gwynedd

Our 2026 holiday: Castell Caernarfon

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A photo looking into Caernarfon Castle from one of the tallest towers

Following our visit to Penrhyn Castle, which looks like a fortified castle but isn’t, the next day we went to Castell Caernarfon (Caernarfon Castle), which is a fortified castle. It’s one of the four that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site; we visited Conwy and Beaumaris last year, leaving Harlech for a future visit.

The castle sits on the edge of the Menai Strait (Caernarfon pretty much translates as ‘castle overlooking Anglesey), and, like Conwy, the town of Caernarfon has walls around it which adjoin the castle.

History of Caernarfon Castle

As per the other three castles that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the current castle at Caernarfon was commissioned by Edward I of England in the 13th Century. However, it was built on the site of an older, 11th Century motte and bailey castle. As Caernarfon was to be Edward’s administrative centre of North Wales, it was built on a much grander scale that the other castles and so is significantly bigger.

However, like Beaumaris, the money ran out before it was completely finished, with work ending in 1330, almost fifty years after it was commissioned. So, parts of Caernarfon castle were never fully completed, such as the King’s Gate which forms the modern day entrance to the castle. Apart from a brief period during the 1294 Welsh rebellion, Caernarfon remained in English hands, including during the Glyndŵr rising in the 15th Century. It played a role in the English Civil War in the 17th Century, but was then abandoned until the 19th Century when repairs began to be undertaken. These repairs were more extensive than to other castles such as Beaumaris, and saw parts of the castle reinstated rather than preserved as ruins.

In the 20th Century, the investiture of the Prince of Wales was conducted twice at Caernarfon. This ceremony was promoted by the local MP David Lloyd George, who later became Prime Minister. The first investiture was of Prince Edward in 1911, who later became King Edward III, and the second was in 1959 which saw Prince Charles (now current King Charles III) be invested by Queen Elizabeth II. This was broadcast on TV and recordings are available to view at the castle, as well as the throne used by Queen. Following Charles’ ascent to King in 2022, Prince William has become Prince of Wales, but I gather neither Charles, William or the Welsh Government have much desire to hold another ceremony.

Visiting Caernarfon Castle

We spent 3-4 hours at the castle, and managed to see most of it. You can walk along the outer walls, and go into most of the towers. Some of the towers have attractions inside them:

  • There’s a museum for the Royal Welch Fusiliers, who are best known for having a goat as their mascot – entry is included as part of your ticket for the whole castle and they have their own gift shop.
  • The North East Tower has a ‘800 years of history in 8 minutes’ looping video.
  • There are also exhibitions about Edward I’s wife, Eleanor of Castille, and a chess board showing the roles of various Welsh princes and how they unsuccessfully challenged Edward I.

When we visited, there were also wooden cannons that you could use to fire ping-pong balls, courtesy of Dan’s Cannons. Our ten-year-old loved these. The courtyard inside the castle is quite large and so events take place there from time to time.

Compared to Beaumaris and Conwy, there is a lot more to see at Caernarfon Castle and you can probably stretch it out to almost a full day.

Accessibility

Caernarfon Castle has undergone a relatively recent accessibility upgrade, and so there is now a lift in the King’s Gate to the battements. This offers step-free access to the top of the King’s Gate and some of the castle walls for the first time. However, much of the rest of the castle is only accessible by stairs, and in some cases, quite narrow spiral staircases. Indeed, the courtyard isn’t all flat and so the video room in the North East Tower is only reachable by steps, even though ramps could probably be installed.

There are disabled toilets on site, and whilst there isn’t a Changing Places toilet in the castle, the nearest one is only a short distance away at the station for the Welsh Highland Railway.

The castle is in the care of Cadw, so Cadw and English Heritage members get in free. I was also able to get free entry with my CSSC membership and some photo ID.

We parked at a long-stay pay-and-display car park next to the castle. This doesn’t offer any electric car charging facilities; the nearest car park with chargers is the Shell Car Park, to the north of the town near Morrisons (which also has two rapid chargers but time limited parking).

British Rail closed the railway line through Caernarfon in 1970 as one of the final Beeching closures. The Welsh Highland Railway runs narrow-gauge tourist trains from Porthmadog, but there are usually only a couple of trains each day. There are regular bus services to the town from Bangor which is the nearest surviving National Rail station.

Free Wi-Fi is available across the site. The café in the King’s Gate is currently closed, but there is another café in the courtyard with outdoor bench seating, selling sandwiches and cakes.

Other things to see in Caernarfon

Whilst me, our ten-year-old and my parents were happy to explore the castle, Christine wasn’t so keen and explored the town instead. By the castle is Cei Llechli, which is home to a number of shops and artist studios. There are, of course, the walls around the town, but you can only walk along short sections.

