Best Base in Snowdonia from London Without a Car? 🏔️

[Trav3l]

Hi 👋

We’re planning to do some (gentle!) trekking in Snowdonia and are trying to work out the best base 🏔️

We’ll be travelling from London by train and won’t have a car.

We’re thinking of staying for 4–5 days in September, ideally in one place so we don’t have to keep moving our luggage around or deal with multiple check-ins/check-outs.

Ideally, we’d like a base with:

• Easy access by train/public transport from London
• Several good walking routes that we can access without a car

Any recommendation? 😊

I’d probably head to Betws y coed via train.
There’s some nice walks round the area and plenty of facilities in the town.

I second Betws-y-Coed. It’s a lovely place and you’re straight into marked and unmarked walks.

I regularly stay in north Wales to go hiking (did Snowdon last week 🥵) and in most places I am heavily reliant on the car to get around.

Betws-y-Coed is definitely an exception. It will be several changes on a train from London.

It’s tricky aa the railway lines run to the north of the mountains along the coast and then much further south. If Betws-y-Coed doesn’t work, then you could look at going to Porthmadog on the southern lines then taking the bus to Beddgelert (or even the Welsh Highland Railway (steam trains) if the timetables work).

It will take you about 3.5 hours to get to Llandudno from London by train. Llandudno is a sizeable town. You can travel by train from Llandudno to Betwys-y-Coed or there is a good bus service around the area.

Alternatively, take the train via Birmingham to Porthmadog (a longer, but very scenic once you reach the coast journey). There is a bus service around Snowdonia which you can buy a day pass for. You can also use the steam trains from Porthmadog ( Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland) to explore Snowdonia.

Getting there is just about doable but public transport is patchy in n wales. You need a car to get to many trailheads really. You can catch a train Euston to Llandudno then a local train into the mountains eg Betws y coed but you need to check there’s buses where you want to go.

Also think betws y Coed is your best best. The other option you could look at is getting the train to bangor and then bus to Llanberis, also a tourist town with plenty of accommodation. Virtually every bus in snowdon will go through llanberis.

This might be helpful
https://www.sherparwyddfa.wales/

Betws y Coed or Llanberis

Llanberis would mean getting the train to Bangor then bus to Llanberis, there is a good Sherpa bus route around the area to get to popular walking routes and walks starting from the village. Plus options to get a bus to visit Caernarfon if you wanted to

Thanks so much, everyone! 😊 Betws-y-Coed seems to be the unanimous recommendation 🎉 We’ll save Porthmadog for our second trip!