The Best 9 Day Road Trip In Wales [2024]

By Gemma Tedaldi | Published: 6th August 2021 | Updated: 22nd November 2023

Wales. A place full of astounding beauty, three national parks, and some of the loveliest people you will ever meet. Where better to explore and spend a while than on a road trip in Wales?

We’ve always adored visiting Wales with it being right on our doorstep, and one of the best places for Matt to paraglide so that’s exactly what we did, starting in the north at Snowdonia National Park, working our way south, through west and mid-Wales before finishing in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Roughly 710 miles of pure Welsh adventure.

Here is the itinerary:

📍 Road Trip in Wales Day 1 – 3: Snowdonia National Park / Eryri 

📍 Road Trip in Wales Day 4 – 6: West Wales

📍 Road Trip in Wales Day 7 – 9: Brecon Beacons National Park / Bannau Brycheiniog 

Planning Your Trip? Use our favourite travel resources below:

Accommodation: We recommend Booking.com

Rental Car: We recommend Rentalcars.com

Travel Insurance: We recommend World Nomads

Flights: We recommend Kiwi.com

Tours: We recommend Get Your Guide

Road Trip in Wales Map

Road Trip in Wales Itinerary

Snowdonia National Park / Eryri 

Road Trip in Wales Day 1 – 3

Rugged terrain, beautiful lakes and the famous tallest mountain in Wales, Snowdonia National Park is a place that has to be on any road trip in Wales list! With countless hiking trails to walk and small towns and villages to explore this 823 square mile park is a dream to discover.

📍 Where to stay – Bryn Gloch Caravan & Camping Park

Day 1 – Arrival & Cwm Idwal, Y Garn and Devil’s Kitchen

Start the trip off with a bang and some incredible views at Llyn Idwal with a walk around to Cwm Idwal, Y Garn and Devil’s Kitchen. The best place to park is Ogwen Car Park which is £6 all day if you can find a space! From here there are multiple walks in the area that you can do, including to Tryfan and Glyder Fach, but we would highly recommend following the trail up behind the Ogwen Partnership Centre and Café, to do the loop walk around Llyn Idwal.

At just over 3 miles and 1 hour 15 minutes’ walk if you don’t stop to take in the views, (which you will!), this walk is the perfect way to start a road trip in Wales.

The walk around the lake is easy with few inclines, other than the walk up from the car park and around at Devil’s Kitchen, and there are multiple places you can get right down to the water for a dip! You may even see some keen rock climbers traversing up the Idwal Slabs whilst you are there.

🥾Walk – Cwm Idwal, Y Garn and Devil’s Kitchen loop

🚐 Park – Ogwen Car Park, LL57 3LZ (£6 all-day)

Day 2 – Llanberis, Llyn Padarn, Parc Gweledig Padarn and Dolbadarn Castle

From one stunning lake to another, this time at Llanberis. This village at the foot of Mount Snowdon is often only passed through by people on their way up the mountain but is well worth spending a day at. Situated on the banks of the Llyn Padarn, with a country park, castle ruins and numerous trails to hike surrounding it, Llanberis is really rather wonderful. Be sure to keep an eye out for Llafn y Cewri, or Blade of the Giants on your exploring too…

Start off the day by taking in the southern end of Llyn Padarn, stopping for a brew from a café or taking a dip in the lake, before following the steam train over the bridge between Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris towards the National Slate Museum and into the country park. The National Slate Museum is not only a living museum where the trains come in and out all day, but also located in a former Victorian Quarry which you can see bits of during the country park walks.

Follow one of the numerous trails through the country park from here, we did the yellow Woodland Walk route up and the Snowdonia Slate Trail down, taking in the various viewpoints, the old Quarry Hospital and the V2 incline at Vivian Quarry, the only slate incline still working today in the UK. Considering the views you get and the easy to follow trails, we barely saw another person for a few hours. Just us, the views and Mount Snowdon beckoning in the distance.

