Wales
| In 6 words: Great nature, plus some imposing castles. For your first visit you can do a highlights trip in about three days, but that will leave some areas unexplored. Active outdoors types will certainly need more. Worthy destinations: Cardiff; Brecon Beacons National Park; Portmeirion; Caernarfon and Conwy. Left for another visit: Coastal areas of Pembrokeshire (including St Davids) and Llyn Peninsula; Powis Castle; Llandrindod Wells. Last visit: March 2008. |
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Wales has dramatic natural wonders, from its coastline to its mountains, and enables a great deal of outdoorsy pursuits. For those more interested in man-made wonders, such as yours truly, Welsh offerings are somewhat less spectacular. Which is not to say that you can’t find interesting things to do in Wales if you are primarily interested in history and architecture, but you will enjoy it more if you mix in at least some hiking or trekking or climbing or cycling or rafting or what-have-you into your itinerary.
We did a south-to-north highlights trip in three days, selecting points of interest that could fit into such itinerary, which obviously left a number of locations and attractions unexplored. Having perused tourbooks upon our return again, I am convinced that we skipped just a few places that would be of interest to us. Your tastes will undoubtedly vary.
Cardiff
| In 5 words: Whimsical castle and pleasant waterfront. For your visit half a day should be enough to get acquainted with the city. Distances are very short in the town center, but hiring a taxi (~£7) to go to the Cardiff Bay is practical. Worthy attractions: Cardiff Castle; National Gallery with its expressionist collection; strolling and dining on the Cardiff Bay waterfront. |
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| Left for another visit: Actual viewing of the expressionist collection (see below). Last visit: March 2008. |
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Cardiff is not very remarkable aside from a couple of major points of interest. The first of them, Cardiff Castle ♥♥♥ makes coming to Cardiff worthwhile all by itself. Situated smack in the town center, the castle grounds house a 12th-century elevated keep, which opens fine but unexceptional views over the city rooftops, and the romantic neo-Gothic palace.
Guided tours of the mansion start every twenty minutes, and proceed through a dozen of exuberantly over-the-top decorated rooms, for which then-owner of the castle, the local fabulously wealthy coal baron, an Earl, spared no expenses in the second half of the 19th century (there are 60 different varieties of marble in the bathroom, for instance). Each room is designed with a “theme” in mind: The men’s salon is themed around passing of time and seasons, the women’s salon is patterned after a harem (the Earl’s wife, apparently, did not mind), the children’s room is all about fairy tales, and so on. The library, the big banqueting hall and the roof garden are among the striking highlights.
The National Museum and Gallery, according to tourbooks, boasts the biggest collection of impressionist paintings outside of Paris. Unfortunately, during our visit, large parts of the gallery were closed for refurbishment that should last through 2009. Only a small portion of the collection was on display.
Cardiff Bay ♥ area is worth a look. The old docklands area has been transformed into a nice and happening waterfront, with many good restaurants, bars and fine boutiques. The 19th-century Pier Head Building and the modern Wales Millennium Centre provide striking architectural contrasts.
Places to eat
Bosphorus ♥♥ is a Turkish restaurant that sits on a pier in Mermaid Quay. Great location: Its full-height windows allow for unobstructed views of the waterfront, including the Pier Head Building. The food did not bowl us over as Mediterranean places often do, but there wasn’t anything to be unhappy about either. Our damage: £95 for an assortment of starters, three entrées, desserts, and a bottle of Turkish wine, including tips. Last visit: Spring 2008.
Lodging
We stayed one night in March 2008 at the recently renovated Park Plaza ♥♥♥ (website). It is located a stone’s throw from both the castle and the National Gallery. The rooms are nicely sized and appointed, and modernly furnished; the utilities are all brand-new – we could not resist taking a rare full bath. One of our two rooms looked out on the street, which gets a bit noisy on Friday and Saturday nights, but the other room, #431, looked into the courtyard and was more than quiet. There is a great ancient Rome-accented pool. The breakfast buffet is more than satisfactory for all tastes.
