| Recommended days | 6 |
| Budget | £ |
| Difficulty | Easy |
If you’re a bit of a castle freak then north Wales is one of the best places in the world for a road trip. There are so many castles in the region that could probably dispense with a car and tour by foot or bus if you wanted to. This was a Welsh castle road trip with the kids so it wasn’t ‘only’ castles, just ‘mostly’.
Conwy Castle
The first day involved a morning drive up to Colwyn Bay before our first overnight in Conwy. Colwyn Bay was incredibly quiet for August, I guess the weather didn’t help, but we had lunch and a wander along the prom. We didn’t visit the headland of Little Orme and the associated attractions there but even so we didn’t arrive in Conwy until late afternoon. This was too late to visit the castle, much to the kids amusement!
Conwy 
Conwy castle 
Conwy castle
After breakfast we walked part of the town walls and then the medieval streets of Conwy. It is geared for tourism but that’s not a bad thing and the attractions were well signposted with plenty of information. There is a 15th century merchant’s house (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/aberconwy-house) that you can visit in the town.
Caernarfon Castle
Next stop was the jewel in the crown of Welsh (English) castles, Caernarfon. I’m not sure of terminology here, are these Welsh castles because they are in Wales or English castles because they were built by the English? When does the line blur? Anyway, it was an easy drive and there is a car park right in front of the castle. To cheer the kids up there was also an ice cream van in the car park.
As you can see from the photos the castle is huge and in an excellent state of repair. There are often special events on (I revisited in 2018 and they have the remembrance poppy display there) and there are plenty of information boards around the site. In the nearby streets there are plenty of cafes and it is another town that is lovely to walk around an explore.
Dolbadarn Castle
We stopped at Dolbadarn castle on our way to our accommodation but the weather was so dismal by now that the kids didn’t get out of the car. The castle is a small Welsh tower in a very bleak location and we didn’t hang around too long to explore.
Snowdon
We stayed in Betwy-s-coed overnight, yet another tourist town. It was a break from castles for the kids and we had a pleasant, if damp, evening stroll. The next day we headed back to Llanberis to get the railway to the top of Snowdon. This was rather naive as the weather wasn’t that good at sea level and on the top of the mountain it was atrocious. We ran outside for a photo, back into the cafe for coffee and then got the next train down the mountain!
Snowdon in summer 
Snowdon in summer
Dolwyddelan Castle
After that expensive mistake we drove past Dolwyddelan castle, the kids staying in the car again while we had a quick look before arriving in our final base, Criccieth. Criccieth is a pretty little seaside village with a lovely beach and impressive Welsh castle on the hill. We stayed in a farmhouse nearby for a few nights and enjoyed the luxury of not having to repack each day!
Dolwyddelan Castle in the rain! 
Dolwyddelan Castle in the rain! 
Dolwyddelan Castle in the rain!
Criccieth Castle
From constant drizzle yesterday, today we woke to blue skies. This transformed the landscape and we had a leisurely day spent on the beach and exploring the castle. The kids were re-energised, helped by ice cream of course! Criccieth castle is another that is looked after by CADW which shares membership with English Heritage.
Harlech Castle
The next day was more blue skies, Wales lulling us into believing the tales of this rain and windswept land were false. We headed to our final castle stop, the famous Harlech castle. There is very limited parking near the castle so usually you park near the beach and walk up. It does give a new respect to medieval soldiers who would run up, unde fire, to try and storm the castle wearing full armour etc!
Cymer Abbey
As the weather stayed sunny we headed to Cymer abbey, a small Cistertian abbey that was largely ruins but in a nice setting. There wasn’t much nearby but it did mean we had the site to ourselves.
Portmerion
The next morning was our last before we headed home so we visited the village of Portmerion. I’d never actually seen The Prisoner but I had heard of it and the village was certainly an iconic setting. Sadly the weather was not happy so we endured rain and wind as we looked around and headed home rather damp.
The lesson (soon forgotten) of this Welsh Castle Road Trip was to plan for bad weather. Instead of just working out a route to see the sights we wanted it would have been far more sensible, especially for the kids, to have included some rainy day options rather than just getting wet. We endured and had a nice time though, helped by having decent wet weather gear.
2009
We live in the US and are planning a trip to Wales in September. In the course of planning, I stumbled across your posts on TripAdvisor which led me to your “sociophobe” website. I very much enjoyed reading some of your travels! While I focused mainly on your two Wales “chapters”, I have bookmarked your website for when we come back to England.
That’s lovely to hear Deja. If I can be of any assistance planning your Welsh trip please let me know.
How was the trip to Wales? There is some amazing scenery and history there so I hope you had a fabulous time.