After looping back around to the museum, head towards Dolbadarn Castle, through the ancient woodland to the ruins of the 13th-century tower fort. Not only are the ruins in a fairly good condition, but the views from within them are wonderful. Plus, it’s free to visit so win-win!

🥾 Walk – Any of the Padarn Country Park loop walks

🚐 Park – Padarn Country Park Car Park, LL55 4TY (£5 all-day)

Day 3 – Mount Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa

For the last day in the Snowdonia National Park, what else is there to do other than tackle the beast itself, all 1085 metres of it! Today is the day to climb Mount Snowdon. With numerous tracks up and down the mountain, it can be hard to decide which one is best for you, but we set on going up the Miners Track down the Pyg Track, to get a feel for the mountain from two different routes.

Doing these two tracks mean the best place to park is at Pen Y Pass, but following new rules, there is now only pre-booked parking only at Pen y Pass which costs £18 from 1 to 8 hours. This still ends up being cheaper than parking in Llanberis and taking the shuttle bus up if there are at least two of you. We then started hiking the tracks in the afternoon, (the only parking times that were available) which ended up being the best decision, as we were walking back down with the sun slowly beginning to set over the mountains and we hardly saw anyone on the way down.

So set off from the car park and follow the Miners Track, over Llyn Llydaw, past Glaslyn (often thought of as the resting place of King Arthurs sword Excalibur), and then up up up! You will scramble up rocks, you will get wet from mini waterfalls, and you will need some good old Kendal Mint Cake to help get you up! Once you reach near the top of the mountain follow the railway tracks up to the summit and hopefully get some incredible views… We weren’t quite so lucky.

To come back down the Pyg Track, go back down the mountain the way you came up and just before the proper steep scramble up bear left keeping high above the lakes skirting around the base of Crib Goch. This route has parts that are a little scrambly and slippy in places, but it has some of the most breathtaking views in all of Wales.

Make sure you are prepared to hike a mountain and keep an eye on the weather. It is after all the tallest mountain in Wales! Even up the Miners Track, which is considered one of the easier routes, you will have to scramble.

🥾 Walk – Either the Miners or Pyg track

🚐 Park – Pen Y Pass Car Park, LL55 4NU (£18 for 1 – 8 hours)

Planning your own trip to Wales? Make sure you check out our Travelling Tedaldi Amazon Store Travel Guides for all your guidebooks and maps. (We’ve done the hard work for you and linked all the things we used to plan our trip!)

West Wales

Road Trip in Wales Day 4 – 6

Welcome to Kite country! No, not the type on a string that often appears on a windy day, but the famous Red Kite birds of Wales. Once in serious decline across the country, these wonderful birds have made a comeback thanks to people teaching others about them and feeding them with scraps the local butchers and farmers don’t want. You can’t go a few hours without spotting one or two lazily drifting on the breeze across beautiful west Wales nowadays.

📍 Where to stay – Aeron View Camping

Day 4 – Aberdyfi and Hafren Forest

With all the excitement of summiting Mount Snowdon yesterday, today is a day of driving down through Snowdonia National Park to the next campsite, via where the mountains meet the sea at Aberdyfi. (On route to Aberdyfi be sure to stop at the Mach Loop, this area is well known for its low flying jets that use the valleys for training. Even if you don’t see them, (they are pretty quick!) the noise of them passing by is something else!).

Aberdyfi is a wonderful little village, with a working harbour and cute sandy beach, located where the River Dyfi meets Cardigan Bay, and it is the perfect place to stretch those legs after an hour or so in the car! Have a good wander in and around all the colourful houses or out along the pier and shore to work up an appetite and get you longing for more Welsh beaches. Next up stop by Coast deli for a hearty pizza and baked camembert, all washed down with some local Welsh seaweed gin and Black Dragon cider, the perfect early lunch with a view over the bay.

After filling up with pizza, it’s time to head away from the National Park and inland to Hafren Forest, where the source of the River Severn is located. With numerous walks to do in the area, it is a lovely and very unknown spot to visit. With the, at this point, very little River Severn flowing along next to the walkways in between the expanse of forest, it is like nowhere else you will go on this road trip in Wales.

