Anglesey Advice Needed

We’re planning a trip to Wales in the van the summer and as part of it want to spend a few days on Anglesey. We’ve never been. It’ll just be the two of us (no kids) so looking for somewhere nice and quiet to camp, with some nice walks, good views and (ideally but not essential) a good pub within walking distance. We may have bikes with us, but unlikely.

A bit of research suggests a campsite at Penion, near Newborough, might fit the bill. But thought I’d check with the collective wisdom of this place.

Also, any sights worth seeing, or avoiding. Much appreciated in advance.

If the weather is good Anglesey has some lovely rides (hybrid/road bike) so worth considering

Have a look at Valley of the Rocks campsite.

Are you a member of the C&CC or C&MC? Lots of small certificated sites on the island

Caravan Site

land side of Newborough village, but great folks. I go to the museum any time I’m on the island, their cafe fry ups are legendary.

As for the rest of it, it’s castles, beaches and views. Plenty of neolithic sites to bag if that’s your thing, and with a budding geologist kid, we made several trips to Stone science in the middle of the island. Rhosneigr is nice with beaches pointing into different winds and a choice of pubs and eats, a bit of a mini Abersoch.

We stayed here for a weekend. Nice site, lovely views, lovely walks from the door, decent shop and great chippy in the village, and a not dreadful pub (nice enough for a drink, we didn’t eat there so can’t comment on the food)

White Lodge & Awelfryn Camping and Caravan Parks

I would head to Holyhead, Porth Dafarch is my favourite beach. Quiet compared to others and great for swimming because it is a shallow bay which fills up.

Stay at Anglesey Outdoors (pub onsite) or Valley of the Rocks which is next door (you can walk through to the pub).

Good coastal walks.

We were there a couple of years ago. Traeth Llanddwyn is well worth a visit. Superb long beach and view of Snowdonia across the water. Beaumaris is an interesting place.

Also – if you see our local MP Jake ‘the Snake’ Berry (he has several properties there), please ask him if he actually knows where Lancashire is.

I haven’t been to any campsites near Newborough but I know that the forest itself can be very busy during the summer holidays. Maybe near by campsites too.

TBH I’d avoid Newborough on any busy day, the whole place can get so busy that it is not worth the visit.

Favourite spots for me are Rhosneigr and the coastal walks north into the dunes and around RAF Valley. The Holy Island section of the Anglesey Coastal Path is stunning. Parys Mountain is very dramatic in a geologically mad landscape. The colours are amazing. And as above, Stone Science is great fun. A bloke’s hobby that has grown and grown and is now a thing of beauty.

If you want great views and not many people, I’d walk the coast from Cemlyn Bay to Carmel Head to Church Bay and back across the fields. It’s beautiful. You’ll see lots of people at Church Bay but the rest of the walk will be very quiet

I used to live on Anglesey ( llanfairynghornwy) Cemaes Bay is lovely. Beaumaris Castle and village is lovely. A trip to RAF Valley during the week is worth a visit to watch the Hawks. If you drive through RAF Valley camp and follow the road past the main gate, turn left and you end up on the back side of the camp/runway . There is a nice beach that gets very few visitors and if you are lucky you can watch a few take offs from the end of the runway.

Rhosneigr Beach is lovely too.

Llanfair PG for the station photo.

Avoid Holyhead and Llangefni.

The coastal path is really nice. Plus a visit to the local vineyard for a local bottle of wine is a good shout. https://www.gbvg.uk/vineyard/gwynfyd-m%C3%B4n-anglesey-bliss

Here:

53.255673, -4.547915

Also worth a visit for the ice-creams

https://melinllynon.co.uk/

That’s brilliant. Many thanks to all who responded. This place never fails to deliver. I’m working my way through the various suggestions, to the point I’m now thinking we might extend our trip by a day or two.

Once again, much appreciated.

Plas Newydd is nice if you fancy a walk and has great views of the Menai Straits. You could also visit Menai Bridge, take a walk over the bridge (Try to ignore the scaffolding), turn right on the Bangor side and keep going until you meet the woodland and take a walk beneath the Britannia Bridge where you can see a cross section of the old bridge before the fire. If you keep going you will eventually end up in Felinhelli.

• Southstack near Holyhead is great on a sunny day ( You can take a walk down to the old lighthouse).
• Anglesey circuit is good if Motorsport is your thing.
• Anglesey sea zoo is good if you have a rainy day
• Powerboat rides down the Menai Straits are good fun or you could take a gentle pleasure boat ride to Puffin Island.

Places to eat

• Tavern on the bay near Red Wharf bay
• Spoilt for choice in Beaumaris and Menai Bridge (They’ve also got a great ice cream shop in Beaumaris)
• Sea Shanty Treardur Bay

There are so many good places to eat, I would just check TripAdvisor before hand, a lot of the reviews are fairly accurate.

