A weekend information to Chester and North Wales

October 5, 2022

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If you happen to’re planning a weekend break that ‘has all of it’ then I can’t advocate a visit to Chester and North Wales sufficient.

Spend your first day exploring the Roman metropolis of Chester with its cobbled streets, Tudor-style buildings and fairly views. Then spend your second day exploring Snowdonia Nationwide Park, residence to the best mountain in Wales with beautiful surroundings and quaint Welsh villages.

For me, an ideal weekend away has this mix of cities and countryside. You may spend one-day purchasing and sipping cocktails in trendy bars and the subsequent day mountain climbing mountains. Severely, what extra may you need?

The drive from Chester to Snowdon takes simply over an hour however these two lovely locations really feel 1,000,000 miles aside. You actually really feel such as you’re getting two holidays in a single however you received’t be completely exhausted after it!

This weekend, I teamed up with Premier Inn for this good weekend break. Premier Inn are encouraging travellers to remain nearer to residence as there are such a lot of unimaginable locations within the UK to go to. Many people have set ourselves a New Yr’s decision to journey extra so why not tweak that decision and journey extra within the UK? I’m typically responsible of jetting off to Europe earlier than exploring what we now have on our personal doorsteps and it’s time to alter that!

If you happen to just like the sound of a brief journey that mixes a metropolis break with an outdoorsy vacation, then maintain studying…

Right here’s my mini information to a weekend in Chester and North Wales

The place to remain

I stayed on the Premier Inn Chester Central North. It’s an ideal location for stepping into Chester metropolis centre – however it is usually good for shortly getting out of Chester and onto the street to North Wales. For the value, you actually can’t beat Premier Inn’s. My room was actually spacious, comfy, fashionable and clear and the employees had been simply so beautiful. I requested the woman on the desk if she had any suggestions for locations to go to in Snowdonia. She gave me a few concepts which I used to be actually grateful for however after I bought up within the morning she’d created a mini information for me with a great deal of solutions. She’d even written down postcodes for me to search out locations, the climate forecast and handwritten notes together with her personal experiences!

Check out Premier Inn to search out their saver charges which can be found when reserving instantly via Premier Inn.

How one can get there

I like to recommend driving – even when it means hiring a automotive for the weekend.

You may simply get the practice to Chester from all around the UK however for the Snowdonia a part of the journey it’s a lot simpler when you drive your self. If you happen to’ve bought lots time, then you might additionally take public transport from Chester. A combination of trains and buses will take you in all places it is advisable to be, it’s simply going to take you twice as lengthy and Sunday companies could be unreliable.

What to do – Day 1

Spend your first day in Chester.

It’s a small metropolis so it’s good when you’ve solely bought someday. You received’t really feel rushed or such as you’ve missed seeing one thing actually necessary. Get some comfortable sneakers on and take a gradual stroll via this lovely metropolis.

Listed here are a few of my favorite issues to do in Chester and you may learn my full information to 100 issues to do in Chester right here.

Stroll alongside the river and get an ice cream from one of many many distributors
Stroll via the park and feed the squirrels – they’re amazingly tame so take some nuts with you. Try the Roman ruins and the Roman amphitheatre.
Eat at Hickory’s Smokehouse for essentially the most unimaginable ribs you’ve ever tasted in your life (reserving really useful)
Stroll alongside the Roman partitions
Go to the cathedral
Store within the cute little outlets alongside the Chester Rows. There are outlets on the bottom ground and extra outlets above them. These rows are distinctive to Chester and nowhere else on the planet has them like this. You’ll find them alongside Watergate Avenue, Northgate Avenue, Eastgate Avenue and Bridge Avenue and a few date again to the 13^th Century.
Take a photograph of the Eastgate Clock, a lovely turret clock on the traditional partitions. Additionally it is mentioned to be essentially the most photographed clock in England after Large Ben.
Have afternoon tea at The Grosvenor. It’s pricy however so price it!
For a extra inexpensive possibility, head to Beaton’s Tearooms and Bookshop subsequent to the cathedral.
Head to Crimson Door for late evening cocktails

What to do – Day 2

In your second day, rise up early and feast on the lodge breakfast earlier than hitting the street in direction of Snowdonia. You’re going to need your satnav for this half as you head in direction of the little village of Betws-y-Coed.

