Wales – a mixture of Scottish Highlands and Southern England

The creators of enjoysouthengland.com seize every opportunity to discover different corners of Great Britain. Besides Ireland and Scotland, this time it’s Wales’ turn. While Ireland and Scotland are undoubtedly well-known and popular travel destinations for continental Europeans, Wales is certainly still a hidden gem. Because – to put it simply – it combines the impressive Highlands of Scotland with the charming, deep green landscapes of southern England. Furthermore, the pub culture is distinctly southern English, a real advantage over most regions of Scotland.

As always, we took two weeks and planned a route that would allow us to discover as much as possible:

Here is the whole thing also as an interactive map with all the details:

We started our journey in London, where Heathrow Airport is known for offering excellent and, due to strong competition among airlines, quite affordable flight connections. Unfortunately, picking up the rental car at the slightly more remote rental locations isn’t as quick as at other airports, but you’re immediately on the motorway.

 

The Magic Roundabout in Swindon

After so many trips, we finally wanted to take the opportunity to visit every tourist’s nightmare: the “Magic Roundabout” in Swindon, a roundabout that is absolutely bewildering at first glance. Five roundabouts are adjacent to each other here, forming yet another roundabout.

The whole thing is as British as you can imagine – at first it seems completely incomprehensible, and then you’re amazed by its first-class functionality. Let’s take a look at it together:

 

The start in Gloucestershire

After that, our route takes us north, past Gloucester, to visit the Westbury Court Garden, which belongs to the National Trust. It’s a rather formal garden, and on this exceptionally hot day for early May, it offers almost too little shade.

We continue westwards, first passing through Newnham on Severn and then through a beautiful landscape.

 

Arriving in Wales

Now we cross the border into Wales. And yes, there really are borders with country signs. Wales – like Scotland – is bilingual: English and Welsh. This goes so far that almost all schools teach only in Welsh, and businesses based in Wales must always have their websites in Welsh as well.

A little tip for visitors: The popular double “l,” as in Llangollen, is pronounced like “ch,” a sort of croaky sound. And the “w” is a “u”—this is especially helpful when pronouncing city names. With that in mind:

Our first destination is Tintern, with the ruins of its once mighty abbey in the beautiful valley of the River Wye. On the way, we stop at a Welsh vineyard – Parva Farm Vineyard – lured by little lambs just begging to be cuddled. It’s an incredibly hot day, and the walk through the vineyard is, without exaggeration, sweat-inducing.

Tintern Abbey has unfortunately closed. No matter, it’s impressive even from the outside. In fact, the whole valley is simply gorgeous and perfect for long walks between Wales (this side of the river) and England (the other side).

The next day we take a closer look at the town of Monmouth, where we also spent the night.

Then head out to Symonds Yat Rock (which is just a short distance back into England) for a fantastic view of the meandering River Wye. The light is eerie and perfect for photography in an otherwise lovely setting. It couldn’t be more inviting or peaceful.

Next stop is Raglan Castle, a great castle with fantastic views.

The route to Blaenavon now leads almost cross-country. The journey itself is an experience: very narrow and sometimes steep roads, magnificent giant trees lining the road, and charming stone bridges over the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal with its narrowboats.

Wales was once a center of heavy industry.
In Blaenavon, you’ll find the remains of the once dominant ironworks with their incredible blast furnaces. With free admission and a friendly guided tour by a volunteer, we get a vivid impression of a time when things were considerably less peaceful than they are today.

 

Gospel Paß

One last look at the Big Pit Mine and into the town, then it’s off to a special highlight of what has already been a very eventful day. We drive north past Llanthony Priory, up the magnificent Gospel Pass road to Hay Bluff, and then back down to Haye-on-Wye. We’d love to drive that road again in the other direction tomorrow morning – it’s so beautiful.

And nature itself becomes a work of art. The town of Haye-on-Wye is considered THE book town – and indeed, there are an incredible number of bookshops and open bookshelves. Now in the evening, the place was pleasant, but practically deserted.

 

On Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

The still-hot weather is perfect for experiencing the shady Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. So we head to Goytrewharf hoping to rent a boat at the last minute. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work out, but we do meet Ben. He emigrated from London to beautiful Wales and takes us on a relaxing 20-minute boat trip along the canal. Simply idyllic!

Even after that, now back in the car, we continued along the canal. We stopped frequently for short walks. Near Talybond-on-Usk, we passed the reservoir and descended another mountain pass into the Cardiff area, where Dyffryn Garden (National Trust) awaits us.

