Wales for beginners

[Suffolker]

Looking for holiday ideas for next summer and thinking of visiting Wales. I’ve not been since I was very young so don’t know it at all. I fancy seaside and DD loves the mountains, so I was thinking perhaps north Wales as a good combination of both. Any ideas for good locations?
I’d rather not be too remote but equally not anywhere too hectic in high summer. Some of the coastal cottages I’ve seen look amazing but are too expensive for our budget (upwards of £2500 for a week!). I’ve found one I like just outside Barmouth, which has mixed reviews on here. I can cope with a certain degree of seaside naff (having grown up in a faded seaside resort) but would like an area that’s attractive and interesting to visit. Would welcome any views (and yes, I know it will rain!).

Have you thought about hafan y mor? It's a haven site which I get might not be your thing but if you pick a higher band caravan you tend to be in quiet parts of the site and could just use it as a base. We paid £1800 for ten days in a gold van this July. Mountains and beaches are very close by. Little towns are also close. Weather wise we've actually been really lucky and have been 3 times in five years - two absolutely gorgeous sunny breaks and one a bit more mixed.

What about Anglesey as a destination?

Aberdovey is a well-placed for both beach and mountains, and we loved Aberdovey Hillside Village

Won the best campsite in the UK this year.

Conwy is a lovely base, easy to drive to some lovely beaches and hilly walks. Bodnant Garden and Portmeirion both worth a visit whilst there too.

Funnily enough Aberdovey is on my list but it’s just a case of finding the right house. It seems to attract quite a premium in terms of holiday rentals from what I can see.

It does look really good but I think we’ve done our time on holiday parks over the years and really set on getting a cottage this time.

Harlech for amazing sandy beach (great for swimming, body boarding), not far from porthmadoc for shops and snowdonia for lotes of little villages and big walks. We go every year and absolutely love it - great balance of beach days and hikes.

Just to add, we've stayed at 2 different sykes cottages over the years. Here's a link to the one we stayed at this year - absolutely stunning. Has a nice walk to the beach, tennis court and a zip line for the kids. https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/cottage/Mid-Wales-Cardigan-Bay-Groes-ls/Bwthyn-Mawr-1177479.html

What’s your budget?

I know you said that you want to avoid too many people etc but Llandudno is a great base and one of the least seaside resort naff places (Disclaimer - I’m from there) but you’ve got two beaches, the great and little Orme, Rhos a stones throw away, RSPB in Deganwy, deganwy beach, Conwy, Conwy mountain, Oenmaeawr, Anglesey down the road - a ship away frok The Ogwen Valley, Betwys Y Coed, Zip Workd Llanberis and Betwys. Llandudno is an excellent base for all of it.

I thought that the accommodation prices were quite reasonable at Aberdovey Hillside Village

We've had several great holidays based at the log cabins in Trawsfynydd holiday village (Bronaber). Many of them are privately owned so there are a variety of booking platforms/companies as well as the main site. That whole area is great though, it's hard to go wrong.

I had hoped to get something for under £1500 but because we’re looking at peak holiday season (late July/early August) and we need 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, I think we might have to up it a bit. Preferably no more than £1800.

Yes that does actually look pretty nice!

Aberdyfi is gorgeous. As other poster said, Hillside Village is great and there are lots of other good places to rent on Dyfi cottages and Aberdyfi breaks. We are there 3 times this year staying in different accommodation.

Barmouth looks as if it ticks boxes, but it was very, very disappointing in terms of finding a nice pub to have an evening meal in.

It has fish and chip shops, and a beautiful, long sandy beach, ice cream shops, donkeys, slot machines etc.

I would suggest having a look at Anglesey.
I would also suggest looking a bit inland rather than on the coast. You might end up paying £5 - £8 to park at the more popular beaches, but you'll save a LOT more than £40 on what you pay for accommodation.

I quite like Barmouth. It's not exciting, but few people go to Wales for the thrills & glamour!

If you're looking for more reliable weather, go to the Gower peninsula. It gets more sunshine than practically anywhere else in the UK, and is warmer. Also very pretty and not a bad tourism infrastructure (for Wales).

Don't rule out North East Wales as a base if you have a car. Llangollen has lots of nice, hilly walks (and an aquaduct nearby 😄) and Bala, Betws Y Coed, Talacre, Llandudno, Snowdonia, etc. are easily drivable in different directions. It might not be the part of Wales that everyone thinks about but there are loads of options and accomodation is a lot cheaper.

Llangollen is lovely. Plus just outside is the famous aquaduct.

Oh that’s a shame @CarpetKnees. I quite like a slightly faded seaside resort but would at least like a half decent pub meal ☹️

Thanks will take a look!

I really like the look of the Gower but for boring logistical reasons I think it makes more sense for us to be further north.

I second Conwy its really lovely!

Anglesey, Harlech & Conwy are all beautiful. Abersoch is an obvious choice but it's very busy and expensive - it's definitely worth a visit but not at peak times.

Llandudno is perfect, everything there with good transport links to other areas and a fantastic walk along coastal path to Conwy. We went at Easter for the time and will be back next year.