Recently I was grateful to some of you for your valuable help with my Edinburgh travel. This time I asking about Wales. Let me explain: I have entertained for a long time a dream of basing myself for 7-10 days in a small, typical, charming coastal village in northern Wales from which to explore on public transport (postal bus, train, or other)the nearby castles, other villages and sights.
The question is where, which village how to find the perfect B & B on the sea but within a SHORT walking distance to public transport. Would anyone have any suggestions, know of the best sights to help me gain information?
Thank you in advance for any and all help. This would be for July 2010.
DavidX wrote some Travel Notes about Northern Wales, although it concentrates more on hiking, but at the end are some Wales links that may be helpful to you.
I don't know if this thread may be of some help to you, also.
Hello...Last fall we spent about 5 days in Conwy which has a train station and some bus options as well. We stayed at Gwynfrn B&B which was lovely and just a block or two from the train station and from buses. They have a nice B&B and also a cottage (apartment really) where we stayed. I wrote a review for Slow Travel.
I'm not sure exactly where you have in mind, but Conwy was a lovely, friendly, charming walled city with a very nice castle and a couple of other attractions. We also took the bus to Caernarfon another lovely town with another of Edward I's castles. There were several other options for day trips via train or bus but the weather when we were there, coupled with the time of year (October when some things were not open), led us to spend most of our time in Conwy itself. We had planned to go to Snowdonia but the howling winds and rain deterred us. A note about the train station: it is not manned, but we had no problem getting off and on at our stops -- just let the conductor know you want to disembark and wave down the train (which slows but doesn't stop if no one requests the station) to get on. There is also another local train that goes to a number of other interesting-sounding places. It is somewhere I would like to return to.
Roberta
Posts: 98 | Location: Virginia | Registered: 16 April 2006
Roberta's suggestions make a good deal of sense to me. On our own castle tour of Wales, we didn't stay on the coast in the north, but in Betws-y-Coed. We had a car, though, and drove to both Conwy and Caernarfon. I think Conwy would suit your needs fine. Caernarfon is a bit busier, but you must see the castle there also.
Ann
P.S. This B&B in Conwy, which I found on Smooth Hound while looking for the one Roberta recommended, looks very nice also and apparently was featured by Rick Steves. (I couldn't find Roberta's on SH or in the ST Reviews.)
Hi...I was surprised to see that my review for Gwymfrm B&B in Conwy wasn't in the reviews. I then checked others I had done for the same trip and they all seemed to be there. Not sure what happened. Anyway, here is a link Gwynfryn B&B to their website -- hope I posted this correctly. Colin and Monica were delightful; everything was very nice and the price was reasonable. I heartedly recommend them. They had a lot of good information in the apartment we rented including bus and train schedules and brochures from lots of nearby attractions. They also had a computer for guests to use and lots of suggestions for other places to visit in the UK. We really enjoyed Conwy.
Roberta
Posts: 98 | Location: Virginia | Registered: 16 April 2006
Without question I would suggest Tenby as the perfect location at which to base yourself. It is a lovely place to stay, on the Welsh North coast and it is fine for getting to some other places by train and coach. Tenby is your best bet.
OOOh Tenby (actually not apatch on the smaller villages) but that area is lovely as well..Saundersfoot, Amroth....lovely sea bathing in swimmeable waters.
North Wales is wilder and hillier and NOT the Welsh/English Riviera. We walked large parts of the Lyn Coastal Path from Porthmadog to (get this) Uwchmynydd and thought we were in That Place. I love your dream of finding a small village to stay in--and ther are many. The Welsh Tourist Board are extremely helpful (http://www.visitwales.com/) and we have good luck with North Wales holiday cottages. Conwy is I think a bit large and touristy to be what you're looking for but either of these sites might be a useful connect for honing in on what you want.
MY dream is three months in a Scottish borders village small cottage with a fireplace to finish The Book All BY Myself although I might quite like to rent a dog and pony for long walks... Best of luck finding what suits your dreams--and do let us know yr progress!
My notes on North Wales are indeed mainly based on walking for the Snowdonia part but NOT for Lleyn where headlands and beaches form the main attractions. (http://www.slowtrav.com/uk/wales/dx_north.htm)
I definitely feel that the Lleyn area beats any other if you are looking for seaside villages of charm. If you want to be near a station for trains I guess somewhere in the region of Pyllheli or Porthmadog would be best, although I prefer smaller places like Aberdaron or Abersoc. If you go to http://www.llyn.info/communities/pwllheli/ and look on the right hand side, you will find a list of places to research.