Deep in South Wales

And in the evening we went to the beach: Llanwit Major and Nashpoint in Marcross were very nice – the Indian dinner afterwards was also very good.

 

Near Swansea

What a change in the weather! After days of glorious sunshine and heat, the sky is overcast. Arriving at Castell Coch, the sky briefly clears, and we take a short walk in the woods before visiting the castle – it has clouded over again. We wander almost alone through the incredibly ornate rooms. One could easily spend hours here, taking in every little detail.

To finish, we’ll have our first tea for two with Welsh cakes.

Driving through the city of Swansea, it takes a while to reach our destination, the Gower Peninsula. We take photos in Mumbles and Caswell Bay, but unfortunately, there’s no time left for Three Cliffs Bay. Along the way, we drive through a beautiful stretch of forest, its floor carpeted with flowering wild garlic. Rhossili Bay lies vast and deserted before us. Yesterday, on the Bank Holiday, it must have been absolutely packed. Sadly, we don’t have time to visit Northern Gower – but no matter!

 

Winterfall County

Another overcast day greets us, and we decide on – water! We’re heading to Waterfall County. It’s incredible how many waterfalls this region has to offer, in all shapes, sizes, and styles. We start with Melincourt Falls, just north of Neath near Resolven. A short hiking trail through the woods leads to the waterfall.

Admittedly, that was just the warm-up. Things get really spectacular again a little further north – we’re back in Brecon Beacon National Park, by the way. From the village of Pontneddfechan, a small road leads towards Ystradfellte, and after a while, another small, scenic road branches off to the left. This leads to the Pont Melin-Fach car park, where several hiking trails begin. We opt for the trail south along the River Neath and pass five or six different waterfalls. The trail itself, the forest, simply everything: so beautiful.

But we want to continue, this time to the Black Mountains: barren mountain terrain with practically no plants except grass. If it weren’t raining, stormy, and shrouded in fog, the view from the pass would be boundless and breathtaking!

We took small country roads towards Carreg Cennan Castle and finally Llaneilo, a small, lively town. Dynefwr Park and Newton House still awaited us. We only had time for a quick tour of the house, but it was raining and windy anyway. So what? A cozy pub was the perfect place to end the day.

 

Along the coast to Tenby

Unbelievable! We wake up to sunny weather and take the opportunity to explore the town of Lougharne with its castle ruins and the Dylan Thomas Boathouse.

Then we continue along the coast via Amroth to Tenby. A truly charming harbor town with stunning views and a beach. You also notice, especially here in Pembrokeshire, that the houses are painted in vibrant colors. In general, the towns here seem much nicer than those we’ve encountered so far on our trip through southern Wales.

 

A huge cathedral in the middle of nowhere

After thoroughly exploring the coastal area, we continued to Pembroke with its castle ruins, then on via Haverfordwest to Newgale with its fantastic beach, and finally to St. Davids. The Cathedral is truly the highlight of the day!

 

Pembrokeshire

The journey continues with a short detour to Porthgain and its stunning clifftop surf, which can only be seen from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. We then drive through Lowertown near Fishguard to Newton, another delightful place, and finally to St. Brynach’s Church in Nevern with its Celtic cross and Bleeding Yew Tree.

 

Über Aberaron nach Aberystwyth

A British breakfast can be quite extensive and take a while – especially if you’re having a nice chat. So we set off rather late, but the wind and the approaching rain make our visit to Poppit Sands a short one. We continue on through St. Dogmeals with its abbey ruins to Cardigan. A lovely little town, by the way. Aberaeron, which we reach next, is well worth seeing with its small harbor and brightly painted houses, which even brighten up the rainy weather.

We continue north to our base for the next two days: Aberystwyth. Our accommodation is very close to the beach promenade and only a few minutes from the Cliff Railway. Naturally, we take advantage of it right away and ride up Constitution Hill.

Later, after the rain and as the sun comes out again, the Aberystwyth promenade reveals itself in the most beautiful evening light!

 

Vale of Rheidhol & Elan Valley

The next day’s itinerary includes a scenic drive. Along the beautiful Vale of Rheidhol, we enjoy the views, and at Devils Bridge – which is actually three bridges stacked on top of each other – we visit Mynach Falls. Then we continue along the Mountain Road through the Elan Valley and along the reservoirs to Rhayader, another charming little town. The mountain scenery is constantly changing and breathtaking. In short: a fantastic tour, one of the many highlights of this trip.

