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Snowdonia National Park in Wales

Thursday, 31 October 2024 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Great Britain / Großbritannien
Category/Kategorie: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  9 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Snowdonia, or Eryri, is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country’s highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The shorter Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.

The national park has an area of 823 square miles (2,130 km²) (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia, and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.

Snowdonia National Park, also known as Eryri National Park in English and Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri in Welsh, was established in October 1951. It was the third national park in the United Kingdom, following the Peak District and Lake District in April and May of the same year. It covers 827 square miles (2,140 km²) in the counties of Gwynedd and Conwy, and has 37 miles (60 km) of coastline. The park is governed by the Snowdonia national park authority, which has 18 members: 9 appointed by Gwynedd, 3 by Conwy, and 6 by the Welsh Government to represent the national interest. The authority’s main offices are at Penrhyndeudraeth. The park authority used Snowdonia and Snowdon when referring to the national park and mountain in English until February 2023, when it resolved to primarily use the Welsh names, Eryri and Yr Wyddfa. There will be a transitional period of approximately two years in which the authority will continue to use the English names in parentheses — for example “Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)” — where the context requires. Unlike national parks in other countries, national parks in the UK are made up of both public and private lands under a central planning authority.

The principal ranges of the traditional Snowdonia are the Snowdon Massif itself, the Glyderau, the Carneddau, the Moelwynion and the Moel Hebog range. All of Wales’ 3000ft mountains are to be found within the first three of these massifs and are most popular with visitors. To their south within the wider national park are the Rhinogydd and the Cadair Idris and Aran Fawddwy ranges. Besides these well-defined areas are a number of mountains which are less readily grouped, though various guidebook writers have assigned them into groups such as the “Arenigs”, the “Tarrens” and the “Dyfi hills”. Snowdon’s summit at 1,085 metres (3,560 feet) is the highest in Wales and the highest in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands. At 905 metres (2,969 feet), Aran Fawddwy is the highest in Wales outside of northern Snowdonia; Cadair Idris, at 893 metres (2,930 feet), is next in line.

Rivers draining the area directly into Cardigan Bay are typically short and steep. From north to south they include:

• the Glaslyn and Dwyryd, which share a common estuary,
• the Mawddach and its tributaries the Wnion and the Eden,
• the smaller Dysynni
• and on the park’s southern margin the Dyfi.

A series of rivers drain to the north coast. Largest of these is the Conwy on the park’s eastern margin, which along with the Ogwen drains into Conwy Bay. Further west the Seiont and Gwyrfai empty into the western end of the Menai Strait. Part of the east of the national park is within the upper Dee (Dyfrydwy) catchment and includes Bala Lake, the largest natural water body in Wales. There are few natural bodies of water of any size in Wales; Snowdonia is home to most. Besides Bala Lake, a few lakes occupy glacial troughs, including Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris at Llanberis and Tal-y-llyn Lake south of Cadair Idris. Llyn Dinas, Llyn Gwynant, and Llyn Cwellyn to the south and west of Snowdon feature in this category, as do Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Ogwen on the margins of the Carneddau. There are numerous small lakes occupying glacial cirques, owing to the intensity of past glacial action in Snowdonia. Known generically as tarns, examples are Llyn Llydaw, Glaslyn and Llyn Du’r Arddu on Snowdon, Llyn Idwal within the Glyderau and Llyn Cau on Cadair Idris. There are two large wholly man-made bodies of water in the area, Llyn Celyn and Llyn Trawsfynydd, whilst a number of the natural lakes have had their levels artificially raised. Marchlyn Mawr reservoir and Ffestiniog Power Station’s Llyn Stwlan are two cases where natural tarns have been dammed as part of pumped storage hydro-electric schemes.

The national park meets the Irish Sea coast within Cardigan Bay between the Dovey estuary in the south and the Dwyryd estuary. The larger part of that frontage is characterised by dune systems, the largest of which are Morfa Dyffryn and Morfa Harlech. These two locations have two of the largest sand/shingle spits in Wales. The Mawddach and Dwyryd estuaries form the largest indentations, and have large expanses of intertidal sands and coastal marsh which are especially important for wildlife: see natural history. The northern tip of the national park extends to the north coast of Wales at Penmaen-bach Point, west of Conwy, where precipitous cliffs have led to the road and railway tunnels.

There are only three towns within the park boundary, though there are several more immediately beyond it. Dolgellau is the most populous followed by Bala on the eastern boundary and then Harlech overlooking Tremadog Bay. More populous than these is the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is within an exclave, that is to say it is surrounded by the national park but excluded from it, whilst the towns of Tywyn and Barmouth on the Cardigan Bay coast are within coastal exclaves. Llanrwst in the east, Machynlleth in the south and Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth in the west are immediately beyond the boundary but still identified with the park; indeed the last of these hosts the headquarters of the Snowdonia National Park Authority. Similarly the local economies of the towns of Conwy, Bethesda, and Llanberis in the north are inseparably linked to the national park as they provide multiple visitor services. The lower terminus of the Snowdon Mountain Railway is at Llanberis. Though adjacent to it, Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr are less obviously linked to the park. There are numerous smaller settlements within the national park: prominent amongst these are the eastern ‘gateway’ village of Betws-y-Coed, Aberdyfi on the Dovey (Dyfi) estuary and the small village of Beddgelert each of which attract large numbers of visitors. Other sizeable villages are Llanuwchllyn at the southwest end of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), Dyffryn Ardudwy, Corris, Trawsfynydd, Llanbedr, Trefriw and Dolwyddelan.

Read more on Eryri National Park, visitwales.com – Exploring Eryri (Snowdonia), visitwales.com – Get active in Eryri (Snowdonia)!, Wikivoyage Snowdonia National Park and Wikipedia Snowdonia (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.