Getting around without a car

Although it offers you more flexibility, a car is not essential for exploring North Wales. Public transport is quite good for such a rural area but does not compare with city frequencies so you will need to plan your outings to get the best out of your holiday. If you bring your bikes on the train you’ve got your own transport for exploring the area. You can buy Rover tickets valid on local buses and/or trains.
We have local transport timetables at Graianfryn.

Walking from the house

There are two lovely routes from Graianfryn affording fine sea and mountain views. Click on the links below to open the guides in a new tab.
Moel y ci (2.5 hours)
Moel Rhiwen (90 minutes)
Arthur’s well and the Padarn Railway (2 hours)

For a more strenuous walk you could walk up along the road and through the gate for the Marchlyn reservoir. Branch off and up over the peaks Carnedd y Filiast (821m), Mynydd Perfedd (792m) and Elidir Fawr (923m).
This map shows the route from the gate, distance is 4km to the gate, 9.5km for the walk and 4km back to Graianfryn. If you do have a car or bike, you could leave it before the gate to save 8km of tedious road walking.

Llanberis is 3 miles away: the first mile is along the road, then you can walk along the old railway line which runs the length of the lake and is now a cycle path. At Llanberis you can

• Hire a rowing boat on the lake (Llyn Padarn)
• Climb Snowdon via the Llanberis Path
• Take the Sherpa bus to the top of the pass and climb Snowdon via the Miners Track or the Pyg Track
• Ride the Snowdon Mountain Railway to the summit
• Tour the Power of Wales exhibition and the pumped storage power scheme
• View the waterfall
• Explore the Country Park and perhaps complete a circuit of the lake
• Enjoy a leisurely steam train trip along Llyn Padarn

Getting around by bus

We have bus timetables at Graianfryn.
One mile from Graianfryn is Penisarwaun village where you can catch a bus to Caernarfon, a mediaeval town by the Menai Strait with a world-famous castle (journey time 15 minutes). There’s also a service to Bangor and by changing at Bangor or Caernarfon you can get to other destinations.

Cycling

You can hire cycles in Caernarfon at Beics Menai.

Caernarfon’s a good place to start cycling from as part of the old railway line from Bangor to Afon Wen is now a cycle path. You can cycle south to Bryncir (12 miles) and possibly continue to Criccieth to see the castle and the coast. Or you could pedal along the Menai Strait then along quiet country lanes to the beach at Dinas Dinlle.

Cycling to Holyhead along some of Anglesey’s back roads which form the northern end of the Welsh National Cycle route makes a great outing. You can return the same way, devise a different return route, or put your bikes on the train as far as Bangor and cycle the seven miles from the station to Graianfryn.

We have mapped a few cycle routes from Graianfryn, maps and descriptions are at www.everytrail.com