Finally, to finish off the day, on the way from Hafren Forest to the campsite, stop by Devil’s Bridge and learn the tale of why the bridge was built, (it involves the Devil, a woman and a cow…). You can walk down into the surrounding gorge to get a glimpse of the Victorian bridge with its numerous thundering waterfalls, all in a deep gorge often called Punch Bowl.

Whilst at Devil’s Bridge be sure to walk up to the Devil’s Bridge train stop with Two Hoots Tea Room. Not only do they serve a rather lovely Welsh afternoon tea, with a pot of local brew tea, bara brith and welsh cakes, but you might get the chance to see the steam train coming in too. There is also the Sarah Bunton Chocolate House for you to get some local handmade Cambrian honey chocolates too.

🥾 Walk – One of the trails to the Source of the Severn in Hafren Forest

🚐 Park – Aberdyfi Main Car Park, L35 0EA (£4 for 4 hours) / Hafren Forest SY18 6PT (free) / Devils Bridge Car Park SY23 3JW (free)

Day 5 – Ynyslas and Aberystwyth

The Dyfi National Nature Reserve is home to the Ynyslas Sand Dunes, vast dunes full of wildflowers, rare orchids and protected birds, that are still growing in size every day. With a car park on the beach and miles of trails to walk through the dunes as well as along the coast, Ynyslas is the perfect place to start the day. We even brewed a cup of tea and made some bacon sandwiches on the beach! There is also a petrified forest that appears at low tides on the beach between Ynyslas and Borth, well worth a visit if the tide is right.

Just a short drive down the coast (or walk along the Ceredigion Coast Path through Borth), lies the university town of Aberystwyth. With beautiful castle ruins overlooking the town and Ceredigion Bay and a bustling town centre, Aberystwyth is a great place to explore for a few hours. When in the town centre, beware of the seagulls sat on rooftops above you, we had a very near miss with a very large poo!

There are numerous independent eateries that you could stop by for a bite to eat but we opted for Medina, and it was delicious! The perfect place for a refuel before heading up the Aberystwyth Funicular Cliff Railway to the largest camera obscura in the world. Be sure to keep an eye out for the famous goat who is walked by his owner through the town on your way there too!

After all that exploring you deserve a sweet treat so stop by the bakery on the seafront called Ridiculously Rich by Alana (winner of The Apprentice), for some crème brulee brownies and sticky toffee pudding flapjacks, (both insanely good!), before heading back to the campsite for one last night.

Although it is full of car parks you may find it tricky parking in the centre of Aberystwyth. Instead, we opted for parking out along the South Beach, where parking is free if you can grab a spot.

🥾 Walk – Anywhere through Ynyslas Nature Reserve

🚐 Park – Beach Car Park, SY24 5JZ (£2 donation to the reserve) /Aberystwyth, SY32 1JX (free)

Day 6 – Aberaeron

For the last day along the West Wales coast, set off from the campsite for Aberaeron, a colourful town on Cardigan Bay, perfect to spend an hour or two. As it is only a small town, parking in Aberaeron can be tricky, but there is actually a small car park located at the Aberaeron Yacht Club which is often quite quiet, you just need to know how to work the ticket machine / have learnt a bit of Welsh beforehand!

From this picturesque car park, walk along Harbour Lane and over the bridge towards the Harbour Dock and into the very heart of Aberaeron. We would highly recommend stopping at The Cellar for brunch overlooking the small harbour, the food is delicious, and the view is a delight as well!

After brunch, walk along Tabernacle Street, through the colourful houses to the coast and then out along the coast walk taking in Cardigan Bay in all its glory, all the meanwhile keeping an eye out for the local dolphins. Cardigan Bay is a Special Area of Conservation, so you may see seals, dolphins, porpoises, and various nesting seabirds in the area.

