From the Brecon Beacons Across to the Snowdonia Passes

People tend to treat Wales as a single destination when it is really three. In the south, around Cardiff and the Beacons, it comes easily within reach of Bristol or London and makes a very good long day. The north, Snowdonia and that castle coast, feels like another country altogether and wants time of its own. West lies Pembrokeshire and the Gower, quietest of the three, and the part that surprises people most.

Simplest introduction of the lot is a Beacons day out of Cardiff or Bristol. Inside the hour you have climbed from the valleys into open moorland, and the road over towards Brecon and on to Hay-on-Wye, a small border town carrying more second-hand bookshops than seems plausible, ranks among the pleasant drives of Britain. Lunch at a hill farm inn, a waterfall walk after it, and home before the light goes.

Longer is what Snowdonia asks for. Mountain driving in Britain gets no better than the Llanberis Pass, Nant Gwynant and the road dropping down to Beddgelert, and Edwardian castles at Conwy, Caernarfon and Harlech ring the coast around all of it. Those narrow-gauge railways still run. Coming from the north-west of England, you will find Snowdonia closer than expected and an excellent two-day escape.

The roads are precisely why the vehicle wants thinking about. Rural Wales runs largely single carriageway, frequently single track, and it is often steep and often wet. A Range Rover, or a comparable SUV, is the sensible answer, above all outside summer. Journey times stretch beyond what the map implies, and the day we quote you will be realistic rather than optimistic.

As always, the car and the chauffeur are what come from us. Yours drives professionally rather than guiding under licence, and delivers no commentary at any point. Castle admission, hotels and railway tickets you arrange yourselves, and the driving then gets built around all of them. Should you want a qualified guide travelling with you, we are very glad to arrange that on request.