Brecon Beacons National Park
The enormous national reserve is a primary spot for outdoor pursuits, with four mountain ranges and many lakes and rivers. It is also famous for its caves. We stopped at Dan-yr-Ogof ♥, which allows access to three different caves, of which we especially recommend the vast and magnificent Cathedral Cave. There are also dozens of dinosaur sculptures, which never fail to fascinate children, a model Iron Age village, and a nearby animal farm.
Another popular activity in the area is pony trekking – or riding lessons, if you prefer. You will undoubtedly be driving past stables here and there, no matter which road you are driving on in Brecon Beacons. We picked one at random, and while there is little to support recommending that particular stable – down the road from Dan-yr-Ogof – it was entirely adequate for the purpose of letting kids ride for half an hour.
Places to eat
Brecon is a market town with some handsome Georgian buildings, and it is a natural base option is you are staying in the area. Its main street, known as Bullwark, has a number of cafés and restaurants. We had lunch at the unassuming Salad Bowl, with simple but reasonable offerings. Our damage: £27 for four people. Last visit: Spring 2008.
Aberystwyth
The seaside town of Aberystwyth is a logical middle-of-the-way stopover on a trek between South and North Wales. Its quay is a nice-looking promenade on a sunny day, but its central streets felt rather deserted on a Saturday night in late March, more so than we expected.
Steep elevation on the town’s northern edge, Constitution Hill, lends great views over town and the nearby coastline. Use Cliff Railway funicular to get to the top (although we have seen people walking up).
About 12 miles away from town lies the popular Devil’s Bridge ♥♥♥. The trail takes you down to the valley floor around a series of dramatic waterfalls in a wooded ravine, and is a marvelous hour-long hiking exploration. A word of caution: Very steep stairs, both down and up; not suitable for everyone.
In summer, you should be able to take the narrow-gauge Vale or Rheidol Railway from Aberystwyth to the Devil’s Bridge, but that option only works if you spending the whole day in the area, since the train only makes a couple of trips a day in each direction, and it is not feasible by my estimation to get on the earliest departure back to Aberystwyth if you want to appreciate the waterfalls to any degree.
Places to eat
Likely due to the season (late March), we did not have a choice of eateries that we expected in Aberystwyth. We picked a Mediterranean place with nice ambience, Le Casablanca ♥, a block or so away from the central town square. Everything we ended up ordering was quite tasty, but a number of items on an already-limited menu was not available (including all of Becky’s initial selections). The restaurant does not have a liquor license, so the convenience store across the street has no shortage of wine-buying customers. Before I could make a trip, though, the restaurant owner offered us a bottle of merlot that was apparently left behind by previous customers. We were not charged anything for that bottle, either because they forgot or to maintain the no-liquors-sold-here appearance. The bill was handwritten and the payment accepted in cash only, so I am sure they could charge us for the wine… Our damage: £55 for a two-course dinner for three people (Kimmy shared in our orders), plus one dessert, including tips. Last visit: Spring 2008.
Lodging
We stayed in March 2008 at the Plas Antaron (website) hotel at the southern edge of town, which was a fall-back choice after a couple of more attractive lodgings proved not to be open for business until April. It is an ok B&B, with some nice decor in the common areas, but decidedly old room furnishings, utilities and windows. Family room #12 has three beds that sleep four.
The hotel has banqueting facilities, which were used for a jubilee celebration during our stay, and that certainly interfered with our ability to drift off around midnight.
Breakfast has very little in terms of a buffet beyond juice. You can order a breakfast plate, which consists of fried eggs, bacon, sausages, grilled mushrooms and grilled tomatoes, or any subset of the above, accompanied by toasts and tea/coffee. The pickier travelers amongst us had to limit themselves to toast with butter and tea.
Portmeirion
The artificial village of Portmeirion ♥ is a curious place to visit. It consists of a central piazza surrounded by several dozens of fanciful buildings in various styles, with a clear Italianate flavor. The village has no residents, but visitors can stay in some of its charming cottages (or at the luxurious hotel).
There are several boutiques selling souvenirs and crafts (local pottery is quite famous) around the piazza, but visiting Portmeirion is mostly about picture spots and imagining yourself in a Tyrrhenian sea coastal village.
