(it's Sh-an-did-no, not Lan-dud-no)
First things first: nobody tells you how to say it. I only figured it out on the train when the TfW (Transport for Wales) announcements came on. I panicked that I boarded the wrong service, looked up at the screen, and the spelling was right, not my standard pronunciation.
I booked my tickets back in January for end of March travel: Avanti West Coast into Chester, then the local TfW train along the North Wales coast into Llandudno. Booking that far ahead got me the whole trip for around £50 (A good deal!!). The train was nearly empty, so I had a whole coach to myself and the window. Somewhere just before the Welsh border, the train starts running along the coast: sea on one side, hills on the other and that’s when you are officially into Wales.
I stayed at The Post House, a 13-minute walk from the station. Wish I'd packed lighter!! I was welcomed by a very wary seagull who peeking into my room for food.
The Great Orme
The Great Orme is a limestone headland at the northern tip of Llandudno. You get up via the tramway, running since 1902 (My highlight of the trip!!). My tip: sit facing the back. As you climb, the whole of Llandudno spreads out: the sea, the green hills and the town stretching out like mini dollhouses. Worth every second of craning your neck!
There's also a cable car higher up. It has no fixed schedule, so the only way to know if it's running is to look for the wires and see if anything's moving on them. Also worth knowing: it's cash only, so stop at an ATM before you head up. I missed it entirely as it was closed during my visit but I've heard it's well worth it.
At the base, near the Pier, the Happy Valley Botanical Gardens are worth a look. I enjoyed wandering through, though I wished I had gone later in the year when everything is in bloom. There's also an Alice in Wonderland trail running through it and into the town. Alice Liddell, the real girl who inspired Lewis Carroll's Alice spent many of her childhood holidays here in Llandudno, which makes the whole thing feel like a real adventure around the city. I skipped the trail but enjoyed the garden.
The copper mines are a seven-minute walk from the halfway station. Bronze Age, discovered during a parking lot survey after being buried under industrial waste for centuries and around 70% of the cave system still hasn't been explored. You get a helmet at the entrance, it's well-lit inside, and the passages are narrow and cramped. Water drips all around you. Walking those paths, it's hard not to think about the people who carved them out. Post the mine, you can either walk ahead or take the next tram to the summit, they run roughly every 15 minutes in spring and autumn.
What I'd recommend regardless is walking down. About 30 minutes, and the views over the sea and back into the town make it worthwhile. Comfortable shoes are non-negotiable for all of this.
Conwy Castle
Bus 5 from Llandudno takes about 35 minutes, dropping you near the railway station. From there, a stairway walk takes you up along the medieval walls and down to the castle entrance.
Inside, don't rush. There's the church tower with its beautiful stained glass, the kitchen tower, the granary, an indoor well, the King's Room. The prison was interesting addition and what made it stand out was that there was no entrance, no window. The accused was lowered in through a hole in the floor above, and any food or water passed down the same way.
The towers are exposed and it was seriously windy when I visited. I had a brief, irrational moment of being blown away! I did not of course, not at my weight number at least. The views from the top are worth the wind: mountains, estuary, bridge, and the town.
For food, I had lunch at Dylan's and picked up a Welsh cake from a nearby bakery (just one, 30p!!) before heading out along for a Marine Walk. An hour along the shore with all the boats moored and the gentle lapping of water.
Bodnant Garden
Bus 25 from Llandudno, about 40 minutes south into the Conwy Valley. Go early, around opening time. Apparently, there's something to see in all four seasons according to the volunteer who helps out, and the map at the reception is genuinely useful for planning your route.
Take the blue route along the river, ending near the terraced gardens, which connects naturally into the red route from there. The boathouse, the willow touching the lake, the magnolias out in early April. What got me most was the sheer scale at which this was executed: the horticulture, the planning, the patience it took to build something like this over generations since the 19th century.
Practical note: the bus runs about every three hours, same bus doing the full route repeatedly. Missing it is not fun. Give yourself around three hours in the garden and keep an eye on the time.
Should you go?
Yes. Two to three days is enough. You can do the Great Orme, Conwy and Bodnant in two full days, with the pier, West Shore and the promenade filling in around the edges.
While you're there, take the coastal walks. Listen to the ocean, the sand, the stones, the birds. It clears your head, cleanses your soul and you can really let go of your worries. Let the wind take them away!
One last thing: check the tides on the beach. They pull back much further than you'd expect at low tide. On an evening walk, I came across something translucent, enormous, squishy-looking. I thought it was a plastic bag full of water but a Google Lens search said its a jellyfish. It was my first time seeing one, and a one up on my mental encylopedia of things I’ve seen!