25 walks/40 pages

Betws-y-Coed, set in a beautiful wooded valley near the confluence of the Llugwy and Conwy rivers, is the popular gateway into the Snowdonia National Park, lying amidst delightful walking country, where you can quickly leave the crowds behind in a beautiful landscape of wooded river valleys, hills and mountains, containing numerous hidden lakes. During the 19thC this stunning scenery attracted many eminent travellers, visitors and artists to this part of North Wales by road, by river as far as Trefriw, then an important inland port, and later by railway, which reached Betws-y-Coed in 1868. There are walks by rivers, past waterfalls, including the famous Swallow Falls, over hills and up Tal y Fan mountain, finding remote churches, and great viewpoints.