If your willing to drive over one of the Bridges you could visit:

• Caernarfon: Parts of the town can look a bit tired but other parts are lovely and you can visit the castle, quite a few good places to eat as well.
• Betws Y Coed: Bit of a tourist hotspot but still a very nice place to visit.
• Llanberis: Again another tourist hotspot for people visiting Snowdon and watersports in the lake (paddle boarding is great on a sunny day). A lot of people walk up Snowdon which is great but it’s very crowded, I would walk up Marchlyn which is on the other side of Llanberis lake and offers great views of the Menai Straits, Anglesey and more on a clear day.

I would avoid:

• Bangor: The town looks very tired and it doesn’t really stand out from any other tired high street (I believe it’s the longest high street in Wales tho).
• Llangefni
• Amlwch
• Newbrough (Forest is lovely and well worth a visit but the village I would avoid)
• Holyhead

These places aren’t particularly bad but there are much better places to visit which have been mentioned in other posts above.

If you can bring a bike I definitely would, on Anglesey you won’t find any hardcore mountain bike trails (you need to go towards Betws Y Coed for that really) but you could have a gentle ride around Newbrough forest on a MTB.

If you have a road bike your spoilt for choice, they say Anglesey is quite flat (which it possibly is compared to the near by mountains) but it still has a few steep hills to catch you out. The wind is the real killer on a bike here, Anglesey is the only place I’ve ridden where you can do a circular route but ride in to a head wind all the way round! (Bike may also be handy if you want to ride to a local pub and back, depending where you stay busses can be a bit random)

Used to stay in llanfairynghornwy every year for two weeks in the late 80’s, early 90’s and we lived on Cemaes Bay beach building dams across the river .

There is a great campsite called Dolydd I think we stayed in the late 2010’s. Kinda on the headland above the beach.

Church bay & a bird spotting place around the corner are great.

we stayed here a couple of years ago, https://www.pods-pwllcoch.co.uk/ middle of nowhere but close to Moelfre and the beach at Traeth Lligwy. From the site we walked up Parys Mountain to the Copper Mine which was really impressive.

no pubs of any note tho sadly. little convenience store about a mile away is your lot.

No ones mentioned the copper mines. Like walking on the moon and featured on doctor who. https://maps.app.goo.gl/j88h3CNaKJPawpiz5

Newborough beach and woods. Suggest parking here at the northern end, quieter and a delightful walk to the beach https://maps.app.goo.gl/P9vAb8DftHxWe7WQ9

Parys Mountain was mentioned earlier – they look good even on a crap weather day

Anglesey sea zoo is good if you have a rainy day

Although every tourist on Anglesey will head there or the butterfly place if the weather is poor, so you’d better enjoy queueing, both on the narrow roads to get there and waiting to get in. 😀

  Places to eat

Spoilt for choice in Beaumaris and Menai Bridge (They’ve also got a great ice cream shop in Beaumaris)

I remember there being one street in Beaumaris with a couple of chippies, some pubs and a lone bakery with a long queue outside because it was the only place to buy a roll. I don’t remember being spoilt for choice, and I know that my coeliac daughter wasn’t at all impressed by the lack of choice she had. (This was three years ago.)

Had our first visit to Anglesey last year and visited in mid-August, couldn’t believe how manageable it was at that time of the year to be honest. Didn’t have to face any queues or anything (I grew up in West Cornwall so compared to there it was pretty quiet! by August standards!).

We really enjoyed our visit, did a few nice waterside walks from Menai Bridge. As a geology graduate Newborough Forest and beach was ace!

I know that Llangefni has been down voted above but I’d thoroughly recommend visiting the town purely for the art on display at Orial Mon. Its a really well set up gallery and for me was the most impressive building space on the entire island. We also revisited there one evening to order wood fired pizza at Popti Pizza next door – well worth a visit.

Also worth a visit is Halen Mon, the cooking salt compony who have their HQ / visitor centre on the island. You can pay to soak yourself in warm salt water with seaweed whilst your submerged in an oak barrel, its a bit different! Its nicely pictureque there with the shore lapping away close to the country road, some lovely views on a sunny day.

We’re currently planning our next visit for 2025, really keen to go back and explore more.

Listen to these while you’re on the way there…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m0013rs7?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

 I don’t remember being spoilt for choice, and I know that my coeliac daughter wasn’t at all impressed by the lack of choice she had. (This was three years ago.)

What a strange thing to say. I would imagine that would be an issue in most places

Yes, just from memory there are the following in Beaumaris, not sure what more you expect!:

An Indian, Chinese, tapas bar, two chip shops, three cafes, sea front restaurant, ice cream parlour, bakery and at least five pubs.

I’m sure I’ve probably missed a few as well.

A second thank you to all the people who replied after my first thank you. On the back of all that great advice we’ve decided to extend our trip there slightly. Sounds like a lovely place.

I’ve just read through this thread with a Welsh accent in my head! 🤣

Just to revive this thread, we’re off to Anglesey in a couple of weeks and I was planing on taking the bike with me.

Is there much riding on Anglesey, be it forest or coastal path stuff? We’re staying near Llanedwen but thought I might get out for a couple of local rides if possible.

not much MTB but miles and miles of gravel or road riding on quiet lanes – it’s not flat, it may appear to be in the car but it really isn’t