Wales: Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire and the Castles

1. Jour 1 : Cardiff and its castle

   London Paddington to Cardiff Central by train, then Cardiff Castle

   • En train
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Cardiff
   Détail du jour 1

   Make your own way to London Paddington and take the included direct train to Cardiff Central, about two hours (the guide is not on the train), and meet your See Sight Tours guide at our central Cardiff hotel at 2 pm. Leave your bags and walk to Cardiff Castle, ten minutes away in the middle of the city. Its story is written in layers: rebuilt walls on the line of a Roman fort, a Norman shell keep on its grassy mound, and the Victorian Gothic rooms that the architect William Burges made for the 3rd Marquess of Bute, gilded, painted and carved from floor to ceiling, which we see on the house tour. Climb the keep for the view over the rooftops to the stadium, then walk back through the city's Victorian shopping arcades. In the evening the group sits down to a welcome dinner of Welsh produce in the centre, and your guide runs through the week: the mountains, the coast path, and which days offer an easy and an active choice.

   Compris

   • Standard-class train from London Paddington to Cardiff Central
   • Cardiff Castle with your guide: the Norman keep, the Roman wall and the house tour of the Burges rooms
   • Walk through Cardiff's Victorian arcades
   • Welcome dinner in central Cardiff

   Temps libre : Free until 2 pm; arrive in Cardiff early if you want to see St Fagans, the free open-air museum of Welsh life, 20 minutes from the centre

   Activité : Meet at the Cardiff hotel at 2 pm. Trains from Paddington run about every half hour; we send the one that fits with your final itinerary.

   

2. Jour 2 : Pen y Fan and Brecon

   Cardiff to Pont ar Daf in Bannau Brycheiniog, then Brecon

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Brecon
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave Cardiff at 8:15 am and drive north up the A470 into Bannau Brycheiniog, the national park still widely known as the Brecon Beacons. The early start matters: the car park at Pont ar Daf, the shortest way up Pen y Fan, fills by mid-morning in summer. At 886 m Pen y Fan is the highest peak in southern Britain, and the stone-pitched path from Pont ar Daf is about 7 km there and back with about 450 m of climbing, roughly three hours with a mountain leader and your guide. On a clear day you look north over the whole of mid Wales. If you would rather not climb, the minibus takes you to the open common of Mynydd Illtud near Libanus for an easy walk with the same peaks in view. We regroup for a sit-down lunch in Brecon, a market town on the River Usk, and the afternoon is free: the cathedral, the canal towpath, or a rest. Dinner is your choice in town.

   Compris

   • Guided walk up Pen y Fan from Pont ar Daf with a mountain leader, or the easy walk on Mynydd Illtud
   • Sit-down lunch in Brecon

   Option plus facile : A level walk of about an hour on the open common of Mynydd Illtud near Libanus, with views of Pen y Fan and Corn Du, instead of the climb.

   Option plus active : Climb Pen y Fan from Pont ar Daf, about 7 km there and back with 450 m of ascent, over Corn Du when the weather allows.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Brecon

   Activité : Pen y Fan is exposed and the weather changes fast; the mountain leader decides on the day, and in cloud or high wind the whole group takes the low-level walk.

   

3. Jour 3 : Tenby and on to St Davids

   Brecon to Tenby, then St Davids

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : St Davids
   Détail du jour 3

   A morning drive west down the Tywi valley, past Llandovery and through Llandeilo, where we stop for coffee in a small town of painted shopfronts above the river. By late morning we reach Tenby, on the south coast of Pembrokeshire. Its medieval town walls still wrap the old centre, and you enter through the Five Arches gate into narrow streets that drop to a harbour lined with pastel houses, with sandy beaches on either side. We have lunch together in town, then time to walk the harbour and the clifftop above North Beach. In the afternoon we cross the county by way of Haverfordwest to St Davids, arriving about 5 pm for two nights. The drive today is about 195 km and three and three-quarter hours at the wheel, in three legs. St Davids is the smallest city in Britain, a village-sized place around its cathedral, and the evening is yours to find a pub or a restaurant on the square.

