If you are trying to find the perfect family day out, Wales’s national parks are a great choice. In fact, you could easily base yourself in one of these for your entire holiday – the choice is yours!
- Wales’s national parks – Snowdoniajimmedia / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
5 reasons Wales’s national parks are great for families
Personally, I think visiting Wales’s three national parks can make for an ideal day out or week away for everyone from couples to groups of friends, since they offer such a massive range of things to see and do. But, there are several reasons why they’re particularly great for families:
1) They give your kids the chance to get some fresh air and explore the great outdoors – something that seems to be becoming rarer these days!
2) They provide the perfect environment for spending some quality time together without everyday distractions like TVs and computers.
3) They offer a host of exciting activities that people of all ages can enjoy, from cycling to daring tree-top adventures.
4) There are lots of accommodation options, including good-quality, affordable campgrounds, friendly B&Bs and fancy hotels.
5) They are great places to spot all kinds of wildlife, which kids are bound to love.
The Wales’s national parks – what you need to know
Wales is home to three national parks in total – Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast and Brecon Beacons. All of them offer some brilliant walking and cycling opportunities, as well as unbelievable scenery, so I’m going to focus instead on what makes them different. Hopefully, that should help you choose between them.
Snowdonia is arguably the most famous of Wales’s national parks, being both the biggest and the one that’s home to England and Wales’s largest mountain, Snowdon. As you’d expect, the peak is one of the park’s main attractions and it’s something you can only find here.
Walking up Snowdon (which is 1,085 m tall) is a mind-blowing experience – especially if you take one of the trickier routes, like the Pyg or Miners tracks – but you can hop on the Snowdon Mountain Railway if you don’t fancy the trek. On a clear day, the views from the summit are amazing.
It’s not all about Snowdon, though. There are plenty of other mountains and other natural wonders to be discovered, from gorgeous woodland to tiny little gems, such as Fairy Glen near Betws y Coed.
Moving on to Pembrokeshire National Park, it’s the position of this that makes it so unique, as it’s the only truly coastal national park in the UK. Plus, it’s where the adventure sport coasteering was invented, and it’s home to some great little islands. One of these, Skomer, is a Marine National Reserve.
As you’d expect, this park is pretty unbeatable when it comes to beaches, while it’s also brilliant for wildlife lovers. If you’re lucky, you can see Atlantic grey seals and even dolphins playing in the waves off the coast, so keep your eyes peeled!
Last, but certainly not least, we have Brecon Beacons National Park. Again, there are heaps of attractions here, but personally I think the thing that really makes it stand out is its stargazing opportunities. In fact, this is said to be one of the very best places for the pastime in the whole of the UK, so it’s a must for budding astronomers.
You can see the Milky Way from here, as well as meteor showers and major constellations. The park regularly hosts stargazing events, so it’s well worth checking the Brecon Beacons website before you travel to see what’s on.
