North Wales Holiday places to go

philandrhonda

I am going to North Wales (near Rhyl) for one week on 28th may2011 on holiday with my husband and 3 kids, kids are age 12, 10 and 1, we have car so can drive buut wanted to know of any good places to take kids, not too expensive, any ideas greatly appreciated.....:D

joeblack066

The Sun Centre in Rhyl is good if you like swimming :-) . The Welsh Mountain Zoo is excellent(About 12 miles away), and tho it's very hilly, I managed it with a 1 year old!
Llandudno is a very pretty resort (about 15 miles away) and the Great Orme is a lovely trip from the bottom in LLandudno either in cable cars or on a train. You can drive up too, but the transport is more fun! There's a pier in Llandudno which has quite a lot of little shops on it. Theres also a lovely beach at the rear of the resort which is sandy ( the main beach is pebbles), and great for castle building, called the West Shore.
Conway and Caenarvon Castle are fantastic, Conway is 15 miles away and Caenarfon is further at 38, both well worth a visit! If you go, see how there are 8 towers on each, 7 of which are built for right handed swordsmen, and 1 for left handed..... and there are still 1/8 people who are left handed in the world today! Fascinating! :-))

MumOf2Beasties

just to add to joeblack066 caernarfon has a good softplay called yr hwylfan, it's in a converted church, kids enjoyed it. sea aquarium in rhyl well worth a visit. also the train up snowdon, not sure how far it is from where you are staying, but there's the choice of train up snowdon, train around the lake, also boat trips on the lake, and if i remember correctly there is a slate workshop/museum in that area aswell hope that helps, and maybe google the area and you should be able to get some more information

FatAndy

The week commencing 28th May is Rhyl Week! There'll be a range of events taking place over the week and it looks like these will all have free admission - http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/rhyl/business-guide/feature/rhyl-week/59664.

Coinciding with Rhyl Week is a Centenary Gala event at the Rhyl Miniature Railway from May 28th to 30th which will include a funfair, entertainers etc with a free bus service from the town centre - http://www.rhylminiaturerailway.co.uk/centenarygala2011.html.


As far as places to go are concerned the Seaquarium is interesting but vastly overpriced - http://www.seaquarium.co.uk/rhyl.php. They do however often have vouchers available, the last time I went I got one for a free child's admission with a paying adult. Check the Tourist Information Centre and local papers to see if you can find a voucher. They have a sealion enclosure and do shows there so if you are going try to time your visit to coincide with one of the shows to get a bit more vfm.

Geronimo's in Rhyl is a reasonably cheap place to take the kids to allow them to run off a bit of steam, there are two parts - one for older children and one for toddlers - http://www.palacefuncentre.co.uk/text/geronimos.htm. The big kid's section has a 25 ft vertical drop slide which has a sign banning anyone wearing man-made fabrics from using it, presumably because it's so fast anyone wearing polyester would combust on the way down (this may just be to make it sound more dangerous than it actually is!).

The Tir Prince Raceway in Towyn now has the best funfair in the area - http://www.tirprince.co.uk/1725/AmusementParkArcades.html. Again I'd check out the TIC to see if you find any discount vouchers.

If you want to try something a bit different Dangerpoint in Talacre is an interactive learning centre where kids can learn about health and safety - http://www.dangerpoint.org.uk/pageeng.asp?ID=2&subID=1

Further afield you could try Bodafon Farm Park in Llandudno - http://bodafonfarmpark.com/. Also in Llandudno you could head to the dry ski slope where you can go sno-tubing or tobogganing (although this admittedly isn't all that cheap) - http://jnlllandudno.co.uk/.

