Tourist Places To Visit In Conwy

Conwy’s quite pleased with its historic legacy and cultural heritage with a variety of events that it hosts every year for its visitors and residents, and here you’ll find numerous festivals and art galleries with local marvels and produce. You can also be privy to the Celtic Welsh Language if you venture deep into some of the smaller towns neighboring Conwy. With a wide range of things to do and tourist places to visit, there’s ample and more in the realm of history and culture when it comes to the medieval town of Conwy that makes it worth a visit, fun and excitement for everyone who visits here.

Located in North Wales, the Conwy Castle is a fortification built by Edward I during the Wales Conquest from 1283 – 1289. This glorious fortress stands tall even after 700 years owing to its restored staircases which allow its visitors to walk a complete course around its battlements. Captivating on sight, this well-preserved castle still includes an undamaged set of royal apartments from the medieval era with a high curtain wall and 8 lofty towers that stand just as tall now, as when they were built! The Conwy Castle shares its repute as a World Heritage Site alongside other magnificent castles built by Edward at Caernarfon, Beaumaris and Harlech.

Also called the Quay House, the smallest house is a popular tourist attraction in Great Britain. This tiny house was established in the 16th century when the tenant was 6 ft 3” and known as Robert Jones. The house remained in use till 1900, but as the rooms were too small for him to stand comfortably, Robert had to move out, after the council’s declaration of the house being unfit for occupancy with other few properties. The Quay House spans a floor area of 3.05 by 1.8m and is painted in red, located near the Conwy Castle walls. Its ground level houses the living area with a coal room and space for an open fire, in addition to a water rap concealed behind the stairs. The first level holds a constricted bedroom with a small space for storage.

An Elizabethan Townhouse, Plas Mawr goes back to the 16th century, when it was built by Robert Wynn a local landowner’s son, following his marriage to Dorothy Griffith. During this golden period, wealthy merchants capitalized on their riches by financing in lavish entertainment, mansions and rich fittings. The Plas Mawr is one of the best townhouses from that era in the whole of Britain. From all his service to the Tudor Diplomats and travels to most of Europe’s royal courts, Robert made quite a fortune, out of which he acquired a mansion house in Conwy and transformed it into a celebration of his wealth & life. The property’s facade is concealed in a steep narrow street, with the high street gatehouse only suggesting at the opulence that awaits inside, as you ascend through a series of balconies to venture into the 17 remarkable rooms. The Plas Mawr has witnessed a radical transformation from being a manor to a courthouse, a school and an art gallery.

A medieval defense structure around the town of Conwy, the Conwy Town Walls were constructed in 1283-87 after Edward I laid the foundation of Conwy, in lieu of an integrated defense system in line with the Conwy Castle. Spread over 1.2km, the town walls are some of the finest and most definite sets in the whole of Europe with over 21 towers and 3 gateways, encompassing the town. The 13th-century construct has a fascinating structure with a smooth exterior and intelligent interior, with the towers opening into the town interiors, joined to the wall’s walk with detachable wooden bridges. The towers were so designed that should there be an attack, no matter where it came from, the attackers would be exposed to the town’s defenders and their retaliatory fire.

One of the two remnants of the medieval merchant’s house in Conwy, the Aberconwy House includes 2 lower floors made of stone, supporting a half wooded upper level that protrudes out into the street. With an elegant fireplace also made of stone and an oriel window, the house is said to have been acquired by Alexander Campbell Blair. You will find a fine display of prints and paintings attached to the house with a majority of the collection being crockery, historic furniture items, utensils, household objects as well as ceramics. The Aberconwy House was brought under the aegis of the National Trust.

A Grade I listed structure, the Conwy Suspension Bridge is one of the first road suspension bridges in the world, located in the medieval town of Conwy and can now be crossed over on foot. Operational under the aegis of the National Trust, this well-designed bridge was designed & built by Thomas Telford, seen to completion in 1826. Standing magnificent to the Conwy Castle, the Suspension Bridge and the toll keeper’s house revived Conwy’s waning spirit through growth in trade and tourism.

Property of the National Trust, the Bodnant Garden near Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy overlooks the valley in the direction of the Carneddau Mountains. The Bodnant Garden was established in 1874 by Henry Pochin, a scientist, businessman and politician, and gifted to the National Trust in 1949. Nestled in the foothills of Snowdonia, the garden spans over 32 hectares and with its hillside locale, drops steeply from opulent flower-laden terraces and manicured lawns, down through to the lively wildflower meadows, breathtaking basins of water gardens, shrub glades and tall trees. Home to one of the earliest & magnificent laburnum arches from 1880 to the earliest Magnolias introduced from China in 1800 to the peculiar Rhododendron Hybrids in 1920, the Bodnant Garden is a garden of many firsts.

An obvious limestone cliff, the Great Orme is located in the north-west city of Llandudno and means a Sea Serpent in the Old Norse English Language. 679ft high, the Great Orme can be accessed by either a cable car or a tramway. The 6.4km one-way toll road begins at the foot of the Happy Valley and leads to St. Tudno’s Church through a side road after 2.4km approx., the Great Orme Highpoint with a car park and the Bronze Age Copper Mines. The peninsular’s mostly full of dolomite and limestone that were formed in the early half of the Carboniferous period of Earth’s topographic past and most of its rocks date back to 339-326 million years. The upper crust of the Great Orme is renowned for its pavements covering numerous cliff areas with rich seams of dolomite copper ore.

An early headlock of Gwynedd, the Deganway Castle lies at the mouth of the River Conwy at an elevation of 361ft on a volcanic mass. Originally the headquarters of the King of Gwynedd, the Dark Age citadel is today a little more than mounds and ditches, constructed of wood on a giant rock outcrop. Restored multiple times, the Deganway Castle’s final structure was transformed into a stone construct by Henry III, however, despite its strong guarding position, its biggest strength also turned out to be its weakness when it got difficult to resupply the barracks by sea, under attack.

Founded in 1201, the Valle Crucis Abbey was founded onsite a temporary wooden church initially. A Cistercian cloister, located in Llantysilio, the Valle Crucis is one of the last monasteries built in Wales from the Cistercian legacy. Established under the domain of Powys Fadog, it was the spiritual hub for the region and included a church in addition to numerous other buildings adjoining it, all enclosed in a square courtyard. Most of its construct today lies ruined, except for the west end front walls, the rose window’s stonework and most of the east end. The southern part of the transept, the chancel walls & the east part of the monastery, the sacristy, chapter house and the reredorter’s lower level, remain intact to date.