Wales, together with Carreg Cennen Castle, Hay on Wye, St. Davids, Tenby, and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
- This is one other 3 day tour with Rabbies which departs from Bristol and focuses on the highlights of North Wales. It contains Snowdonia National Parks, Conwy Castle, Harlech Castle, the Slate Museum, and Portmeirion.
There are in fact extra excursions to select from in Wales. See this choice from a spread of operators on TourRadar which is able to allow you to type and filter by period, locations visited and value.
Highlights in Wales
There’s loads to see in Wales, sufficient to fill many weeks of explorations. As it may be exhausting to determine what to see, we wished to share a few of our private highlights within the nation. This is on no account an exhaustive checklist, however we do suppose it covers numerous what the nation has to supply.
We’ve divided it roughly into sights within the southern half of Wales (principally every thing south of round Aberystwyth) and the northern half of Wales (every thing north of Aberystwyth).
We suppose this is sensible as a result of if you’re on a shorter timetable it would be best to concentrate on a extra manageable space.
If you might be fortunate sufficient to have extra time then you possibly can positively go to the entire nation!
South Wales Highlights
South Wales has loads to supply, from the cultural sights in and across the capital metropolis, by to the beautiful landscapes of the Pembrokeshire National Park the place one can find ample mountain climbing and wildlife viewing alternatives.
This a part of Wales can also be dwelling to historic burial grounds, lovely church buildings, castles, seashores, and extra!
Here are some highlights to think about including to your Wales itinerary.
- Cardiff Castle
- Cardiff Museum
- St. Fagans (National Museum of History)
- Castell Carreg Cennen
- Caerphilly Castle
- Tenby
- Freshwater Beach
- Whitesands Beach
- St. David’s Cathedral
- Hiking in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
- Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber
- Amgueddfa Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth
- Elan Valley
- Brecon Beacons
- Hay on Wye
North Wales Highlights
North Wales is maybe finest generally known as being find out how to the spectacular Snowdonia National Park, which is truthful sufficient as it’s a actually lovely a part of the world.
However, there’s heaps extra to this area of the nation, from epic castles by to heritage steam railways and great seashores.
Here are a couple of highlights to think about including to your itinerary for Wales!
- Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways
- Caernarfon Castle
- Beaumaris Castle
- Conwy Castle
- Harlech Castle
- Mount Snowdon & Snowdonia National Park
- National Slate Museum
- Bird Watching within the Dyfi Valley & Coast
- Centre for Alternative Technology
- Barmouth Beach
- Aber Falls
- Portmeirion
Suggested Itineraries for Wales
There is loads to see in Wales! We wished to share some urged itineraries for visiting the nation for various durations, so you possibly can benefit from your go to.
Of course, your mode of transport will dictate precisely how far you’ll be able to go and what you’ll be able to see. If you might be counting on public transport, we’d positively suggest specializing in a smaller space so you possibly can spend extra time seeing sights and fewer time touring.
If you might be on a tour or in your personal car, you’ll probably have the ability to match extra in.
1 – 3 Day Wales Itineraries
With one to 3 days in Wales we might extremely suggest specializing in a particular space of the nation, comparable to an space of south Wales or north Wales.
For instance, for south Wales you may take into account spending a day in Cardiff after which a day or two exploring the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, overnighting in St. David’s or the gorgeous coastal village of Tenby.
Another choice could be to concentrate on the mountains and castles of north Wales.
Basing your self in Caernarfon for instance would put you in straightforward attain of a number of the most spectacular castles in Wales, in addition to the hike or practice trip up Snowdon. You might simply spend an exquisite one to 3 days visiting castles, exploring seashores and mountain climbing within the mountains of Snowdonia.
3 – 6 Day Wales Itineraries
With three to 6 days you’ll have the ability to extra totally discover a area of Wales.
Again, we wouldn’t essentially suggest making an attempt to see the entire nation on this time interval as it’d really feel a bit rushed. Instead, concentrate on a selected space and hone in on a number of the sights you have an interest in.
For instance, if you wish to expertise tradition and coastal surroundings, then we’d recommend beginning in Cardiff, working your method alongside the south coast, after which heading up in the direction of Aberystwyth.
Along the way in which you’ll have the ability to go to cultural sights, expertise lovely coastal walks and absorb quite a lot of castles.
Alternatively, head as much as north Wales. With a bit extra time you possibly can discover extra of this lovely a part of the world, from the peaks of the Snowdonia National Park to the UNESCO listed castles to the heritage steam railway traces.
We’d recommend basing your self in two or three areas, comparable to Caernarfon, Porthmadog, Conwy, or Barmouth, and exploring from there.
6 Day+ Wales Itineraries
With greater than six days in Wales, you’ll have the ability to discover from prime to backside in the event you so wished. We’d recommend a loop alongside the coast, beginning in Cardiff, heading out to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, then all the way in which as much as Snowdonia National Park and north Wales.
We have a urged 1 week Wales itinerary (will be adjusted to 10+ days) for doing simply that with plenty of detailed data, which we predict you’ll discover helps you get round.
What to Pack for Wales
Wales, like the remainder of the UK, is a rustic the place the climate will be extremely variable. Rain is feasible at any time of yr, as are cooler temperatures.
So whenever you plan what to pack to your journey to Wales it would be best to be ready for quite a lot of situations. Additionally, as numerous the actions in Wales contain time spent outside and significantly mountain climbing, you’ll need to plan and pack accordingly to make sure you are ready.
We would suggest studying our information to what to pack for the UK as a normal overview, but additionally to recollect the next gadgets:
Further Resources for Visiting Wales and the UK
And that’s it for our detailed planning information for visiting Wales! We hope you discovered this information helpful. We additionally wished to share some extra sources we predict may make it easier to with planning this and future journeys within the UK.
- We have an in depth 7 – 10 day highway journey itinerary for Wales, with daily highlights, tips about the place to remain, and plenty extra.
- If you’re searching for extra highway journey inspiration within the UK, we have now a two week UK highway journey itinerary and a one week UK highway journey itinerary. We even have a one week Cornwall itinerary
- If you’re heading to Scotland, take a look at our 2 day Edinburgh itinerary, our Glasgow and Loch Lomond itinerary, our information to the finest day journeys from Glasgow, our information to issues to do in Edinburgh, our itinerary for Skye and the Highlands, our information to the finest day journeys from Aberdeen, and our information to the perfect day journeys from Edinburgh. We even have a North Coast 500 planning information and North Coast 500 seven day itinerary
- If you’re not acquainted with driving within the UK, see my information to driving within the UK for useful ideas.
- We have guides to many cities within the UK you possibly can take a look at! See our guides to issues to do in Manchester, issues to do in Stratford upon Avon, issues to do in Bristol, issues to do in Portsmouth, tips about a weekend in York, tips about Visiting Oxford on a Day Trip, and issues to do in Cambridge to get began
- If you’re searching for a guidebook to your journey, take a look at the Rough Guide to Wales
And that’s it! Have you ever visited Wales? Do you’ve something you’d add to the above? Just tell us within the feedback beneath, and protected travels!
