Hi all…

planning a 3 or 4 day biking trip with a bunch of mates to northern Wales, and thinking Betws is a good place to be based so we can get some good grub & beers in the evenings etc…

Anybody have any recommendations for bike-friendly accomodation there?
specifically needs to have secure bike storage as we don’t fancy leaving them in the car over night…

Thanks

Piers.

We always use the Glan Aber. Great food and bike lock up facilities

http://hotelsinsnowdonia.com/

I stayed at the Glan Aber hotel, pretty basic tbh, the bunkhouse has walls like paper and pretty poor facilities, the hotel rooms were fine- clean, pleasant enough but feeling their age a bit. Felt nicely tired, to me, but that’s a fine line between charm and down-at-heel. Bike storage in the beer cellar, and off-street parking. Good staff too, wee bar on site.

I’d go back but there’s probably better.

Our other group went to the Vagabond and hated it- lots of noise, unhelpful rude staff, etc. Don’t trust their tripadvisor rating either, they were getting legitimate negative reviews taken down by saying “This person wasn’t staying here that night” even when they were. Classy.

Home

Stayed here once, was OK, new set up then and flawed in many ways and owners seemed a bit ignorant to what bunkhousers/mtbers wanted, but I heard recently they’ve changed/upgraded some things. They had some really firm looking bike storage.

thanks for the comments…

we’re not specifically after hostel/bunkhouse type accommodation… just somewhere that can store the bikes safely, and where we can get to some good food & have a few beers to sooth the aches & pains of the day 🙂

We stayed at the Swallow Falls Hotel last year. The have a bunkhouse out back with a bike locker

+1 Glan Aber and northwind’s experiences. We did the bunk house for a weekend and it was as basic as we expected (but no worse), the drying room came in handy thanks to the Penmachno Irrigation System.

Stayed there more recently in the hotel proper, perfectly fine, our room had a comically sh1t view of the alley between it and the next hotel which was strewn full of junk, which mattered not a jot to us other than for amusement. Competitively priced restaurant, free drink with dinner if youre a hotel guest, friendly hard working staff and a bar that feels more like your local pub. I like slightly worn and homely and dont do luxury and grandeur!

we’d use em again.

I think it was when someone went in for a shower and locked the entire toilet room that I started to get a bit annoyed- only gents toilets, sinks, showers could all be shut at the door! (and once folks had been in the slightly prison-ey showers the room was like a sauna) But still, as bunkhouses go these aren’t massive grumbles, none of us was murdered in the night or anything so better than average 😉

Best Campsites around Betsy ?

thanks all.. going to stay in teh Glan Aber hotel (rather than bunkhouse)… not that we’ll spend much time in there, hopefully… will be ridin’ all day, then find a good pub for the evening.

If you’re returning to betws to eat/drink the Aber is as good as any, you can eat in restaurant or bar and its good pub rather than fancy restaurant food. Theres a big pub/hotel a couple of minutes walk towards town next to Cotswolds Outdoor which always had a busy beer garden full of bikers so might be another good choice for food and drink.

good stuff. from streetview, I’m guessing the second one is the Royal Oak. Will give both a try 🙂

Stayed here a few weeks back, really friendly people and only 10min walk into town. Secure storgage for bikes and good breakfast.

http://www.maes-y-garth.co.uk/