Take a stroll across the village and take a look at the various outlets and artwork galleries. If you happen to’re feeling peckish (already!) then I like to recommend selecting up some tasty home made snacks on the bakery connected to the Spar. There’s additionally an important chippy simply subsequent to the bridge and you may take your meals and eat it subsequent to the river.

Then head to Swallow Falls waterfall which is a little bit additional alongside previous Betws-y-Coed.

After Betws-y-Coed, head to Pen-y-Cross which is likely one of the areas the place you’ll be able to start a stroll up Snowdon. I like to recommend taking the Pyg Observe because it’s the shortest and best route at 5.5km and 800m incline. The stroll up takes about 3 hours however even when you solely stroll for an hour and switch round you’ll nonetheless be handled to lovely views and a stunning little stroll.

A better approach to get to the summit of Snowdon is to take the Snowdon Mountain Railway (closed within the winter) the place you’ll be handled to all of the views with out all the trouble.

Even when you don’t fancy mountain climbing, I nonetheless advocate driving round this space and absorbing the epic surroundings.

From Pen-y-Cross carpark, I drove again all the way down to the primary street and in direction of Llyn Gwynant Campsite. It is a beautiful campsite I’ve stayed at a number of instances so when you fancy a brief break with lovely views then I like to recommend a fast cease right here. This was January so there was nobody round however within the peak summer season months it’s chocker and you might have to pay the £4.00 day fee they promote for day guests. There’s a woodfired pizza oven van right here in the summertime that I completely advocate making an attempt!

The subsequent cease in your tour of Snowdonia takes you to a different fairly little village referred to as Beddgelert. It is a beautiful village surrounded by mountains with a number of beautiful pubs, eating places, tea rooms, reward outlets and an important ice cream store. The Saracens Head is nice for conventional pub meals or strive Beddgelert Bistro and Antiques for the very best afternoon tea with Welsh bara brith.

There’s a stroll that takes you alongside the river that’s lovely on a stunning day. Simply 10 minutes into the stroll you’ll be able to go to the well-known grave of Gelert from the medieval Welsh legend. Now, there are a number of variations of this story so I’m going to let you know the one I used to be instructed as a baby.

Gelert was the trustworthy hound of Prince Llewelyn the Nice and he was the bravest and most loving canine you might want for. He was light however sturdy and Value Llewelyn trusted him a lot that when he went out searching he left his new child son below the watch of Gelert.

In the future, Gelert was taking care of the child when a wolf entered their residence and tried to assault the child. Gelert fought the canine and risked his life to guard the child. After a fierce battle, Gelert received the combat and the intruder was killed. However, as you’ll be able to think about, they made a good previous mess and there was blood in all places! Prince Llewelyn returned from searching and heard barking and snarling and located his child boy on the ground of his residence lined in blood. He presumed the child was lifeless and when he seemed to Gelert and noticed he was lined in blood. The prince instantly withdrew his sword and killed his Gelert. Simply because the canine fell to the bottom his child awoke and giggled and smiled in his father’s path. On the identical second, Prince Llewelyn seen the intruding canine mendacity lifeless on the bottom and realised what Gelert had carried out.

But it surely was too late and Prince Llewelyn had murdered his courageous and dependable canine.

OK, that is the purpose the place 10 12 months previous me would burst into tears and the considered his poor canine mendacity lifeless on the ground.

It appears I’m not the one one who was affected by this tragic story and other people journey from throughout to see Gelert’s grave and the stays of their residence.

After your stroll to Gelert’s grave, head again into the village for an ice cream to cheer your self up!

If you happen to’ve bought time at this level, I’d advocate making your closing cease of the day in Harlech or presumably Nefyn.

Harlech Seashore is completely beautiful and you can even go to the citadel right here. Nefyn is one other agency favorite and the Ty Coch Inn pub on the seashore was named one of many prime 10 seashore bars on the planet. Sure, the world! (You park on the golf membership and stroll throughout the golf course to achieve it.)