Glamping with hot tubs near Llandudno

The Llandudno Pier is the longest in Wales, so a stroll is almost obligatory on a visit. With amusements, ice cream sellers, and shops, as well as magnificent views, it’s a lovely way to spend an hour or two. The pier stretches out from Llandudno’s North Beach, a sand-and-shingle expanse backed by a promenade of Victorian buildings, where visitors stop for paddling, swimming, and sandcastle building.

At either end of the beach are the twin headlands of Great and Little Orme. Great Orme is home to Great Orme Country Park, a lovely place for a walk with stunning views out to sea from its 679-foot summit. If you don’t fancy the walk, a scenic cable car ride has been whisking visitors up to the top since 1969.

A long band of sandy beach begins southeast of Llandudno, passing through the big resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl en route to the Dee Estuary. Most campers come to sample the area’s seaside charms—an easily accessible sandy coast is connected via railway to Merseyside in England, while plentiful seaside diversions also exist, from promenades to fun fairs. Caravan and camping sites can be found everywhere, particularly around Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, while great long-distance trails, including the Wales Coast Path, pass through.

Besides those golden sands, Llandudno also provides outdoor lovers with enticing mountain scenery. The northern reaches of Snowdonia (Eyri) National Park await beyond Conwy, four miles south of Llandudno. Comprising all the stony uplands north of the Betws-y-Coed-Bethesda A5 road, Northern Snowdonia’s big feature is the Carneddau range, a series of peaks propped up by Wales’ largest extent of 2,500-foot ground—and a hillwalkers’ delight. Camp along the upland’s eastern flanks, south of Conwy, at national park gateways like Caerhun.

Anglesey is Wales’ largest island, and its beguiling sandy coastline is a big attraction for beach lovers, swimmers, and walkers with a coast path looping the entire shore. The area is accessible by road bridge over the Menai Strait 21 miles southwest of Llandudno—from there, it’s a few miles’ drive southwest to the campsites clustered near Southern Anglesey’s beach and the wide, powdery, forest-backed sands of Traeth Llanddwyn.