Looking to plan a trip to Snowdon? This concise guide of the best places to go, things to see and food to eat in Snowdon will help you plan and make the most of your trip!
A weekend whistle stop tour of Snowdonia. If we were to book again we’d have stayed for longer than 2 nights and enjoyed more that Snowdonia has to offer. With one day travelling there and another travelling back we only had one full day which we spent climbing Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales (and England).
Stay
We stayed at The Grapes Hotel in Maentwrog. If you book more than 3 weeks in advance (unlike us) you can stay in the town Llanberis which is closer to the mountain but we were really happy with where we stayed. It was a beautiful location, with a cool scenic drive to Snowdon, and amazing food.
Eat
With such a short stay and a mountain to climb we booked the restaurant at our hotel for dinner both nights. If you’re not staying at The Grapes Hotel and can get booked in for dinner I’d definitely recommend a visit. Our meals were delicious and portions huge- make sure you get some of their “proper chips” best I’ve had apart from my favourite local chippy.
Things to do
There’s lots to do in Snowdonia but our main focus was to climb Snowdon. We’ve had so many cancelled trips this year we wanted to do something exciting and climbing a mountain was something we could cross off our bucket list.
Most websites recommend you get there before 7am. We arrived at 10.30am after a cooked breakfast at our hotel and a quick trip to Sports Direct to get my boyfriend a jacket as he’d left his at home. No we couldn’t get parked in Pen Y Pass car park (where PYG and Miner tracks start) but we got parked in the next car park Nant Peris which was a 3 minute bus or taxi ride away (buses and taxis take card payments).
It was quite busy but this meant it was easy to follow the track. If someone in front was going a but slower you could easily divert around them- it’s a mountain- there’s plenty of space.
Only downside is the later you go the longer the queue is for the summit. We climbed via the PYG track in just over 2 hours but it was an hour’s queue to the summit. Although some people say “they’re all just waiting for a photo” the summit is what makes Snowdon the highest peak in Wales and England. If you don’t get to the summit you might as well go to any other mountain in the area which is a lot less busy.
Also another perk of climbing a bit later (apart from enjoying your hotel’s breakfast) is that the climb down is less busy. If you’re descending in the morning you have all the later starters trying to cross you. Getting down is a lot harder than climbing up. It’s hard to keep your balance and you really feel it in your ankles and knees. So it’s a lot nicer having a clearer path for this.