Once you’ve had your fill of Aberaeron and Cardigan Bay, spend the rest of the day driving to the next campsite in the Brecon Beacons, stopping wherever you fancy along the route and enjoying all the bright pink foxgloves lining the roadsides if you visit in the summer. It really is a lovely driving route.

🥾 Walk – The coast along Aberaeron

🚐 Park – Aberaeron Yacht Club, SA46 0DP (roughly £1 per hour)

Travelling from London to Wales? Check out our post on the best routes to take.

Brecon Beacons National Park

Road Trip in Wales Day 7 – 9

The famous Brecon Beacons National Park and the last stop on the 9 day road trip in Wales. Famed for its high peaks, expansive landscapes and international dark skies, the Brecon Beacons is a joy to visit for a day or three. Full of quaint market towns, beautiful walks and the odd winery or two, it is the perfect location to end a Welsh road trip.

📍 Where to stay – Cwmdu Campsite

Day 7 – Pen Y Fan, Cribyn and Corn Du

From the highest peak in the Snowdonia National Park to the highest in the Brecon Beacons National Park, today we hike Pen Y Fan, which at 886m is actually the highest mountain in southern Britain!

Now before we begin, this was the most deceiving walk we have ever done… You can walk for an hour, but nothing seems to get any closer or further away be you walking up or down! That being said, it is a lovely walk to do, and the views are breathtaking, so don’t be too disheartened, just keep plodding along!

If you have ever wanted to climb the three tallest peaks in the Brecon Beacons, then this skyline ridge walk at the head of the Taf Fechan is the one for you. Taking in Cribyn, (795m), Pen Y Fan, (886m), and Corn Du (873m), before following along the Craig Y Fan Ddu ridge makes it one of the most spectacular hikes to do in the Brecon Beacons National Park. You can also hike up Fan Y Big before dropping back down to hike up Cribyn if it tickles your fancy as well, and yes that is its real name.

Starting at the Neuadd Car Park down in the valley, you can just about see the peaks you’re aiming for. Follow the road towards them then bear right and start the long walk to the bottom of the peaks. You can’t really go wrong once you are on this trail, just follow the route around and up in the horseshoe shape that gives this location the nickname of ‘The Beacons Horseshoe’. The way down near the reservoir is quite steep in places but there are big stone slabs to help create stepping stones all the way down to the edge of the water.

🥾 Walk – The Beacons Horseshoe

🚐 Park – Neuadd, CF48 2UT (free)

Day 8 – Crickhowell and Sugar Loaf

Good food, wine and a little walk, that’s what day 8 is all about. Start off the day in Crickhowell with a wander through this quaint town, taking in the independent shops, cafes and markets full of local produce. There is also the remains of an old castle and the longest stone bridge in Wales (with 12 arches on one side and 13 on the other!) There is so much lovely stuff to discover in such a small town it’s wonderful!

With all that wandering be sure to stop at the fantastic Latte Da café. Make sure you get a seat out in the hidden garden and brunch on homemade traybakes and Welsh rarebit (we almost got seconds of the rarebit it was so delicious!).

After getting your rarebit fix, now it’s time to walk it off up Sugar Loaf. Located just outside of Abergavenny, Sugar Loaf isn’t one of the hardest walks to do in the Brecon Beacons National Park, it can just be rather steep in places. Luckily if you start from the car park partway up it does help! At 596m tall it is the southernmost peak of the Black Mountains region of the Brecon Beacons National Park and the views across the Usk Valley here are stunning.

On your way back down from Sugar Loaf be sure to stop by Sugar Loaf Vineyards. This vineyard may be small, but boy is their wine delightful! We can highly recommend the Abergavenny White; it goes down lovely with a campfire BBQ.

🥾 Walk – Sugar Loaf summit

🚐 Park – Beaufort Street Car Park, NP8 1BN (£3 for 3 hours) / Sugarloaf NP7 7LA (free)

Day 9 – Llangors Lake and Hay Bluff

For the final day of the road trip in Wales, we head off to Llangors Lake and its famous Welsh Crannog Centre. Overlooked by the surrounding mountains, Llangors Lake is the largest natural lake in Wales and has the only example of a Crannog (or man-made island) that can be found in England and Wales. It is a haven for wildlife with swans, otters and too many ducks to count calling it their home, amongst many others.

