WALES A real high point

4 Snowdonia National Park

Snowdonia National Park covers 823 square miles of mountains and coastline. Aside from beautiful beaches, one of the coastal highlights is Portmeirion, the truly extraordinary creation of architect Bertram Clough Williams-ellis (1883-1978), who built the village.

An Italian-style piazza – including a pool, a fountain and a mock chessboard – lies at its heart. The village is the setting for the 1960s cult TV series The Prisoner.

A ride on the Welsh Highland Railway steam train from nearby Porthmadog to Caernarfon takes in Snowdonia’s spectacular scenery. On its 25-mile route, the railway offers fabulous views of rivers, waterfalls, lakes and mountains, including the summit of Snowdon, before descending into Caernarfon and allowing the first glimpse of its magnificent castle.

At 3560 feet, Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and England, and it can be ascended on foot or by rail, with a good starting point for both at the lakeside village of Llanberis. The Llanberis path is one of the easiest walks up Snowdon, and among the longest at 4.5 miles.

About two-thirds of the way up, the gradient turns from ‘manageable’ to ‘challenging’, and requires many stops, but the astonishing views will provide reward and at the top there is a café.

Llanberis is also home to a ruined castle, a hydro-electric power station attraction, a lakeside steam railway and the National Slate Museum. You can use the Ffestiniog Railway, the world’s oldest narrow-gauge steam railway, which departs from Porthmadog, to reach the Llechwedd Slate Caverns at Blaenau Ffestiniog. The venue hosts Bounce Below, an underground trampoline park, Titan, a four-person zip-wire, and the Quarry Explorer, a 1.5-hour tour through slate quarries and into the mountains.

En route to Snowdonia’s northernmost point, Conwy, you’ll find the famous Bodnant Gardens. And in Conwy itself, there’s another formidable medieval castle, as well as Plas Mawr, the finest Elizabethan merchant’s townhouse in Britain.