Looking for an off the beaten track destination full of dramatic scenery? Northern Wales is the place! You’ll be blown away by the sheer beauty of this area with lots of interesting attractions to see.
In June 2025, we took a scenic road trip across northern Wales where we encountered some breathtaking views and had some memorable experiences. Make sure you read on to the end – I’ve saved the biggest highlight of the road trip to last!
About North Wales
In a recent blog post on South Wales, I mentioned that Wales sits on the western side of England, separating England from the Irish Sea.
Northern Wales sits directly between Dublin in Ireland and Liverpool in England. Ferries from Ireland generally dock at Liverpool, but also at Holyhead on the North-West Coast of Wales.
It might be tempting just to skip Wales and go to Liverpool, as it is a bit closer to major English cities such as London, Birmingham, and Manchester. However, as northern Wales is only around 120 km in length (75 miles), it is worth taking the scenic route.
North Wales Road trip
We were definitely tempted to just catch the ferry from Dublin to Liverpool, but we were so glad that we went via northern Wales instead. Unfortunately, our ferry broke down and we had to spend an extra day in Dublin, so we only had a day to drive across Wales.
Nevertheless, our daytrip across Wales was fantastic. Within the span of a few hours, the scenery changed from white sandy beaches to epic mountain ranges to green valleys and rivers to farmland. Along the way, we passed historic bridges and castles, coalmines, and cute little villages. There were also some unexpected, but very cool attractions.
In terms of scenic drives, we were spoilt for choice. Option 1 was the coastal route along the A55. This takes you past Conwy Castle, the Great Orne headland, and coastal resort towns such as Llandudno and Colwyn Bay.
Option 2 (the A5), which is the route we selected, was more inland. We passed through the Eryri (Snowdonia) Mountains National Park and Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Park.
Both routes are major highways. The A5 that we chose was 2 lanes and very smooth, despite the mountainous landscapes we were driving through.
Anglesey
Anglesey is a small island off the north-west coast of Wales. According to the visit Wales website, Anglesey is a place of “unparalleled beauty”.
I was prewarned that the port town of Holyhead is not a place of beauty, it’s an industrial port. There is a main highway route through the middle of Anglesey that gets you quickly from the port in Holyhead out to the prettier areas of the island.
It’s raining the day we visited, but we managed a few quick stops and drives through some lovely places on the island. These included Beaumaris, Menai Strait, and a famous little town with a very big-name.
We were supposed to spend the night in Caernafon, which has a well-known castle in the centre of town, but missed out on this area due to our delayed ferry.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
I was quite excited when I found out our driving route would take us right through this tiny little town with a very long name.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is famous for having the world’s longest single word name (58 letters long), and the 2nd longest name overall in the world.
You have to feel sorry for the locals, filling out forms and online shopping must be a nightmare. However, most of the time the town name is shortened to Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG.
Why would someone create such a ridiculously long town name? Apparently, the town name means “St Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio near the red cave”. Very detailed!
However, in reality, the name was created as publicity stunt to create the longest train station name in order to attract tourists. It worked!
The main reason people visit is to get a snap of the town name at the railway station. At the station, there is a souvenir shop full of memorabilia relating to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
The town itself doesn’t have any particular attractions or much to see, it’s just a nice little town with the church (St Mary’s Church) near a whirlpool (Menai Strait). But, since it is only a quick detour off the highway, it is worth a stop, just to laugh at everyone trying to pronounce the town name.
Beaumaris
Beaumaris is a pretty little town on the northern coast of Anglesey island. We briefly drove through the town, but as it was raining and we were limited on time, we didn’t get to explore in detail.
Our drive through the town was very pleasant though. From the main highway, there is a lovely drive through dense trees that opened up to vistas of white sandy beaches as we entered the town.
Driving along the waterfront, there was a nice pier with sailboats out on the water. On a sunny day, this would be a lovely place to enjoy the pretty white beaches.
In town, there was an interesting mix of architecture. We spotted some painted houses, similar to Tenby in the south of Wales. There were also some timber Tudor houses in the centre of town.
We also passed Beaumaris’ big attractions: Beaumaris Castle, an Edwardian castle known as the best unfinished castle in Wales (only accessible from the outside). The gaol is an old Victorian jailhouse and courtroom museum (couldn’t find info on accessibility).
Menai Strait
We left Anglesey Island by crossing the Menai Strait. Crossing the river are 2 famous bridges:
- the Menai suspension bridge (the largest suspension bridge in the world at the time it was built in 1826 by Thomas Telford) and
- the Britannia Bridge (a railway bridge built in 1850, accidentally burnt down by kids in the 1970s, and rebuilt since).
The Menai Strait River includes an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with tons of wildlife including crabs and birds living in the area.
