Travel information for north Wales 

 

Travelling to north Wales has become so much easier in the past ten years with the addition of the new motorways, flight routes and faster ferry journeys.

So if you are travelling by car from any of the main city hubs such as Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham or London there are great roads that now serve north Wales.

If you are travelling by train, there is a main line serving all main UK cities and you can get express trains from London that take less than 3 hours. You can get to North Wales to Liverpool and Manchester in under 2 hours. There are also trains from Europe, direct to kings cross in London, just get a connection to London Euston to Holyhead thereafter.

Flying is now an option from Cardiff to Anglesey direct, which is a 45 minute flight with Eastern airways.

We have some of the most amazing mountain roads for motorbikes, with tantalising views, winding passes and open roads, so for road trips, bike tours and camper van trips north Wales is a must do on your travel itinerary. 

For motorhome and cameraman enthusiasts north Wales is perfect for you and the outdoor life, being a former VW camper owner I can attest to this. There are plenty of secluded lay-bys, secret coves and wild camp destinations that will rewind you in a day or two. Sure we have a host of amazing campsites you can pitch up and hook up too. Just see our guide..

If you are travelling by ferry from Ireland the you can get either Stenna Line’s ferry from Dunlareigh to Holyhead or Irish ferries have a fast service from Dublin to Holyhead which takes 99 minutes. The traditional slow ferries take around 3:45 mins. You can fly into Ireland from most European countries.

Bus travellers can get a ride with nations express or mega bus which come to north Wales from every UK city. Its is a little longer to get here by bus, as there are so many more stops but hey its worth the wait and the fares are much cheaper than by train. Return train tckets from London Euston are around £100 where as bus return from London is around £30.

 

 

 

 

 Flying 

Whether you are flying into the UK, driving here or coming by train, once in the UK we are but a few hours from most of the main UK cities.

The most accessible airports close to north Wales are Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.

North Wales is very accessible by any means of travel. See our list of flights to get to Liverpool and Manchester. Easyjet fly to Liverpool from so many European areas.

There are direct flights from Cardiff to Anglesey now also, which is a fantastic edition to north Wales overall. The service is run by Eastern airways and you can book flights with them from here

Of course you are not limited to only fly into these two city airports, they are the closest to us thats all, the next nearest towns are Birmingham East Midlands airport (2-3 hrs away by car) and then there is London which is (5+ hours by car).

Eastern Airways fly from Cardiff to Anglesey. Image credits : The BBC.

 

Train 

We are a 2:45hr train ride from London Euston direct to Holyhead, and we are 2 hours from Liverpool, Manchester and 2.5 hours from Leeds. North Wales is severe by north west main line, and links onto all the other lines in the country from Chester and crewe.  We like to use the Trainline to book our tickets. 

North west trainline. Image credits : Daily post.

 

Ferry 

From Dublin in Ireland we are a 90 minute ferry ride to Holyhead harbour on Irish FerriesDublin Swift. They also have a slow ferry called the Ulessies which takes 3:45hr from the same port to port location. Costs vary on the time of the season purchased. From the port of Holyhead you can get direct trains to parts of Anglesey and north Wales main line. There are also Taxi’s and a car rental station inside the ferry port terminal. Make sure if you are arring in on a weekend late 

 

Irish ferries Ulysses ferry. Image Credit : Irishtimes.

 

Bus

There is a bus line next work that comes all the way direct from London to Holyhead by National express, it is inexpensive and works out very cheap if you purchase in advance. It does take a lot longer to travel that way, than train and car- but if your a student or looking after the pennies (I totally get it ) then head up on by bus. The bus service leaves from Euston and takes 6-7 hours. Costs can be as low as low as £25 rtn. There are also bus services that will run from Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. Just look these up on their timetable. 

 

National Express bus service. Image credits : The Standard.

 

Car or hire car 

Getting to north Wales is rather straight forward from almost all cities in the UK. For most of you UK readers a simple google sat nav search will give you great directions and provide you with traffic flow details real time in the UK. Some small points are that traffic can get really bad with all the caravans and camper vans moving from Manchester, Liverpool and beyond to north Wales on a Thursday evening so either drive late through the night or go super early to avoid congestion. Also I know at the time of writing this (June 2019) the M6 north and M56 is chaotic so either choose times of travel that are less busy or alternative routes (M54).

You can get hire cars from the ferry port at Holyhead (Hertz), Valley (Stermat), Bangor (Enterprise), Llandudno (Avis), Liverpool airport, Manchester airport, Cardiff airport and Birmingham airport. You can also get them at both London Gatwick and Heathrow airports. Avis, does car hire from Llandudno, you  visit their website here where you can choose from a large variation of hire cars to suit all your needs for your road trip to Wales. 

Avis car rental

 

Campervans & Motor homes 

Touring north Wales with a camper van or motorhome is one of the best ways too tour it honestly! There are so many secluded wild camp spots and little quite secured spots that are idyllic, just park up and have your alfresco dinner by the seaside. So many beautiful mountain, coastal and off the beaten track roads to explore. Between Snowdonia, The LLyn, Anglesey and Conwy there are months worth of explorations and little hidden tracks to explore here.. With hundreds of campsites (if you don’t fancy wild camping) all over north Wales  you won’t be short of a place to stop for the night. 

If you are looking at hiring a camper van, our friends at  Motorhome republic provide a really good service, as well as STA travel and Outdoorsy.

 

Camper touring in north Wales a must do! Image credit : Curbed.

Motorbikes

North Wales is an epic location to experience some road the UKs finest mountain roads, there are so many amazing mountain passes roads and routes that cross the land and because our roads are reasonably quiet it makes quite a safe place to explore. With amazing locations like the old A5 London to holyhead road which winds itself up through the Snowdonia mountains to 

Motorbike riders flying into the country at London and  can look at rentals from Bikebooking and come see some of the best driving roads in the UK.

Motorbike touring through Snowdonia. Image credits : Bennetts