 

Further North

It’s Mother’s Day, and for us, a day of travel with fantastic weather: a bright blue sky, but a cold wind. Our first stop is Machynlleth with its clock tower and eccentrically British front garden complete with a piano player, before continuing through a magnificent landscape to Dolgoch Falls in the beautiful Tal-y-Llyn valley. First, a stunning lake, then green, sheep-dotted hills in the valley’s center, and finally, the sun-drenched, romantically enchanting forest path leading up to the falls.

We continue towards the sea, first to Fairbourne. There are an extraordinary number of stone walls to be seen in this section. In Fairbourne itself, we follow the Lilliput steam train until it disappears into the dunes.

The route to Barmouth goes around the vast estuary (a really long drive, which can only be shortened by crossing the wooden toll road bridge). Taking the little train and a roughly two-minute ferry ride would have been significantly faster. However, Barmouth, a true summer resort, is lively but very pleasant. The beach is fantastic, with many boats stranded on the sand due to the low tide.
By the way: An ice cream for refreshment is incredibly expensive in Great Britain!

We continued north towards Harlech, enjoying the unique views of the Snowdonia mountains time and again. We made a brief visit to the Plas Tan-Y-Bwlch garden, which didn’t really impress us. Instead, we had a very special dinner. We bought everything at the local Spar supermarket and enjoyed the evening all to ourselves in a romantic picnic area by a small lake (on the B4410), accompanied by a family of geese with six fluffy goslings.

 

Snowdonia

The next day begins with a leisurely chat with our landlady, Linda, over a cooked breakfast in the kitchen. The weather also seems to be cooperating. We drive along fantastic routes via the A4085, Beddgelert, A498, and A4086 over the Pass of Llanberis to Llanberis, to take the famous Snowdon Mountain Railway to the top of Wales’ highest mountain. It has been unusually cloudless since yesterday. Unfortunately, the next available tickets aren’t until the afternoon of the same day. So we take advantage of the time and drive up to Caernarfon to explore the town and castle. Both places greeted us warmly; the castle is truly enormous in size and condition. Then we took a slightly different route back to, and finally up, Mount Snowdon. Just then, however, the clouds began to roll in. The drive up was still fantastic with good light. The views, especially to the right, were simply breathtaking, but just before the summit, the fog enveloped us. And it continued to descend, something we noticed quite strongly on the way back down.

But it only truly looks ingenious from the air:

We continue on to Criccieth via Porthmadog, which lies at the entrance to the Llwyn Peninsula. The light is beautiful now, the bay and the sea are perfectly calm before us. The castle looms overhead. We can even make out Harlech in the distance.

The next morning, we are the first guests in the Plas Brondanw garden. It’s as if we have a private garden all to ourselves. Small but perfectly formed. Then we set off on our hunt. We’re after the Welsh Highland Railway, the railway originally completed in 1923 running across Snowdonia, which existed for less than 20 years before being completely rebuilt between 1997 and 2011. We encounter it at three different locations and follow it to each one, finally reaching the terminus in Porthmadog.

After that, a short drive around the Llyn Peninsula is on the agenda. We already saw Criccieth the previous evening. We continue on, crossing the island to get a bird’s-eye view of Porth Dinllaen on the west coast. We generally like the west coast with its mountains the best.
We head back to the mainland and near Llithfaen we discover an inconspicuous turnoff to Nant Gwrtheyrn. This old granite quarry lies down on the coast; today it houses, among other things, a Welsh language institute – and a great café where we can enjoy tea and scones in the sweltering sun.

 

Anglesey

Finally, we’re off to a real island – Anglesey! We cross the Menai Suspension Bridge, a chain bridge designed by the famous engineer Thomas Telford, heading towards Beaumaris. Along the way, we spot the Hidden Gardens, which immediately draw us in. It’s just a few minutes before 5 pm, and therefore before closing time. But we’re in Great Britain, an incredibly friendly country. So we quickly ask – and yes, of course, we’re still allowed in. One exit gate is always open in the evenings, so once again we have a beautiful garden all to ourselves (anyone who has read our Scotland report knows what we mean).

We spent the next day on Anglesey, which, however, somewhat disappointed us and didn’t really appeal to us. Perhaps that was due to the weather, as it was mostly cloudy. First, we visited the place with the longest place name in Europe: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – often simply called “Gogogoch”.

The only highlight of our tour was “Parys Mountain” near Amlwch, a disused copper mine featuring an incredible play of colors in the rock.

And we really loved Beaumaris, where we’d already been the previous evening after visiting the Hidden Garden. There we saw that they offer a boat trip to Puffin Island – well, that’s where we want to go!

