Snowdonia and North Wales family holidays and breaks

Snowdonia National Park with Kids

• Take the tiny cog steam-train with open-air carriages to the top of Snowdon, where there’s an £8-million visitor centre and a café in rugged stone. The train goes from the busy village of Llanberis, which has plenty of other things to do – Electric Mountain, a power station deep underground (good with older children), the National Slate Museum (free, with things for kids to see and climb on in a lakeside setting), lake cruises, easy meadow walks and the Llanberis Lake Railway steam train.

• Head to the Adventure Parc Snowdonia on the edge of the park for its nature-inspired adventures including surfing on the world’s first inland surf lagoon, zip-lining and climbing. There’s a hotel and glamping pods so you can stay on-site.

• Discover the Sygun Copper Mine, Dolgoch waterfall (a stop on the beautiful Talyllyn Railway), and the twin, tiny train-rides inside Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Llechwedd is also home to the underground zip lines and bounce networks of Zipworld,

• Find other Zipworlds at Penrhyn Quarry on the edge of the park, home to Velocity, the world's fastest zip line, plus quarry karts, and at Betws-y-Coed, the gateway to the park, with treetop nets, net walkways and the Fforest Coaster.    

• Try the National Whitewater Centre near the lakeside town of Bala – 8km of foaming excitement fed by the Llyn Celyn reservoir so able to operate virtually year-round. (see our tips for white-water rafting with kids page). There are plenty of other activity centres in Llanberis and elsewhere, along with biking and hiking trails.

• With younger children, enjoy the GreenWood Family Park – an eco-world of climbing, including a human-powered rollercoaster.

The North Coast of Wales with Kids

• Spend a day in Llandudno with its Victorian prom with its mini-mountain attractions (tramway and copper mine).

• Discover delightful little resorts such as as Abersoch, Aberdovey and Barmouth 

• Head over the Menai Bridge to the island of Anglesey, which is relatively quiet and very laidback.

• Venture into Portmeirion, the Italianate village that was the setting for the 1960s cult TV series The Prisoner, near Porthmadog. Its fanciful architecture is only part of the fun: there are also gardens, fountains, woodland and seafront walks, beaches and restaurants.