I’d wanted to visit North Wales for some time and, finally, this year I fulfilled my dream. We actually visited this region twice last summer, so I’m even more excited to share with you my travel experiences to North Wales.
Castles, churches & chapels
From our very first trip to Wales (which was many years ago!), I remember passing / seeing many churches and back then it made me wonder if it is actually true that Wales has more sacral architecture than other parts of the UK?!
Having this memory, I was very tempted to see the ‘Welsh Lourdes’, as I’d read bout it in my travel guide. Yes, in Holywell, there is actually a holy well where you can taste and bathe in the holy water (sadly, bathing is temporarily suspended) and visit the chapels (one with the pool and one with beautiful stained glass windows). Our visit was beautiful both visually and spiritually.
We also visited the famous Conwy Castle and the ruins of Howarden Castle. In Conwy Castle, you can walk on the walls that originally formed the medieval town. The ruins in Howarden were visible only from some distance and there was only one tower, but the village was lovely.
Wild swimming
North Wales is a good place for wild swimming and the water is rather warm (!). We visited the beaches in Penmaenmawr (quite empty, so you can almost have the beach to yourself), Llandundo (I found three: one on each side of the town and one hidden) and Prestatyn (an urban beach with very high tides that make the beach disappear).
Cafes
One of my little pleasures is a visit to a café. I used to go to cafes quite regularly, but now I try to treat it as something special and visit not too often. Let me give you some flavour of my favourite cafes in North Wales. One was in Llandundo: Providero. I enjoyed their leafy teas and the open-spaced interior. The other café was in Howarden, in their farm deli. The café was beautifully decorated with books and paintings, and just sitting there made me happy. But, trying their scrumptious plum bun was a very nice addition to our visit (!).
Camping
Last summer we decided to go camping: we camped near Llundando and Prestatyn. We enjoyed our experiences, we had some epic sunsets, were surrounded by beautiful nature and met many friendly families. What challenged us was the weather: very unpredictable; they were days of rain and wind. However, overall, I wouldn’t change our choice to more comfortable accommodation. Camping is a wonderful travel experience, natural, sustainable and slow.
How was your summer 2021? Please let me know in the comments below.