Day Trips from Colwyn Bay
© Geograph contributors / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Colwyn Bay’s position on the A55 North Wales Expressway and the North Wales Main Line makes it one of the best-located bases in the region. Within 30–40 minutes by road you can reach medieval castle towns, mountain national parks, historic slate landscapes, island coastlines and Victorian resorts. The following day trips are all eminently doable.
Conwy — 5 miles / 8 min drive / 14 min by train
Conwy is the closest major destination and arguably the finest medieval town in Wales. The fourteenth-century castle (a UNESCO World Heritage Site jointly with Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris) is massive, well-preserved and deeply impressive. The complete circuit of town walls is still walkable. The town itself — quaint cobbled streets within the walls, a busy quayside, independent shops and restaurants — is a full day’s outing without the castle. By train, alight at Llandudno Junction and the castle is a short walk across the river.
Llandudno — 7 miles / 15 min drive / 20 min by train
Llandudno is the grand resort of the North Wales coast — wide Victorian promenade, long pier, the Great Orme Country Park (with its cable car, tramway and Bronze Age copper mines), two distinct bays and a town full of good hotels and restaurants. It is the sort of place that takes a full day to do properly. The Great Orme summit (207m) is reachable on foot, by the historic cable tram, or by a cabin uplift.
Snowdonia National Park — 30 miles / 38 min drive
Snowdonia is Wales’s premier landscape — a national park of dramatic mountains, glacial lakes, river valleys and ancient woodland. The most popular day trip is to Llanberis (via the A55 and A4086), where the Snowdon Mountain Railway runs to Wales’s highest summit (1,085m) and the National Slate Museum tells the story of the region’s industrial heritage. Alternatively, the Conwy Valley road leads to Betws-y-Coed — a Victorian tourist village in a spectacular wooded gorge — and on into the heart of the mountains.
Zip World & Adventure Attractions — from 20 min drive
Zip World operates multiple adventure sites across North Wales within range of Colwyn Bay. Zip World Velocity at Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda is the world’s fastest zip line; Zip World Tower at Rhyl is the closest site to Colwyn Bay. Bounce Below — an underground trampoline network in the Llechwedd Slate Caverns at Blaenau Ffestiniog — is another standout. All require advance booking.
Anglesey — 45–55 min drive via A55
Anglesey (Ynys Môn) is reached via the Britannia Bridge or the Menai Suspension Bridge. The island has some of the best beaches in Wales (Rhosneigr, Newborough, Llanddwyn Island), the dramatic cliffs of South Stack RSPB Reserve, and Beaumaris Castle (another of the Edwardian castle UNESCO cluster). A full day is needed to do the island justice.
Further Afield in North Wales
Caernarfon (45 min) has the most imposing of the Edwardian castles and the start of the Snowdon Sherpa bus network. Blaenau Ffestiniog (55 min) is the home of the Ffestiniog Railway — the world’s oldest narrow-gauge railway still in operation. Llangollen to the east (45 min) offers the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (another UNESCO World Heritage Site), horse-drawn canal trips and the International Musical Eisteddfod.
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