The Crannog was constructed in 916ad and can be easily viewed from either on the water or via the viewing platform at the Welsh Crannog Centre, a stunning timber building that really needs to be seen to be believed. Now for the final stop of the trip, we’re heading to the very north corner of the Brecon Beacons to another mountain peak…

Where better to end the road trip in Wales than paragliding over the Brecon Beacons in the Black Mountains? Matt is a trained pilot already, so when we both got the chance to fly over at Hay Bluff it was a dream! At 677m high Hay Bluff isn’t one for the faint-hearted, (it seemed worse than Snowdon to get up!), but the views from both on the ground and in the air are stunning. If you are looking to get up in the air anywhere in South Wales, check out Axis Paragliding, they are the loveliest bunch of people and expert fliers.

🥾 Walk – Around part of Llangors Lake / Hay Bluff summit

🚐 Park – Llangorse LD3 7TR (free) / Hay Bluff car park HR3 5RJ (free)

Where to stay on a Wales road trip

As you may know, we love a bit of camping, especially now we’ve got a campervan! So we opted to camp our way around this road trip in Wales. We stayed at three very different but equally wonderful campsites:

Bryn Gloch Caravan & Camping Park in Snowdonia National Park – great location close to numerous walking routes as well as Mount Snowdon itself. There is even a microbrewery and pub just a short walk down the road…

Aeron View Camping in West Wales – quiet and secluded campsite off the beaten track, but famous for its Red Kites. Not only are the campsite owners incredibly friendly, but they feed the Kites from one of the fields on the site every few days, even if they do get dive-bombed!

Cwmdu Campsite in the Brecon Beacons National Park – the perfect location to explore the surrounding Brecon Beacons, with numerous camping options available. They have also quite possibly the friendliest campsite wardens around as well as a shop stocked with local produce.

If you would rather a bit more luxury than a campsite can offer then check out Booking.com or Expedia UK for some great accommodation deals.

9 Day Road Trip in Wales Itinerary FAQs

Why take a road trip in Wales?

If you like hiking mountains, exploring hidden beaches and everything in between then a road trip in Wales is the road trip for you! Often only visited for a weekend or day trip, Wales is somewhere that really needs to be explored for a few days by road to make you feel like you are really experiencing what it has to offer.

Every twist and turn through the country roads makes you want to pull over and take in the view. If that isn’t a sign of a good place to take a road trip, then what is?

Where is Wales?

Wales is located in the United Kingdom, bordering with England and the counties of Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire in the east.

How to get to Wales

Wales is easy to get to via both road and rail, with multiple stops at large cities and towns via train, including Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. If coming by car from the south of the UK then you will most likely head into the country via the M4 or the M48 over the River Severn, or if coming from the north or east via the M5 and M56. If you are coming by air there is also a small international airport located in Cardiff, (only from the UK and Europe).

How to get around Wales

Unfortunately, there is not much public transport away from the main towns and cities so we would highly recommend driving, or better yet, campervanning around the country to really get a feel for Wales and explore off the beaten track. The majority of the roads are really easy to drive, with only a few single-lane ‘country’ roads to contend with, and even those are pretty wide in places.

Tips for driving in Wales

Driving in Wales is the same as the rest of the UK, you drive on the left, give way to the right on roundabouts and some roads can be a single lane with a few passing places, so be ready to get reversing if necessary! Also, be aware that there are a lot of areas throughout Wales where sheep are allowed to roam freely, so don’t be too alarmed if a sheep pops up at the side of the road.

Is it easy to drive around Wales?

Yes, you just need to be aware of and plan ahead to avoid any narrow one way lanes if you are not comfortable driving them. Otherwise all of the main roads in and around Wales are very easy to drive, even if you do come across the odd sheep!

