We love a castle, never visited any in Wales though!!! We need to rectify this on Sunday. Which is the bestest most Awesomez (in your opinion!) castle for a family day out?

Cheers!

Only been to two, Pembroke and Flint.

Pembroke wins easily, Flint was interesting but the town was a scary odd place.

Which bit of Wales?

Conwy, Beaumaris and Caernarfon are all very good.

Out of the 3 I’d probably pick Beaumaris because of it’s setting, with Conwy a close second.

Caernarfon is the most spectacular castle but the town is a bit of a dump.

Beaumaris and Caernarfon are brilliant

Caernarfon is pretty good.

I like Raglan Castle

Chepstow Castle is good, too.

Caerphilly Castle is brilliant just a horrible town.

Cheers all.

Which bit of Wales?

Not fussed, will travel!!

Depends what you want. Big, restored castle full of sight-seers? Small, difficult to get to ruined keep that you can picnic in without seeing anyone else?

Kidwelly and Chepstow fall into the first. I’ll be going to one of the second category later. Haven’t decided which one, yet. 😉

Carreg Cennen is interesting. Dinefwr has the advantage of being NT and linked into a NT site, so other stuff to do. It’s also near other castles worth looking at.

If you’re near Gower you could visit Oystermouth, Pennard, Weobley, Oxwich and still have time for an icecream.

There are castles every 100m down here, so it depends…. 😀

Carreg Cennen gets my vote.

White Castle near Llantillio Crossenny is a gem as well, as Idle Jon say there are loads of them 😆

have you seen this site

http://www.castlewales.com/white.html

Chepstow Castle is good, too.

And just up the road from there are the ruins of Tintern Abbey too which is also worth a visit.

Caerphily Castle has a leaning tower which allegedly leans more than Pisa.

Further along the coast there’s a nice little ruin called Ogmore Castle:

Not really sure it’s worth a visit on it’s own but I’ve popped in while cycling past it just to sit amongst the ruins and enjoy the scenery.

If you want pretty, you won’t do much better than Castle Coch, it’s just north of Cardiff,

Cardiff of course has it’s own impressive Castle, they do tours and whatnot around it, it is pretty cool.

If you’re into History though, they’re pretty terrible whilst they’re both on the site of historical castles they’re almost completely fake and were finished after the invention of the Car and Telephone.

Caerphilly is only 20 mins from Cardiff and it’s Castle is good and as someone else said has a section which has been slowly falling over for ages.

For a proper family day out if your coming to S.Wales I’d do.
First stop Castle Coch, not a proper castle but great fun, you’ll have seen it in dozens of tv shows and films.
Caerphilly castle next only 15mins away, but before you get there park at the snack bar on Caerphilly mnt. Cross the road and walk up to the trig point, you get a great view of the castle it’ll help you get a sense of the true scale of it.
Once you’ve done that especially if you’ve got kids, drive another 20 mins up to Nelson and visit Llancaiach Fawr manor house.
It’s a 16th century manor house, the staff are all in period costume and do an interactive tour of the house. It might sound cheesy but it isn’t, kids especially will love it. That really should be enough for one day.

Raglan +1

+1 Carreg Cennen. it might not have much still intact, but its in an amazing setting

Caerphily Castle has a leaning tower which allegedly leans more than Pisa.

How do you climb it?

Sorry 😉

I like Beaumaris because it’s so complete and geometrically perfect, 5-yr-old daughter loved Conwy because it had a very good activity trail. Plus Conwy has the city walls you can go all around.

Caernarfon is spectacular and you’ve got Conwy, Beaumaris and Harlech ( personal favourite) within striking distance.
Depending on the direction you come from you could also include either Flint or Castell Dinas Bran.

Raglan is great, the tower is brilliant. Another I like is the small one at Llansteffan just outside Carmarthen overlooking the river Tywi as it joins the bay, truly beautiful view.

