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Conwy

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Conwy is a small walled town on the coast in North Wales. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Travel to Conwy & Visa Requirements

Conwy is readily accessible by train or bus.

Tours & Getting around Conwy

The town is small and easy to walk about. If you are venturing out of the downtown area, you may want to catch a bus. There are various day and rover tickets available including the new 'taith rover' that enables you to hop on and off buses AND trains for the area you've bought the rover for. Booklets can be found at the tourist info centre (right near the train station).

Conwy attractions and sightseeing

  • Conwy castle is smaller than Beaumaris or Caernarfon castles, but it has a lot of charm. It sits at the mouth of a tidal inlet, and the views of the sea on one side and gently rolling green hills on the other are lovely. Costs £4.50 or £7 joint ticket with Plas Mawr. Open daily April, May, and October from 9:30 to 17:00, June to September until 18:00, November to March Monday to Saturday 9:30 to 16:00, Sunday 11:00 to 16:00. Website: www.cadw.wales.gov.uk Tours are 1 hour long and cost £1.
  • The original Town Wall is still standing and can be walked. Climb into one of the 22 towers and stroll along the outline of the original town of Conwy. There are some wonderful pictures to be taken here and it's free to walk the walls.
  • Plas Mawr (The Great Hall), one of the finest surviving town houses of the Elizabethan era to be found in Britain, partially restored and otherwise maintained in its original condition. Fascinating look at what a wealthy merchant's life was like at that time. There is beautiful original and restored plaster work and paint. Head up to the small tower for a 360 degree look at the town and castle. Costs £5 or £7 joint ticket with Conwy Castle. Open April to August Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 to 18:00, closed Monday, shorter hours September and October. Closed November to March.
  • Aberconwy House Believed to be the oldest town house in Wales dating from the 14th-century. Restored to reflect daily life of yesteryear.

Get a joint visit ticket with the Conwy Suspension bridge (both run by the National Trust).

  • St. Mary's Church is beautiful and has a grassy, pleasant cemetery with some interesting old headstones.
  • Conwy Butterfly Jungle just outside the town walls in Bodlondeb.
  • Sightseeing boat takes you on a 30 minute ride up and down the Conwy river. Normally runs on school holidays and most weekends through spring and summer.
  • Working riverfront you can even buy Conwy mussels that have been brought in by the fisherman.

Conwy souvenirs & shopping

There is a used bookstore with an eccentric selection. You can pick up fancy lingerie at 2 tiny boutiques off the main square. For tourist trinkets, visit the Conwy Tourist Bureau shop up the road from the Castle.

There are a number of independent specialty shops, including one that has a goth clothing department in its basement. There are a few art shops and a high-end chocolate shop. Just opened is a surf-style clothing store on the high street. Also on the high street is a gourmet food deli and an almost-always-busy butcher's shop that sells baps and fresh-made sausages. Bangor Road has a 'Fair-Trade shop' that sells foodstuffs and gifts (just before the gate exiting the town's main road, past Lancaster Square).

Conwy Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

The town has standard UK fare -- you can pick up fish and chips, baps, kebabs, and ice cream on nearly any street.

  • Galleon's and Fisherman's are fish and chips outlets at the end of High Street on the waterfront.

There is an Indian restaurant that serves passable but unexceptional food.

The Italian Restaurant on the square near the station served pretty decent food at a reasonable price.

The bakery near the bookstore on the main street has wonderful orange chocolate-chip scones in the morning, if you're lucky! The bakery do lovely, giant, chocolate coated cream cakes, that are just too nice!

The town is too small to have any fast food franchises.

The Castle Hotel has an upmarket restaurant with some award winning chefs at the grill.

There's a nice tea room at the upper end of the high street and a dinner cafe (Amelie's) across from the Castle Hotel.

Conwy nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs

There are a few small pubs. Some feature pub trivia in the evenings. On the riverfront, the pub there has outdoor seating overlooking the riverfront. On the other side of Bodlondeb (a short walk around the riverside, or even shorter drive), there is Conwy Marina where you can find an upmarket pub with vast outdoor seating overlooking the marina.

For non-alchoholic drinks, Coffi Conwy is a Costa/Starbucks/Cafe Nero style coffee house. Across from the castle is Tower Coffee House, which is built into one of the wall turrets and gives great river views.

Conwy cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels & lodging

There are a number of small B&Bs, and some luxury B&Bs and hotels, available. If you can, reserve a room ahead of time at a Visitor Center (most Visitor Centers can reserve rooms for you throughout the UK).

Stay Safe

Despite its small size and tourist-friendly image, Conwy is notorious for a high number of alcohol-fuelled incidents, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. However, the reputation the town has locally is only in comparisson to other North Wales towns where incidents of violence are very rare. Many visitors will find Conwy to be either as safe or safer than their own towns on weekend nights.

Conwy, due to the local pubsafe scheme has become a lot "safer". Most incidents relate to family & relationship disputes and generally do not impinge on any visitors well being or enjoyment of this beautiful little town.

Get out

  • Bodnant Gardens, 4 miles south of Conwy, are probably the best in Wales, with wonderful flowers and plants, including the beautiful Laburnum Arch of golden blooms that bloom in late May, as well as the Pin Mill. Costs £6, open daily March to October from 10:00 to 17:00.
  • Snowdonia is very close, with many small villages to explore and mountains to climb, as well as the spectacular Snowdon Mountain Railway.

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This page was last edited at 01:18, on 23 December 2008 by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Mark Sheffield, B.E Cash, Meltwaterfalls, Oliver Buchino and Tim Sandell, Wikitravel user(s) Morph, WindHorse, Wojsyl and Nzpcmad and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.

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