Hiring a car in Wales

If you are looking to hire a car for your road trip in Wales then check out Rentalcars.com. We have used them a number of times in different locations and countries and you will be sure to find just the right kind of vehicle that you are looking for.

When is the best time to take a road trip in Wales?

We’ve visited Wales numerous times over the years at different times of the year and you can never guess what the weather is actually going to be up to… On average, we normally end up being very rained on, but for the duration of our 9 day road trip in Wales, we had brilliant sunshine!

So that being said, we would recommend visiting between May and July, or September and November if you want better weather and fewer crowds from school holidays (we have been rained on in June though!), or over the winter for the chance of seeing Wales in white. Make sure you are comfortable with driving in snowy conditions if you opt to visit in the winter though.

How long to do a Wales road trip?

As a minimum you should aim for 7 days for a Wales road trip, this will allow you to see a few locations but not experience all that Wales has to offer. 9 days plus are really recommended as then you can visit all the National Parks as well as get some incredible hikes in.

How many days do you need in Wales?

If you really want to see the best of Wales, then you want to spend at least 7 days in Wales and even then, you will still only scratch the surface of this wonderful country. To really experience Wales, you want at least a month. We’ve visited Wales numerous times over the years from anything from 3 days to 10 days at a time and we still keep finding incredible places to visit.

Where should I go for 3 days in Wales?

If you only have 3 days to visit Wales, then we would recommend visiting one of the Welsh National Parks. Bannau Brycheiniog also known as Brecon Beacons National Park, in the south of the country, Eryri also known as Snowdonia National Park, in the north of the country and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in the west. They all deserve even more time to explore, but three days is a great starting point to get you excited about coming back.

Do they speak Welsh?

Yes, but both English and Welsh are widely spoken so you don’t need to be grabbing for your Welsh phrasebook just yet…

Is wild camping legal in Wales?

Yes, technically you can wild camp in Wales, but you must get permission from the landowner first. To be honest, there are so many fantastic campsites that cater to varying needs, have cheap prices, and have insane views throughout Wales, that you shouldn’t really find the need to wild camp.

Is there a Wales road trip?

There isn’t an official Wales road trip that covers the whole of Wales but there are a few sightseeing itineraries that Wales has including:

The Cambrian Way – North Wales and South Wales

The Coastal Way – Along the Welsh coastline

The North Wales Way – North Wales

What is the most beautiful road trip in Wales?

The one above… No, but seriously our road trip in Wales makes the best of all of the most beautiful parts of Wales from the very north to the very south and with a few wonderful locations thrown in between as well. Another road trip you could take in Wales though is along the coastline as this will take in both Snowdonia National Park and Pembrokeshire National Park, which are both worth visiting.

How long does it take to drive around Wales?

We spent 9 days driving from the north to the south of Wales, and although we didn’t feel rushed anywhere we went, you could easily spend a lot longer exploring. Ideally, you want at least a week to 10 days to get a feel for it.

What is the famous driving road in Wales?

The ‘famous road’ in Wales is actually the A4069 Black Mountain Pass also now known as the Top Gear Road. With its incredible scenery and fun but often scary switch-back driving, this is the place to go and the road to drive if you want a real piece of Welsh driving.

Tours in Wales

If you would rather someone else did the driving then check out these Wales tours from Get Your Guide:

Conclusion: 9 Day Road Trip in Wales Itinerary

So, there you have our guide to a 9 day road trip in Wales, be sure to check out our other posts on adventures to be had in Wales and get out exploring this wonderful little country.

You can never have enough of Wales, so why not head further inland to the Elan Valley and explore the famous reservoirs? Or head down along the south coast to the Gower Peninsula or Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and get to grips with the beautiful Welsh beaches of the area. Check out our 5 days Snowdonia Road Trip to give you even more ideas.

Gemma Tedaldi

Gemma is the owner and author of The Travelling Tedaldi, a travel blog helping travellers to discover the best road trips and travel itineraries throughout the UK and Europe. When she isn’t writing about her favourite travel destinations, she can often be found out exploring local hikes or planning future trips.