I'd also go along with the suggestion of a visit to Conwy. Your older kids will love exploring the castle and it's also possible to visit parts of the town walls, which unlike the castle have free admission. There's a great little pub called The Liverpool Arms on the quay which has tables outside and I'd recommend getting fish and chips from one of the nearby chip shops and a nice cold drink from the pub to wash them down .

greenface

Great advice again from all esp Andy. First thing to do is look up if its sunny go to the beach. Talacre a drive and Abergele is about the same distance the other way. Walk out of Lyons over the golf coarse and you and yours will love the beach and walks either way along the coastline. If its raining go to the beach but with a coat on !!! Job done..
Welsh Mountain Zoo & Chester Zoo easy reach. Castles all along the Welsh Coast Conwy & Caernarfon are great historic towns/ports.shopping at Llandudno or Chester from "th"RHYL.

FatAndy

There's a medieval re-enactment at Rhuddlan Castle (just outside Rhyl) on 29th and 30th May. Normal admission prices apply which last time I heard was £9.20 for a family ticket (2 adults & 2 kids) and free for under fives.

http://www.cadwevents.co.uk/events/the-siege-of-rhuddlan-ad-1075/

artichoke

hi

We are off on sun hols to Presthaven sands next week. We have an English Heritage membership which gets up half price admission to Welsh heritage sites - has anyone got any recommendations of places to visit?

our kids are 6 and 7 and we don't do theme parks or rides but like beaches, castles, etc... I will ook up the locations of the above suggestions for castles etc as that does sound like the sort of thing we could do.

I work on an organic livestock farm so we don't want to visit farm parks - but any other suggestions for cheap activities welcome.

We have a dog so need things were the dog can come along too, or places not to far from Prestatyn so we can leave dog in caravan for a couple of hours...

Also any recommendations for a chinese or indian take away or restaurant?

thanks

art

Rhiannon01

Presshaven is in Prestatyn which is only about 4 miles from Rhyl where the main poster is going so all those places mentioned will apply to you too. The Zoo are good for kids.

You may want to check out this site for inspiration.
rhyl-prestatyn dot co dot uk (sorry can't post direct link)

For beaches I haven't been to them for years so wont comment. There's loads of castles in North Wales to choose from, Conway, Caernarvon etc.

Llandudno is lovely place by the sea with a pier, amusements, bowling, cinema. There is a tram or cable car to get up the Great Orme with lovely views. You can even dry ski (maybe not for young kids) or go on Toboggan. There's even a mine in Great Orme you can visit. I'm a big fan of Llandundo. Not sure if they still do free Punch & Judy there now.

Sun Centre & Aquarium have got a deal on for both places for £15 241 plus free drink. Check out Sun Centre site ffi & T&C's.

Rhiannon01

I just wrote a load of stuff but had an epic fail getting it live

check out these site attractionsnorthwales dot co dot uk

This one has coupons (not many) 1 for Sea Aquarium 241.

Also nwt dot co dot uk For North Wales tourism.

Have a lovely holiday both of you @philandrhonda and @artichoke

penguingirl

Thought I'd add onto this thread rather than start a new one, I'm looking for recommendations for somewhere to stay for probably 3 nights midweek at some point in September for a couple (mid-twenties). I am loving the suggestions of things to do in North Wales- OH has never been so we're thinking of having a silly few days away doing touristy stuff.

We're not too fussy about accomodation- but want it to be somewhere we can relax, somewhere that has some eating places within walking distance (don't mind driving, but it is nice to have at least one evening when we can share a bottle of wine!). Budget is upto £300 for the three nights. We'd consider a little cottage or something as well as B&Bs, hotels etc. (and would be less fussy about eateries in walking distance if we could self-cater).

greenface

How dare you hijack a old thread.(how did The OP get on at Lyons ?) Go further along the coast and i would reccommend anywhere after Llandulas in september inc Anglesey in your search as far round as Barmouth and inland to Betsw-y-coed & Beddgelert areas . Do you like walking as the Beaches and Mountains are a big attraction all around North Wales. Equals anywhere in UK for stunning views. Good food pubs scattered all over North Wales and your only a few sheep chases from most good village stores. Enjoy wherever you choose.

edit.... whenever i think people visiting North Wales they are arriving via A55 (as i do) But the picture i paint is still the same... If you fancy Boarder towns Wales check out Llangollen/Chirk area some cracking drives there.