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and mountains on your doorstep.
Shepherd's huts near Porthmadog guide
Where to go
Llyn Peninsula
Serene, low-lying Llyn Peninsula and its AONB snake invitingly west from Porthmadog: a green protuberance extending some 30 miles into the sea. Many of North Wales’ best beaches are here, as is good surfing at Abersoch and Porth Neigwl. The long-distance Wales Coast Path skirts the shore, too, offering some beautiful walking. Excellent campsites are scattered across the Llyn: the coast between Porthmadog and Criccieth is especially rich in camping possibilities.
Morfa Harlech & Morfa Dyffryn
Enticing shoreline beckons across the Afon Glaslyn river mouth south from Porthmadog, fanning along eastern Tremadog Bay. Morfa Harlech NNR’s wildlife-rich dune systems and Morfa Dyffryn’s vast sands are the headline acts here. A skyline featuring Snowdonia’s pointy peaks and the Llyn’s sand-flanked coast edges miles of paradisiacal beach, making for mesmerising places to pitch. At Shell Island, north of Morfa Dyffryn, is one of Europe’s biggest, best-located campsites: 300 acres of pitch-where-you-choose camping on grass-topped dunes.
Cwm Pennant & Moel Hebog
The rocky area around Moel Hebog (2,569 feet) is about the closest part of Snowdonia National Park to Porthmadog, rising above Cwm Pennant, five miles northwest. From the top gorgeous views spill over the mountains and the Llyn Peninsula, and Moel yr Ogof’s intriguing cave where Welsh freedom fighter Owain Glyndŵr once hid awaits. Excellent hikes begin in Cwm Pennant, perhaps Snowdonia’s loveliest valley, and head onto the peaks.
Snowdon & Surrounds
Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) is Wales’ most popular outdoor playground – and Britain’s highest land south of Scotland’s Highlands. Main trailhead Llanberis also has a railway coiling up the peak, yet other routes onto Snowdon run from closer points like Beddgelert, eight miles north of Porthmadog and Rhyd-ddu, 11 miles north. Snowdon is busy, but plot a hike away from it and you’ll find fantastic, less-frequented mountain country lands.
When to go
If you’ve arrived for the area’s sublime sandy coastline, then note the May through September high season, when facilities are open and weather is most conducive to swimming and mountain hiking. April through June are the driest months, July and August make up the main tourist season, and August and September offer the warmest seawater temperatures. November through April is prime surfing time on the Llyn. The big Festival No. 6 at nearby Italianate model village Portmeirion takes place in September.