No one mentioned Harlech yet? Very impressive. However, we are spoilt here locally with Raglan, White, Grosmont, Skentrith castles all within about 10 miles and all worthy of a visit. Just over the border is Goodrich in the Forest of Dean. Also worth a trip. And if you just want impressive ruins in a beautiful setting then come and visit my neighbours in Llanthony Priory. Bring the bikes and do some riding while here and enjoy a beer in the monks’ cellar.

Of course, if you want intact castles head north. The north Walians all gave up fighting the English a long time before us down south, so they have more impressive, structurally sound castles. <ducks> 😆 (I possibly need to add more smileys… 🙂 )

Caernarfon is riddled with passageways so you can walk all over

https://plus.google.com/+RussellBaker/posts/d4eV3ykbjPs

Harlech hope you have a head for heights if you go up on the walls

https://plus.google.com/+RussellBaker/posts/5zfCY266tsJ

Flint is a lot more ruined than both of those

https://plus.google.com/+RussellBaker/posts/UqRHarTv4bW

Do a castle tour of Pembrokeshire.. more castles here per square mile than anywhere else …

Recommend Carew, Pembroke, Manorbier

http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/attractions-events/castles-and-heritage/

Can only comment on North Wales, all superb imo, travelling from chester way up the coast to anglesey you pass most of them and can stop off on route, many are on the coast so they could be supplied by sea.

Link to maps

Taxi25 has come up with a superb day out there.

Dolwyddelan for the history

Cheers all, some great suggestions and loads to think about 😀 We’ve got the full day to kill so hopefully the weather will be nice!

Caernarfon for the height of the walls (particularly when trying to control the kids – 6yr olds are fearless)
Conway – most imposing
Criccieth prettiest location ( and best ice cream)
Beaumaris biggest overall
Flint for accessibility
Rhuddlan for memories of school field trips
Dolbardarn for access to petes eats in Llanberis

We’re based in Scotland but members of Cadw, love the welsh castles

If you’re a member of Historic Scotland, you also get into Cadw properties for free (half price in the first year).

Manorbier (near Tenby)for the Phil the Greek waxwork masquerading as a prison guard.
Or Beaumaris because I used to live there (not in the castle obvs!)

@bencooper – cheers, we worked out that it was cheaper to join cadw than historic Scotland, so we’ve got the membership as a longer term thing to get free access in the rest of the uk from next year , plus we don’t tend to go to castles at home (only get the time when on holiday !)

^ English Heritage does the same, we’ve been members for a while. Great if you’ve got kids, so many places to visit in UK!

I’m going to follow the Taxi25 plan soon! Sounds brilliant!

tang – Member
Raglan is great, the tower is brilliant. Another I like is the small one at Llansteffan just outside Carmarthen overlooking the river Tywi as it joins the bay, truly beautiful view.

I’ve got a real fondness for Llansteffan too. Used to holiday there, back in the bad old days when the pubs always closed on Sundays. Always nice and quiet, great to walk up there in the evening and sit on the seaward wall, or what’s left of it, looking out over the two river estuaries, you can see the furthest end of Pendine Sands and Dylan Thomas’s boathouse at Laugharne, and across towards the firing ranges at Pembrey Forest. Used to be able to watch A10 Thunderbolts doing live firing runs there, amazing noise from the big cannon!

Another one for Carreg Cennen – you can incorporate a great walk in to it as well

take a torch if you go to Carreg Cennen.

Raglan and Dinefwr are our most visited.
Love a good castle, especially if you can get on top of a tower.
Nice one on the Teifi that I have forgotten the name of, upstream of Cardigan near a Wildlife Trust place.

Upstream of Cardigan is Cilgerran. Would be good to coincide with the coracle races 22nd of this month.

Two that haven’t been mentioned and are polar opposites:

Castell y Bere. An atmospheric ruin where you park if you want to ride up Cadair Idris.

Powis Castle. For its formal gardens and opulent furnishings, artworks and colonial treasures.

Thanks nostoc, Cilgerran is the one.
Prefer Chirk to Powis, more castley.