Anglesey
ANGLESEY (Ynys Môn) is Wales at its most elemental: sea-lashed cliffs, big skies and soft, golden beaches, all wrapped in warm island hospitality. It’s also wonderfully easy to reach. Two iconic bridges leap the Menai Strait from the mainland – Thomas Telford’s pioneering Menai Suspension Bridge (1826) and the later Britannia Bridge – so the island feels satisfyingly remote without being hard work to get to.
A third of Anglesey is protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – around 221km², taking in most of the island’s 201km coastline. Much of it was designated back in 1966, and today you can explore it end-to-end on the Anglesey Coastal Path, a superb, way-marked circuit of roughly 125 miles (201km). Expect everything from dune-backed sands to storm-gnarled headlands and seals bobbing in the surf.
For dizzying drama, make for South Stack on Holy Island. Here, a photogenic lighthouse keeps watch over heather-topped cliffs that host vast spring and summer seabird colonies – guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and, if you’re lucky, puffins and choughs. Waymarked trails and the RSPB visitor centre and viewpoints make wildlife-watching easy (bring binoculars).
Anglesey’s storybook castle sits in pastel-fronted Beaumaris, a genteel town with a pier, independent shops and waterside walks. Beaumaris Castle itself is part of the UNESCO-listed ‘Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd’, celebrated for its near-perfect concentric design – an unfinished masterpiece that still steals the show.
Beaches? Take your pick. Newborough’s wide, pine-rimmed sands roll towards tidal Llanddwyn Island, a romantic spot linked with Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers. Wander between old pilot cottages and a small lighthouse with sweeping views towards Snowdonia and the Llŷn Peninsula. (Do check tides.)
Anglesey also does quirky with aplomb. Try pronouncing the UK’s longest place name – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – then snap the famous station sign for proof you tried.
Walkers and cyclists thrive here, but you don’t have to clock miles to feel the island’s pull. Potter around galleries and farm shops, taste immaculate local seafood and sea-salt-kissed produce, then chase a sunset from the coastal path or a quiet beach car park. When it’s time to roam further, Holyhead’s busy ferries to Dublin turn Anglesey into a springboard for Irish adventures too (crossings take around 3 hrs 15 mins).
In short: Anglesey is big on nature, heritage and head-clearing space. Come for the castles and coastal thrills; stay for the gentle pace, Welsh-speaking communities and the sense that the sea is never far from sight – or sound. Croeso i Ynys Môn.