Places to eat
Town Hall Café is a self-service eatery with enough selection but understandably cafeteria quality. It is rather perfect if you do not want to spend too much time on a lunch. Our damage: £32 for four people.
Blaenau Ffestiniog
This place is famous for Llechwedd Slate Caverns, which provide insight into the traditional mining industry. There are two different tours that you can take around the quarries, plus a re-creation of a Victorian village and other attractions on the surface.
We selected the Deep Mine tour. It is not a cheap attraction (£32.50 for a family). Even in the off-season, in the late afternoon, we endured over 40 minutes of wait time to get on the incline railway to descend to the underground chambers (the cars take 15-20 people at a time and return for the next group in around 10 minutes). The tour takes you through ten chambers and consists of sketchy narration, accompanied by sound effects that recreate the atmosphere of a working quarry, while lights illuminate heretofore dark portions of each respective cavern, staged with props. There are a couple of impressive chambers, but there is also plenty of moments staring into the dark waiting for the narration to commence. You are back to the surface in less than half an hour. Quite disappointing.
The Miners Tramway tour description sounded less exciting, and no one in the ticket line before or after us was going for that…
Conwy
You can cover all of the walled historical center of Conwy ♥ in about 45 minutes – it’s quite small. The High Street area is small-town pleasant, with interesting architecture and inviting boutiques, facing a bay with different tide levels at various parts of the day. We only looked at the main attractions from the street, bypassing Conwy Castle for its better preserved sibling at Caernarfon (see below), and eschewing exploration of the town walls because of a cold and windy weather. The castle, nonetheless, from outside looks as if having descended from an illustration in a book, while the walls are in a remarkably good state, literally enclosing the town.
We did visit Plas Mawr ♥, a merchant mansion of the 16th century, with several nicely presented rooms, including kitchen, attic, servants’ bedroom, mistress’ bedroom, etc. You can get an audioguide (included in the price of the ticket) or explore on your own, in which case a docent will be happy to volunteer some information. Remarkably, at the entrance, you are advised that you are completely free to use your camera to photograph things – this happened to me for the first time in my life in a house-museum.
Another little attraction is the Smallest House in Britain, on the quay, but we did not expect to see much inside, so we only passed by.
Lodging (and place to eat)
Hotel Castlebank ♥♥♥ (website) is situated right outside town walls. Very accommodating proprietors; nicely appointed and furnished common areas, including a bar. The room size is what you would expect from a B&B, in pristine conditions, with modern TV/DVD combos (the DVD inventory can be found in the lounge, and the owner will happily provide you with your selection). Family room #8 has three beds that sleep four, and is not too tight.
There is also a PC with broadband connection in the lounge, at no extra charge.
The breakfast is of the traditional variety (fried eggs, bacon, sausages, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomatoes or a subset thereof, plus toast and coffee/tea), but there is also an additional buffet with cereals and fruits. Kimmy and Natasha availed themselves of those, respectively, and left considerably more satisfied than after a similar breakfast the day before at Aberystwyth.
You also can have a dinner at the hotel ♥♥ – even if you are not staying there. The prix-fixe menu has four different starters and four different entrées, plus dessert, all of the highest quality. The owner was also the waiter and the bartender, which made the service the friendliest. Cost: £17.95 per person, not including drinks.
Caernarfon
Spectacular Caernarfon Castle ♥♥♥ is one in the ring of castles in Northern Wales that the English crown built at the end of the 13th century to keep their then recently conquered subjects – Welshmen – in check. You can climb its polygonal towers – the view from the tops is really good – or lose your children in the labyrinths of its passages. There is no furnishings in the interior quarters, but instead a couple of themed expositions that we skipped.
A movie theater in one of the towers shows a 20-minute film every half hour on the history of Wales and its northern castles. Very entertaining and educational – we highly recommend you take time to watch it.
In the sloping, irregularly shaped courtyard, there are several tents manned by traditional workmen (woodworker, basket-weaver, etc), who schmooze with tourists and showcase their skills. In addition, a costumed “original architect” of the castle walks around the compound with building plans and a sword on his belt, chatting up visitors. He and the workmen mostly speak as if it’s 13th century outside, which adds fun flavor to the atmosphere.