   Compris

   • Coffee stop in Llandeilo
   • Tenby with your guide: the town walls, the Five Arches gate and the harbour
   • Sit-down lunch in Tenby

   Temps libre : Evening free in St Davids

   

4. Jour 4 : St Davids and the coast path

   St Davids Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace, then the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to Porthclais

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : St Davids
   Détail du jour 4

   We walk down the steps into the hollow of the River Alun first thing, before the day visitors arrive, to St Davids Cathedral, built of purple-grey local stone on the site of the monastery founded by Wales's patron saint. Inside, the nave floor slopes noticeably and the carved oak ceiling is overhead. Next door stand the roofless ruins of the Bishop's Palace, with its arcaded parapet. Then we walk out to the cliffs at St Non's, where a ruined chapel and a holy well mark the traditional birthplace of St David, and follow the Pembrokeshire Coast Path west to the tiny harbour of Porthclais, about 3 km of cliff path with views over St Brides Bay. The minibus brings us back to town for lunch on your own, and the afternoon is free: a boat trip around Ramsey Island, the beach at Whitesands, or a slow afternoon in the city.

   Compris

   • St Davids Cathedral with your guide
   • St Davids Bishop's Palace
   • Guided walk on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path from St Non's Chapel to Porthclais harbour

   Activités en option

   • Boat trip around Ramsey Island from St Justinian's (seasonal; price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Walk only from St Non's to the cove at Caerfai, about 1 km on the cliff path, and back into town.

   Option plus active : Carry on past Porthclais around the head of the peninsula to St Justinian's and Whitesands Bay, about 12 km in all from St Non's, with a packed lunch; the minibus picks you up at Whitesands in the afternoon.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in St Davids

   Activité : The coast path is narrow and uneven in places, with steps down into each cove, and runs close to unfenced cliff edges.

   

5. Jour 5 : Cardigan Bay to Snowdonia

   St Davids to Aberaeron and Aberystwyth, then Machynlleth and Betws-y-Coed

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Betws-y-Coed
   Détail du jour 5

   Today moves the trip from Pembrokeshire to Eryri (Snowdonia), about 245 km and four and a half hours at the wheel, just over our four-hour cap. There is no faster road and no practical train with bags, and splitting it would mean another one-night hotel, so we break it into three legs instead. We leave at 8:30 am on the coast road through Fishguard, Newport and Cardigan, with views out over Cardigan Bay, and stop for coffee in Aberaeron, whose harbour is lined with Georgian houses painted in bright colours. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Aberystwyth, a university town on the bay, with time to walk the promenade to the ruins of its castle. In the afternoon we head north through Machynlleth, where Owain Glyndŵr held a Welsh parliament in 1404, and up the A470 through the mountains to Betws-y-Coed, arriving about 5:30 pm for three nights. Dinner is your choice in the village.

   Compris

   • Coffee stop in Aberaeron
   • Sit-down lunch in Aberystwyth and a walk on the promenade
   • Drive through Machynlleth and the mountains of southern Eryri

   Activités en option

   • The Aberystwyth Cliff Railway up Constitution Hill (seasonal; price shown at booking)

   Temps libre : Evening free in Betws-y-Coed

   Activité : The longest drive of the trip, in legs of about 1.75 hours to Aberaeron, half an hour to Aberystwyth and 2 hours to Betws-y-Coed.

6. Jour 6 : Yr Wyddfa by train or on foot

   Betws-y-Coed over the Llanberis Pass to Llanberis and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), and back

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Betws-y-Coed
   Détail du jour 6

   We cross the Llanberis Pass early to Llanberis for the Snowdon Mountain Railway, open since 1896 and the only public rack railway in Britain. We request group seats on an early train when you book, because summer trains sell out. The line climbs about 7.5 km past Clogwyn station, with the drop into the pass below, towards the 1,085 m top of Yr Wyddfa, the highest mountain in Wales. Allow about an hour each way and around half an hour at the top; on a clear day you see Anglesey and the Irish Sea. Early in the season and in high wind trains stop at Clogwyn instead. Walkers leave earlier still with a mountain leader on the Llanberis Path, about 7 km each way, and ride the train down when seats allow. Train riders have lunch in Llanberis and visit the National Slate Museum, in the Victorian workshops of the Dinorwig quarry by Llyn Padarn. The two groups meet in Llanberis in the late afternoon for the drive back to Betws-y-Coed.

