The route
This is a suggested first route through Wales, built from the places already in the Old Route Retro atlas. It runs roughly north to south: the castles and mountains of the north, the long western coast, the hill country of the Brecon Beacons, and the beaches of the south and southwest. Every stop below links to its own place page, where the postcards filed for that location are gathered together.
The Wales route shows the whole country, and holds every design currently filed under it.
Castles and mountains of the north
The route begins on the island of Anglesey, where Beaumaris guards the strait with its unfinished castle and Llanfairpwllgwyngyll carries the longest place name most visitors will ever try to say. Across the water, Caernarfon raises its great walled castle above the harbour.
Inland lies Snowdonia, the mountain park at the heart of the north, with Betws-y-coed as its stone-built gateway and the Slate Landscape — a World Heritage country of quarry terraces — close by. Back on the coast, Conwy and Llandudno finish the north: one a walled castle town, the other a seaside resort looking across the bay.
Down the western coast
South of the mountains the road follows the sea. Portmeirion is the Italianate village built into the woods above the estuary; Harlech stands on its cliff with one of the four great Edwardian castles; and Barmouth and Aberystwyth string the coast south toward the university town and its pier.
Inland: the Brecon Beacons country
Turning inland, the route crosses the hill country of mid-Wales. The Elan Valley holds a chain of reservoirs in the green hills; Brecon Beacons is the national park of long ridges and famously dark skies, with Brecon at its edge and the book town of Hay-on-wye a little further east.
The south: Cardiff and the bay
The route reaches the capital at Cardiff, where the castle sits inside the city and Cardiff Bay spreads where the docks once were. Just along the coast, Barry Island keeps its old seaside fun.
The southwest: Gower and Pembrokeshire
West of Cardiff the route follows the south coast to Swansea and the Gower Peninsula, where Rhossili Bay runs a long curve of sand beneath the headland. Then comes Pembrokeshire: St Davids, the small city at the western tip, and Tenby, the walled harbour town of the south coast.
Further east
Not every atlas place sits on the spine. To the north-east, Wrexham, Llangollen, and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct — a World Heritage canal crossing high above the Dee — make their own day trip; and in the south-east, the industrial landscape of Blaenavon, the castles of Caerphilly and Chepstow, and the city of Newport lie off the coastal road.
Planning the route
This is a suggested route from the Old Route Retro atlas, not an official itinerary — VisitWales publishes its own driving routes under the name the Wales Way, and this is a different path, built from the places in the atlas. As a relaxed journey the route spreads naturally over the better part of a week: two or three days for the north's castles and mountains, a day for the coast, and a day or two for the south and southwest. Spring and early autumn are the comfortable seasons for walking and the mountains.
Every stop in this guide is a real page in the atlas. Open the Wales route to browse every design currently filed under it.
How long does this route take?
As a suggested route it has no fixed length. A relaxed version takes the better part of a week — two or three days for the north's castles and mountains, a day for the western coast, and a couple of days for the south and southwest. Each place page stands alone, so you can also follow any single stop on its own.
Is this an official Wales route?
No — it is a suggested Old Route Retro route, built from the places on the Wales route. Wales's official driving routes are published by VisitWales under the name the Wales Way; this article is the atlas's own route through the same country.
Which castles are on the route?
Four of the route's castles — Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Harlech — are together a single World Heritage site: the castles and town walls built by Edward I in the thirteenth century.