Snowdonia National Park


Snowdonia is Wales largest National Park, famous for its spectacular, rugged mountains; but it is also a Park of great variety, with high mountain passes, deep wooded valleys, tumbling waterfalls, lakes, rivers and green hills contrasting with coastal sand dunes, estuaries and seashore. A Park of contrasts, it manages to mix the heavy slate quarrying industry on the fringes of the area with traditional hill farming, leisure and tourism within the Park boundaries.


The Park is divided into distinct regions, with Snowdon (or Yr Wyddfa to give it its native Welsh name), the highest mountain in England and Wales, forming the showpiece of the Park. Many other significant peaks range around the main Snowdon massif, but these make up only a relatively small part of the Park. Further mountain ranges lie to the south and south-east of the main Snowdon range – the wild and remote Rhinogs, the Arans, and at the southern end of the Park, the Cadair Idris range, sitting almost on the coast.

Snowdonia is a true playground for leisure and outdoor activity enthusiasts, catering for all tastes from a gentle round of golf to the pure adrenaline rush of white water rafting; you can enjoy a gentle stroll through the valleys and passes or a hard day in the mountains; an easy scramble to the rocky peaks or some of the hardest rock climbing in Britain; sample sailing, windsurfing and canoeing on the many lakes or white water canoeing and kayaking on some of the country’s finest rivers; go cycling on quiet roads and cycleways or mountain biking in the many forests; fish many of the lakes, rivers and reservoirs or go pony trekking along the coast and through the hills.

But Snowdonia is not only about mountains and outdoor activities. A rich heritage exists in the castles of Dolwyddelan, Dolbadarn, Castell y Bere and Harlech, hinting at a stormy past with links to Owain Glyndwr and the legendary King Arthur. Slate and copper mines were an important part of Snowdonia’s industrial past, and slate is still worked in the huge quarries at Bleanau Ffestiniog and Bethesda on the fringes of the Park. Some of Wales’ great little trains serviced these quarries and still run through the mountains and along the estuaries and lake shores today, although now their industrial days are over and it is only visitors they carry.

On the fringes of the National Park, looking out over the extensive Dwyryd estuary, lies the ornate Italianate village of Portmeirion, the brainchild of architect Clough Williams-Ellis, and a huge draw for visitors to the area.

Yet despite outside influences, Snowdonia still retains Welsh as its first language in many areas, and it is spoken on a daily basis by locals fiercely proud of their culture. This rich heritage is reflected in many of the attractions and festivals in and around the Park, including the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, held in every July, which celebrates not only Welsh culture, but that of many countries around the globe.