Walking Holidays in Wales

Walking in Wales

Wales has long been a popular destination for avid walkers and adventurers, due to its unspoilt beauty but relative accessibility. Most famous is undoubtedly Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) with Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) taking pride of place, but Yr Wyddfa really is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding wonderful walks. More about Welsh place names in our destination guide.

Celtic Trails offers more coastal walks in Wales than anything else and with very good reason. Wales has 870 miles of coastline and almost all of it is unspoilt and spectacularly beautiful. In 2012, the Wales Coastal Path was opened, making Wales the first country in the world to offer a footpath around the entirety of its coastline and allowing walkers unlimited access to its wonderful scenery. If you don’t have the time to do it all, there are plenty of shorter options, with the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path being the most popular.

Those looking for more mountainous terrain should head up to North Wales for the really dramatic peaks, a number of which are included on Glyndwr’s Way. Alternatively for broader but nonetheless challenging mountains, try the Beacons Way in South Wales.

Finally, if you’re looking for a more moderate walk featuring charming market towns and some local history, head for the borders. Offa’s Dyke, the Wye Valley walk and our Llangollen Break all offer plenty of each.

How to get to Wales

By Plane: Wales has just one international airport, Cardiff International Airport, which flies to a small number of destinations in Europe. This includes Amsterdam, which can be a useful transfer point. From Cardiff airport, there is a bus service into Cardiff city centre where you can connect onto other buses or trains.

Alternatively, it may be easier to fly into an English airport. London Heathrow and London Gatwick are approximately 2-3 hours from South Wales by either car, bus or train. Bristol airport is less than an hour from South Wales and also has good public transport connections. If you are visiting North Wales, then your nearest airports are Manchester or Birmingham, both around 2 hours away with good bus and train connections.

By Ferry: Those visiting from Europe may wish to consider travelling to the UK by Ferry. If travelling from mainland Europe, the nearest port to Wales is Portsmouth (connections to Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, St Malo, Bilbao, Santander and the Channel Islands) which is approximately 2 ½ hours drive from South Wales and also has direct train connections through to South Wales.
Dover is the other main ferry port in England serving Europe (connections to Calais), however it is approximately 4 hours drive from South Wales.

Eurotunnel: The Eurotunnel connects to the UK in Folkestone, which is approximately 4 hours drive from South Wales.

By Train: The UK can be reached by train from Paris, Brussels and Lille using the Eurostar. The Eurostar arrives in London, and from there you will find excellent connections to Newport and Cardiff in South Wales and also to the city of Chester on the north Wales border.