Railways of Wales
Mountains, castles, canals and mountain railways
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6 Days from£535
per person
Explore the rugged mountains and winding waterways of North Wales. Enjoy picturesque journeys aboard historic steam trains and admire delightful towns and ancient history on this Welsh adventure.
Today you arrive in the town of Llandudno, where you meet your Tour Manager at your hotel for the next five nights, the family run Kensington Hotel. This classically-styled Victorian Hotel enjoys a superb position on Llandudno's central promenade and enjoys fantastic views of Llandudno Bay.
A township since the thirteenth century, Llandudno, like many British coastal resorts, rose to prominence in the Victorian era. By 1848 Llandudno had become an established fishing and copper-mining town with a population of around a thousand when it was proposed that the town might achieve further prosperity as a holiday resort. Significant development followed, including the construction of a new pier, seafront promenade, a pavilion, plus new hotels and guest houses.
Modern Llandudno retains its Victorian splendour and natural beauty but also offers a host of entertainments for visitors including both a tramway and a cable car to the summit of Great Orme as well as museums, public gardens and traditional seaside amusements.
You have some time at leisure to explore the surrounding area before you enjoy a welcome dinner at the hotel this evening.
Today, enjoy an excursion on the steam-hauled* Ffestiniog Railway, a narrow-gauge heritage railway in the Snowdonia National Park. The Ffestiniog Railway was originally founded in 1832 as a means of transporting slate, and miners, from the quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog, and claims to be the oldest independent railway company in the world.
You travel through the scenery of Snowdonia National Park to Porthmadog. From here it's on to Portmeirion, famous for its lovely location.
Visitors arriving in Portmeirion for the first time could be forgiven for thinking that they had arrived in a typically colourful Italian- Mediterranean village. In fact, that was the intention of Portmeirion's designer; the renowned Welsh architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. You may wish to visit the central piazza or Battery Square, and its quaint souvenir shops.
*Steam-hauled if possible.
Please Note: For departures 18LLS02a, 18LLS05a
18LLS11 and 18LLS20 Days 2 and
5 swapped around.
Board the Llangollen Railway* travelling through some of the most beautiful scenery in the UK. The Llangollen Railway was formed in 1975 by a group of railway enthusiasts who wanted to open and run a heritage railway on the disused line.
You travel along the banks of the River Dee to Corwen. After some free time for lunch, enjoy a horse-drawn boat trip along the Llangollen canal.
*Steam-hauled if possible.
Please Note: For departures 18LLS23a and 18LLS24a Days 3 and 5 swapped around.
Your day is free, perhaps to explore Llandudno or take the Great Orme cable-hauled tramway for breathtaking views of Snowdonia and Anglesey.
Llandudno's historic highlights can be easily explored on foot and a dedicated Town Trail provides a recommended route which begins at the town's library and takes in notable features including several of Llandudno's churches, the promenade, the railway station, the pier and two of the town's public gardens.
A full-day excursion by coach takes you through some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in Britain to Caernarfon for a guided tour of Caenarfon Castle. Continue with a journey on the Welsh Highland Railway*, a narrow-gauge line running along the foothills of the Snowdonia Mountain range, to Beddgelert where there is time to explore this pretty village before returning to Llandudno.
Located where the rivers Glaslyn and Colwyn meet within the Snowdonia National Park in north Wales, the picturesque stone village of Beddgelert is surrounded by beautiful wooded valleys, rolling hills and mountain lakes. Snowdon itself, Wales' highest mountain, is fewer than five miles north of the village.
*Steam-hauled if possible.
After breakfast, you are free to depart at your leisure. Alternatively, why not explore more of this wonderful area before heading home? You could take a final walk around the beautiful town of Llandudno. Traversing the crescent-shaped bay between Great Orme and its smaller twin Little Orme, Llandudno's wide promenade is backed by grand, white-washed Victorian hotels and is a delightful spot to sit back on one of the many benches provided and watch the world go by.
On many of our UK & Ireland tours, you may check in at the first hotel on your itinerary anytime after 14:00; your Tour Manager will be available between 16:00 and 18:00. However, if you are arriving later, you can meet your Tour Manager before dinner from 19:00.
Not Included
of travellers would recommend this tour
Tour Rating
based on 49 verified reviews
On the whole it was a good holiday and great value for money. The only downside I would say was the fact that we had to have a double bed when we would have preferred twin beds, and as the bed was rather sensitive to movement neither of us slept very well. Plus it was a 4 ft 6 ins bed which exacerbated the problem
Well organised and everyone very friendly
Excellent trips and a very knowledgeable and helpful tour manager. Great driver with lots of local knowledge.Would have preferred to pay more for a better hotel. Great location, clean and a well cooked breakfast but dinner, pre ordered, served at 6.30pm. We ate out each day. Slow service at breakfast some days and a roast dinner every night!
Very good leader and well planned tour.
We have done this directly to the company by filling in the customer survey at the end of the holiday
Our trip was excellent. The schedule of activities was as expected. The hotel facilities and food were of a very high standard. Our tour manager and coach driver made the whole experience very interesting and informative.
Good hotel, however the dry breakfast choices were very limited, (we don't eat cooked breakfasts), but apart from this small point the hotel was very good and well sited on the sea front. Your organised rail and coach trips were well thought out coupled with an excellent coach driver who gave a very quality running commentary of north Wales area and by varying the routes he took each day presented us with different views within the the same area travelled.
Thought the itinerary covered most things.Hotel 1st class.Coach driver excellent.
I would have rated 5 if there had been more rail travel and less coach journeys
Well organised with good accommodation and tours.
Mountains, castles, canals and mountain railways
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