We’re in luck, because the strong winds have prevented any boats from going out yet. Our captain wants to give it a try and hopes we all have strong stomachs. Out on the water, however, it’s not nearly as bad as we thought, and we can admire seals, various seabirds in huge colonies, and finally, our very first puffins.

On the way back, we take a look at Beaumaris Castle.

 

 

Bodnant Garden

The next day takes us back to the mainland of the United Kingdom and to Bodnant Garden (National Trust). This garden is simply incredible in its size, expanse, and vibrant colors. And we say that after having seen well over 150 British gardens!
A must-see for rhododendron enthusiasts! From the formal garden with its house (a palace!), the path leads into a landscape garden. This slopes steeply down into the valley, and we needed well over two hours just for a complete walk around it.

 

Llandudno & Great Orme Tramway

Unfortunately, we have to move on, as we are expected in Llandudno at the Great Orme Tramway. A report for a German magazine needs to be written, and we will be busy for several hours taking photographs and conducting background interviews.
Afterwards, we strolled a bit through the streets of Llandudno, got some food from the Indian restaurant, and drove back up to the Great Orme to a picnic area where we had a view of bright yellow gorse, deep blue sea, an offshore wind farm, hares, and billy goats while we ate.

 

From Conwy to Llangollen

The next day we went to Conwy, a charming old town with a city wall that you can even walk along. There’s also an impressive castle, and the bridges offer lovely views of the estuary.

We continue on to Llanrwst with its beautiful stone bridge and the overgrown, ancient tearoom dating back to 1480, before driving through Gwydir Forest on scenic narrow roads to the Ugly House. We make a brief stop at Swallow Falls, and Betws-y-Coed – a charming little town – is so overrun with tourists that we move on immediately.

The destination of this rather long day’s hike is Llangollen, considerably further south and near the English border. Pleasant, but also too touristy for our taste. However, one of the beautiful canals begins here, which we follow on a 3.5 mile walk to the Horseshoe Falls.

 

Pontcycyllte Aquaeduct

In the evening, we made a quick trip to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (https://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk/) for a wonderful dinner in the beer garden of the local pub. Tip: The lamb’s liver and especially the faggots were fantastic. Finally, we drove up to Horseshoe Pass in the last light of the evening to watch the sunset.

It’s Saturday, May 19, 2018 – the day of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. We take a beautiful hike along the canal and back over the mountain, so we don’t experience much of the “wedding madness.” But at least half the country is spending the day together in front of the television. Lucky for us!
In the afternoon, we took a narrowboat trip to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – simply wonderful, gliding through the countryside at a leisurely 4 mph (approx. 6.5 km/h) and chatting with our skipper. The highlight was crossing the 40-meter-high aqueduct, built in 1805, with its cast-iron channel for canal boats. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site – also designed by Thomas Telford, by the way. Very close by, and equally impressive, is the Chirk Aqueduct, located right between England and Wales, with its ship tunnel, and then Chirk Castle.

 

Southwards to Welshpool

After all the hustle and bustle and early industrial history, we wanted something a bit more rural. So we sought out the sleepy Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, surrounded by beautiful countryside. The roads were often very rough minor roads. We continued on to Llanrhaeadr and then to the Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall. But the cars and crowds there, as well as the 4 GBP entrance fee, made us flee again, and we headed directly to Llanfair Caereinion to ride the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, which we were eager to experience. Traveling in Hungarian carriages and those of the Austrian Zillertalbahn brought back a feeling of home. A pleasant, short journey through a beautiful, though not spectacular, landscape. Speaking of which, here’s a local tip: The Raven Inn in Welshpool, right next to the train station, with a lovely beer garden surrounded by greenery.

 

 

Back to England via Powis Castle

Powis Castle is our last stop in Wales, and then we head south to Hergest Croft Garden. The route there, via the A483, meanders through beautiful countryside. In the lovely garden, we enjoy cream tea and chocolate cake to fortify ourselves for the final leg of our journey to the Cotswolds in England. There, we’ll visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, and the Batsford Arboretum before heading back to Heathrow Airport and home.

 

Our conclusion:

Wales is completely underrated! It offers the magnificent mountain scenery of Scotland on the one hand, and the charming landscapes of southern England on the other, complete with ancient pubs (so much rarer in Scotland), beautiful coastlines, and a wealth of history – all in a remarkably compact area. Add to that people who are incredibly proud of their Welsh heritage and generally relatively few foreign tourists. Therefore, Wales is a top travel tip, even for us lovers of southern England!