   Compris

   • Snowdon Mountain Railway tickets from Llanberis, booked ahead: return for train riders, one way down for walkers when seats allow
   • Lunch in Llanberis, or a packed lunch for walkers
   • National Slate Museum, Llanberis (train riders; walkers if time allows)

   Activités en option

   • Swallow Falls, about 3 km from Betws-y-Coed (small entry fee)

   Option plus facile : The mountain railway is the easy way up: ride to the summit, or Clogwyn, and back, about two and a half hours in all, then lunch and the Slate Museum.

   Option plus active : Walk up the Llanberis Path with a qualified mountain leader, about 7 km and 950 m of climbing, roughly 3.5 to 4 hours up, then ride the train down when one-way seats are free. If they are not, walk down too: about 6 to 7 hours in all, with a packed lunch on the mountain.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Betws-y-Coed

   Activité : It is several degrees colder and often windy at the summit. Bring a warm layer and a waterproof even on a sunny day in the valley. Walkers need hiking boots.

   

7. Jour 7 : Caernarfon and Conwy castles

   Betws-y-Coed to Caernarfon, then along the coast to Conwy, and back

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Betws-y-Coed
   Détail du jour 7

   We are at Caernarfon Castle when it opens. Edward I began it in 1283 after his conquest of Gwynedd, and its banded stone and many-sided towers were built to look like an imperial seat; in 1969 it staged the investiture of the Prince of Wales. Climb the Eagle Tower for the view over the Menai Strait, and walk the wall passages. After lunch in Caernarfon we drive along the north coast to Conwy, Edward's other great castle, raised in about four years from 1283. Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech and Beaumaris are listed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At Conwy we explore the castle's eight towers, then walk the town walls, among the most complete in Europe, with their 21 towers and three gateways, and come down to the quay and its tiny red house, said to be the smallest in Great Britain. The farewell dinner is in Conwy tonight before the short drive back to Betws-y-Coed.

   Compris

   • Caernarfon Castle at opening with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Caernarfon
   • Conwy Castle
   • Walk on the Conwy town walls and the quay
   • Farewell dinner in Conwy

   Option plus facile : Skip the town walls and visit Plas Mawr instead, an Elizabethan town house in the centre of Conwy with its painted plasterwork (open in season; included).

   Temps libre : Free time in Conwy before dinner

   Activité : Castle towers have steep, narrow spiral stairs; you can see a great deal from the ground and the wall walks if you prefer.

8. Jour 8 : Chester and home

   Betws-y-Coed to Chester, then Manchester Airport

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   Détail du jour 8

   We leave Betws-y-Coed at 9 am and follow the A55 along the north coast and over the border into England, about an hour and a half to Chester. The Romans built a fortress here called Deva, and its line is still traced by the city walls, about 3 km round and the most complete circuit of city walls in Britain. Your guide leads the walk along the top, past the Eastgate Clock, raised for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and down into the Rows, the two-tier timbered galleries of shops above the main streets, a layout found in few other places. We finish by the cathedral and sit down to a last lunch together. Then it is about fifty minutes to Manchester Airport, arriving around 3:30 pm. If you are heading on by rail, we can drop you at Chester station after lunch instead, with direct trains to London Euston in about two hours. Book a flight from Manchester leaving after about 6 pm.

   Compris

   • Guided walk on Chester's city walls, the Eastgate Clock and the Rows
   • Lunch in Chester
   • Drop-off at Manchester Airport, or at Chester station

   Option plus facile : Walk only the section of wall from the Eastgate to the cathedral, about 1 km, then the Rows at street level.

   Activité : Book a flight from Manchester Airport leaving after about 6 pm, or a train from Chester after about 2 pm.

Faune et météo : April and May bring lambs on the hills, sea pinks on the Pembrokeshire cliffs and long evenings; June to August are warmest and busiest, and the Snowdon trains sell out early; September and October are quieter, with heather on the hills and grey seal pups in the coves near St Davids from late summer. Mountain weather changes fast: summit trains depend on the wind, and each day has a wet-weather plan.

• Cardiff1 nuit
• Brecon1 nuit
• St Davids2 nuits
• Betws-y-Coed3 nuits