The river flowing through this area is renowned for its strong, rapid tides and whirlpools between the 2 bridges. These whirlpools are known as the “swellies” (these are the whirlpools mentioned in the long town name).
Driving across the bridge, there is a spectacular view across the Menai Strait, with the Snowdonia National Park mountains in the distance.
Snowdonia National Park
As we entered mainland Wales, we drove into the Snowdonia mountains.
Even with torrential rain and some low clouds impeding the view, these mountains were spectacular. There were several “oh wow” moments where we turned the corner, only to find a roadside waterfall, lake, or dramatic mountain scenery.
As mentioned in my South Wales blog post, my mental image of Wales was sheep farms, coalmines, and depressingly rainy weather.
Driving through Snowdonia, we saw a couple of mines high up in the mountains, and some sheep among pretty little country cottages. The rain was just as I had envisaged, but it was too pretty to be depressing!
If it were a sunny day, and we had more time, we would have loved to explore some of the accessible trails available in Snowdonia. Snowdonia is a hiker’s paradise – even with the torrential rain, we spotted hikers everywhere. Driving through the villages, every 2nd shop was an adventure/outdoor store.
Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Park
As we descended the Snowdonia mountain ranges, we found ourselves in yet another recognised Area of Natural Beauty.
Our view from the car included rolling hills covered in heather, lush green forestry, and the Dee River flowing alongside the road.
We also passed through some picturesque towns, including Llangollen. This little town has a lovely promenade, riverside walk, and lots of cafés and independent shops to explore.
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site
I promised that I saved the best for last, and here it is.
This hidden gem is something I saw on one of those “slow journey” videos – those long videos of scenery from a train or boat. When couldn’t travel during the pandemic, I had to make do with travel videos.
I was therefore beyond excited when I discovered the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was on our northern Wales driving route!
What is so cool about this place that I wanted to visit?
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site is not just a canal. It is a canal that travels OVER a massive bridge/aqueduct! That’s right, the canal goes ACROSS the top of the bridge.
This engineering masterpiece was built by Thomas Telford. You might remember from earlier in the post, this was the guy who built the Menai suspension bridge. Looking at the aqueduct, it’s hard to believe how they built this in the late 1700s. For that reason, and the absolute natural beauty of this place, this area is a recognised World Heritage Site.
Compared to other world Heritage sites, this place seems to be relatively unknown. There was hardly anyone there when we visited. Thankfully for us, the rain stopped for an hour, and the sun even popped out for us while we explored.
We pulled up at the Trevor Basin, a section of the canal where boats are able to turn around. This little harbour area included a parking area, visitor centre, and is where tours and boat hire launch.
It was a smooth gravel and bitumen path along the Trevor Basin area. As we strolled along the canal, we passed several canal boats moored for the evening.
The highlight: The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
Then, came the best bit. The 300m aqueduct bridge over the river Dee.
This 38m high bridge is NOT for people who are scared of heights. However, if you are brave, the views from the bridge down into the valley were incredible!
The bridge walkway is about 1.2 m wide (about 4 feet). On one side of you, there is an iron (but still very see-through) railing that looks down over the valley and river below. On the other side, is the canal (with no fencing between the pathway and the canal) which is about 1.6 m (5 feet) deep.
Either way, you don’t want to be going off the path. The path was wide enough for my wheelchair, but the concrete was quite rough, so I took it pretty slow to avoid taking a swim in the canal.
The bridge did get interesting when some people crossing from the opposite side reached us. Remembering that my wheelchair is about 70 cm wide, that left 40-50 cm for someone to get around me. In that moment, I got some free hugs from strangers as they manoeuvred around my chair to get past.
On the other side of the aqueduct, we continued our stroll along the river before turning around and returning across the bridge. On the return trip, there was a tour guide running a canoe tour along the canal, who paddled alongside us and shared some interesting stories about the canal.
There are additional places of interest along the canal, including villages, bridges, aqueducts, and viewpoints of the river and bridges that you can visit.
Overall impressions
I only had 2 complaints about our road trip in Northern Wales. 1) the rainy weather, and 2) that we should have spent so much more time exploring this area.
Just like South Wales, the North of Wales seems to be still off the beaten track and extremely underrated. There were so many views that took my breath away on the coast, in the mountains, and at the canals.
If you were to spend more time in this area, there’s lots of options for adventure sports, quiet time in nature, and accessible experiences.
Ratings
Wow Factor: 5/5 Just Wow!
Cobble Index: 3/5 A bit bumpy on the aqueduct and a few cobbles in the towns.
Barrier free barometer: 3.5/5 website info on accessibility is very good. Wales have made a big effort to make many attractions accessible.
Want more?
The following websites have some great information about visiting northern Wales:
You can also check out some of my recent posts on nearby areas:
Why you should visit South Wales
Wheelchair friendly UK and Ireland Road trip
Visiting the charming Cotswolds