Photo © Yoal Desurmont

The village of Llanberis is generally considered the ‘hub’ for Snowdon and is the largest conurbation around the foot of the mountain but getting here from the rest of the UK can require some planning due to its remote location in the Snowdonia National Park.

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Travelling to Snowdon by car

There are no motorways in North Wales but the A55 North Wales Expressway provides an excellent connection to the M56 and on to the M6 and M62 in England. It runs along the coast for 87 miles from Chester to Holyhead on Anglesey and is predominantly a dual carriageway making the journey to Snowdon easy if you’re near to it. Llanberis is around a twenty minute drive off the A55 from the outskirts of Bangor.

Roads running north to south and vice versa through Wales to Cardiff are nearly all single-carriageway, country roads and are beautiful to drive along but shouldn’t be relied upon as main routes.

It’ll take you over five hours to drive from central London, four hours from Cardiff, around three hours from Birmingham and Sheffield or two hours from Manchester or Liverpool.

Arriving by train

The nearest mainline railway station is twelve miles away in Bangor with direct travel from English cities including Chester, Birmingham and Manchester and as far away as London with connections in Crewe opening up the network to even more of the country. The station is operated by Transport for Wales. Visit www.tfwrail.wales/stations/bangor-gwynedd for more information on station facilities, to book tickets and view live departure and arrival boards.

Flying to Snowdon

The ‘nearest’ (none of which are particularly ‘near’) major airports are in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham and all offer good train services to Bangor.

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Taking the boat from Ireland

The Port of Holyhead is around 30 miles from Llanberis which makes Snowdon very accessible to those arriving from Ireland with regular daily ferries between Dublin and Anglesey.

Hiring a car

If you’re coming to Snowdon using public transport, you might find it useful to hire a car to help you get around particularly if there’s a few of you. Whilst there are limited local public transport options that cover the popular areas, they can be few and far between outside of the summer holiday weekends. The following car hire companies have bases in and around Bangor:

Snowdon Buses

Once you’re here you can travel around the region using local buses such as the Snowdon Sherpa. This is a bus service operated by local bus companies and provides an essential link between the six main Snowdon footpaths as well as the main car parks, villages and tourist attractions in the area. It’s an ideal service for walkers and climbers who intend to start their journey from one point and finish at another or for anyone who simply wishes to travel around Snowdonia leaving the car at home.

All Snowdon Sherpa journeys are operated by ‘low floor’ buses with ramps and wheelchair spaces to ensure that the stops provided with raised kerbs are served by accessible vehicles.

Tickets are bought on the bus and contactless payment is accepted. Tickets cost just £2 for an adult single or £3 for an adult return (£1 for a child single and £1.50 for a child return) with a Snowdon Sherpa ‘hop on hop off’ day ticket costing £6 for adults and £4 for children. Dogs are welcome on all Snowdon Sherpa services.

The most popular services are the S1, S2 and S5 that run between Llanberis and Pen-y-Pass:

  • S1 – Snowdon Sherpa – Caernafon – Llanberis – Betws-y-Coed
  • S2 – Snowdon Sherpa – Bangor – Llanberis – Pen-y-Pass

Other services run further afield covering the rest of the national park and beyond:

  • S4 – Snowdon Sherpa – Pen y Pass – Beddgelert – Porthmadog

Find out more about the Snowdon Sherpa service and view full timetables for each route at www.sherparwyddfa.wales