Our 2026 holiday: Penrhyn Castle

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A photo of the outside of Penrhyn Castle

As National Trust members, it’s inevitable that we would end up at a National Trust property in Wales. We didn’t manage to squeeze in Pehrhyn Castle on last year’s holiday, but we made an afternoon visit this year.

If you approach Bangor going west on the A55 North Wales Expressway, you get a decent view of Penrhyn Castle on your right. Unlike the other castles in North Wales that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Penrhyn Castle isn’t a fortified castle and mostly dates from the early 19th Century.

History of Penrhyn Castle

There has been a country house on the site of Penrhyn Castle at least since the 15th Century, built by Gwilym ap Griffith who assisted Owain Glyndŵr in the Glyndŵr rebellion. By the 18th Century, the estate had come into the ownership of the Pennant family, and Richard Pennant commissioned an architect to remodel the house as a Gothic villa.

In the early 19th Century, Richard’s heir George Hay Dawkins-Pennant went further and commissioned the castle we see today. On the outside, it resembles the aforementioned fortified castles, but inside it is a very opulent country house with intricately carved stonework, plasterwork and wood carvings. At the time, this cost £123,000, which is equivalent to over £100 million today, and it shows.

The Pennant family earned their vast fortunes primarily via two means: slate, and slavery. The slate came from the nearby Penrhyn Quarry, now also a Zip World attraction like the Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It, and almost all the surrounding land viewable from the castle, were owned by the Pennant family, many of whom spent time as representatives in the Houses of Parliament as either MPs or Lords.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, the Pennant family owned multiple slave plantations in Jamaica. Slavery was abolished in 1834, against the Pennants’ wishes who were outspoken against abolition. Compensation was paid to the slave owners (not the now-freed slaves themselves); the Pennants owned 764 slaves, and received £14,683 compensation (around £18 million today). In 1951, ownership of Penrhyn Castle passed to the National Trust, so it has been in their care for 75 years.

It’s the National Trust’s largest property in Wales, and has been heated by biomass since 2016.

A photo taken inside the Great Hall at Penrhyn Castle

Inside Penrhyn Castle

A visit to the castle itself starts off in the Great Hall, which is huge and resembles a church, thanks to its stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings and stone carving. It’s very much a show of wealth and power, and indicative of the sorts of guests that the Pennant family sought to entertain. Queen Victoria stayed there in 1832, before the castle was completely finished, and in later years, William Gladstone visited.

You also get to see the library, with its carved wooden ceilings as an entertaining space primarily for male guests. There’s a huge dining room, and an opportunity to see many of the bedrooms.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that the castle became Grade I listed in 1966.

The castle also used to house a small museum about narrow gauge railways, which are common in Wales. That has now closed, but one of the steam locomotives remains, and the space is due to be redeveloped into a museum that has a wider focus on North Wales’ industrial past.

The Gardens

I would love to tell you about the gardens at Penrhyn Castle, but our visit was just in the afternoon and so we didn’t have time to see them. After we had been around the house, and given our ten-year-old time to burn off energy in the adventure playground, there wasn’t time.

The walled garden is a short walk from the castle itself, and you can read about it on the National Trust’s web site.

Accessibility

Penrhyn Castle is mostly on flat ground, and there is step free access to the ground floor of the castle and the rest of the grounds – presumably including the gardens. The upper floors of the castle are only accessible by climbing stairs; visitors unable to manage these can instead watch a video tour. Standard disabled toilets are available; the nearest Changing Places toilet is a short distance away at Bangor University.

There’s a large, free car park on site, which includes four Standard-Plus AC chargers for electric vehicles, on the RAW Power network. The half-hourly number 5 bus from Llandudno to Bangor calls at the end of the driveway, from which it’s a mostly flat one mile walk to the main entrance. The nearest railway station is in Bangor, which to the south of the city centre and is around 500 metres from the bus station.

Being one of the National Trust’s upper tier properties, entry prices are a little higher than some (currently £18 per adult) but National Trust members get in free. If you’re not a member, it’s worth keeping an eye on Money Saving Expert’s Deals Page, as you can sometimes get free or discounted day passes, and Octopus Energy often give away discounted passes to their customers through their Octoplus Rewards programme.

There’s a café in the castle – again, we didn’t visit, but I imagine it’ll be standard National Trust café food, including their Scone of the Month. I also didn’t check for Wi-Fi, as I had a decent enough phone signal, but usually this is available in National Trust cafés and ticket kiosks and is typically free.

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