Need to devise a 3 day luxury tour of Wales for US relatives

[Longt]

They want to “do” wales. They travel a lot and like guided coach tours. However I have tried about 15 coach holiday companies and can’t find one that has the right itinerary for the right dates. There’s one that would be perfect but is 5 not 3 days so I might call and ask if they could come back early on the train. However…..if I can sort transport between hotels can anyone recommend a must do itinerary for 3 days in Wales?

3 days isn't long. In my view you need to cover mountains, beaches and castles. And the best beaches are the more remote ones which require a hike. Are they fit and active? When are they coming?

They'd spend a lot of time travelling in order to cover the whole of Wales, so maybe stick to either south or north.

Here's my thoughts on the south:
Stay at St David's Hotel in Cardiff Bay
Museums and castles - Cardiff castle, National Museum, St Fagans.

Day 2: Maybe Ynysangharad park and Pontypridd Lido (book in advance) and the Grogg shop. Ponty is Tom Jones' birthplace.

Then Big Pit and drive to Brecon via the Beacons. I don't know the hotels in that area, a guesthouse might be better.

Day 3: Head west - St David's, Solva, Porthgain - walk the coastal path if there's time. St Brides Hotel in Saundersfoot is very good.

I was thinking 1 day of castles or St Fagan’s, 1 day in Cardiff Bay and the city and 1 day at the coast (my choice would also be Pembrokeshire). So work from east to west on the south coast.

I’m sure you could do similar in North Wales.

If they would like to see Brecon Beacons/Wye valley then I'd recommend Llangoed Hall as a lovely traditional hotel, with good service that Americans should enjoy.

Wales is rural with the roads to match. To actually "do" anything other than drive you really need to pick north or south. My recommendation is to stay near Caernarfon, visiting castle, book the train up snowdon, visit portmerion, then drive through Aberystwyth, if time stay in st David's but if not straight back towards Cardiff via Brecon

North or South? I have American relatives visit fairly frequently in North Wales. The 'big' castles, caernarfon or Conwy, are a huge hit. As are the mountains. The drive from llanberis to beddgelert is stunning and there are do-able mountain walks at pen y pass, and beddgelert. Following that route portmeirion always impresses. Anglesey is good - beaumaris is a winner. So is south stack. Afternoon tea at chateau rhianfa near menai bridge ticks all the right luxury boxes. That could be 2 very busy days right there! Or 3 more manageable ones.

What do they expect from their visit to Wales? What are they expecting to see?

If I had three days to do a luxury no-stress Wales experience I'd stay in Portmeirion for three days and do three day trips: Snowdon, Blaeunau Festiniog and either Harlech or Carnaefon castles.

I apologise for making a complete pig's ear of spelling Blaenau Ffestiniog. I meant on the train by the way.

As someone from north wales this ticks every box, couldn't have suggested better! I've lived in NI 15 years now but you make me want to go back just to do all that stuff again!

This is amazing thank you! They are travelling from flights into London in August and will be able to stay three nights. They’re staying a couple of nights with me on outskirts of London either side. Will look into all recommendations. They are in their 70s, fit and active for their age but probably won’t want to climb mountains or hike too far. Luxury and “big castles” and beautiful scenery is probably the brief, and take the point to stick to either north or south!

Sorry this is me, OP, I keep messing up name changes since the site updated!

Gliffaeshotel.com

A 3 day, 2 night tour seems such a short amount of time. As previous posters have said, a lot of the roads are rural and travelling a few miles as the grow flies can take some time.

I'd suggest train from London to Cardiff and stay 2 nights there.

There will be transport links to Caerphilly for the castle, there's also a castle in Cardiff, although no where near as authentic in my opinion.

Cardiff is a beautiful city with market arcades and architecture that your US family would love. Plus they could easily get to Penarth with a pier and taxi to St Fagans, The museum of Welsh life.

The new Parkgate Hotel has a perfect location and a good feel.

The North is more compact so plenty to see and do that is close together.
personally I would do a Day in Liverpool

www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool/

then head to North Wales, some ideas here
www.donthibernate.co.uk
Drive via this route
www.donthibernate.co.uk/route-1-llandudno-from-m62-m56/
To end up here
www.donthibernate.co.uk/conwy/
Use Local Cafes etc for food no chains

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g663600-d19859961-Reviews-The_Flowerpot_Cafe-St_Asaph_Denbighshire_North_Wales_Wales.html

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g3686311-d3487798-Reviews-The_Beach_Cafe_Bar-Penrhyn_Bay_Llandudno_Conwy_County_North_Wales_Wales.html

Day two
is up to you all depends what they are expecting.
www.donthibernate.co.uk/waterfalls-of-north-wales/
Day three
I sure you can fill it

I think it very much depends on if they will rent a car, how much time they want to spend travelling, and what they want to see. West wales is gorgeous, but it's a couple more hours of travelling from London and unless you were going to spend a whole day in Tenby as an example, you'd need a car to see the best of it...it's beauty is in all the little bays, beaches, villages etc

The following can all be done sensibly in a day without getting up at the crack of dawn, and staying out until late into the evening.

If they stayed close to Cardiff, I'd do a day in St fagans, https://museum.wales/stfagans/. You can catch a bus from central Cardiff.

A trip to Castell Coch, https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/castell-coch and a wander around the woods up there, and an afternoon in Cardiff castle and a look around the arcades. Cardiff bay and the Barrage is a nice place to spend a sunny evening.

And a day trip on the train to Barry island, with fish and chips for tea!

It's not the finest of wales by a long shot, but a nice, easy, public transport friendly taste.

If they are in their 70s they might like Trefeddian Hotel in Aberdyfi. Amazing scenery and coastline in the area, steam train at Tywyn.

at Ponty being luxury, yes the lido is stunning but getting tickets is a bloody nightmare so I certainly wouldn’t add it to a 3 day itinerary and in the school holidays it will be full of noisy children (nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t sound like that is what they are looking for)

Llandudno. Stay at Grand Hotel. Take a boat trip to see seals and birds. Do the cable car.
Conwy Castle.
Betsw y coyd with the waterfall. Ignore the misspelling.

If you need a hotel in Beddgelert look at the Royal Goat, I wouldn’t say it’s luxury but it has a quaint charm they might like. Betwy-s-coed is another popular tourist place with nice waterfalls. I’d be tempted to go to Betwy-s-coed for a look round, drive through the mountains, along Llanberis pass, train up snowdon. Couple of castles.

I love Cardiff but I wouldn't recommend it as a stop in such a short itinerary

Me too. If I wanted to show Americans what's unique to Wales and they haven't seen anywhere else in the world I'd go for mountains, castles, maybe beaches and waterfalls, and perhaps a steam train journey through the countryside.

Pale Hall at Bala?

Portmeirion to stay unique and gives view..then castles and up Snowdon...

It reminds me of the time I was in Victoria couch station booking hall and an American worm an was asking for a day trip by coach round wales!!