Camping in Snowdonia (Eryri)

Eryri — Snowdonia — has an unusual geography for a mountain area: the summits are genuinely alpine in feel, but the coast is close enough that you can climb Yr Wyddfa in the morning and swim off Llŷn in the afternoon. Very few national parks let you do both in a day.

The park is bilingual and increasingly signed in Welsh first. Yr Wyddfa is the mountain, Eryri is the park, and using the Welsh names is worth the small effort.

Where to base yourself

The Ogwen Valley puts you between the Glyderau and the Carneddau with the best rock scenery in Wales visible from the pitch. Nant Peris and Llanberis sit at the foot of the main Yr Wyddfa routes and have the most infrastructure. Beddgelert, south of the mountain, is prettier, quieter and better placed for the coast.

If you want mountains and beach in one trip, base on the Llŷn Peninsula or around Harlech and drive in for the walking days.

Routes up Yr Wyddfa

Six paths reach the summit. The Llanberis Path is the longest and easiest underfoot; the Pyg and Miners’ tracks from Pen-y-Pass are shorter, steeper and start from a car park that fills before eight in summer — use the Sherpa’r Wyddfa bus instead. The Watkin Path climbs the most height of any route and finishes on loose ground.

Crib Goch is a Grade 1 scramble along a knife-edge arête with fatal exposure. It is not a walking route and should not be attempted in wind, ice or poor visibility.

Beyond the summit

The Glyderau give better walking than Yr Wyddfa for anyone who has already done it — Tryfan’s north ridge is a scramble all the way to the top and the Cantilever Stone on Glyder Fach is one of the strangest features in Britain.

On a wet day, the slate landscape around Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Ffestiniog Railway make a genuinely good alternative, and the Zip World sites have taken over the old quarries.