Wales - The North
Phil Taylor

And so, after our introduction to Wales from the south, let's head northwards! Although it's all the same country, the difference between the north and south is quite noticeable. The north is less industrial, there are no cities, and more people actually use Welsh - for some it's their first language. English is spoken with a different, slightly thicker and "throatier" accent. As always, there is really too much to recommend, but here are a few interesting places that you shouldn't miss...

Our first stop, and perhaps a good base from which to explore the north coast, is Llandudno. If you want to experience a really good example of a Victorian seaside town, from the days that "bathing" and "taking the waters" became popular, then this is the place to go. It's also quite a unique town due to the Great and Little Ormes - huge limestone rocks (almost mountains) - at each end of the town. There are lots of slightly old-fashioned attractions here, like the tramway to the top of the Great Orme, the pier and the sea-front promenade complete with bandstand. Just near Llandudno along the coast is Conwy, which is definitely worth a visit. It's one of the few walled towns in the UK, and also has a very beautiful and ancient castle. On the pretty quayside in Conwy is Britain's smallest house, which is open to tourists. It has two floors with one room on each, and measures only about 3 by 2 metres.

Continue west and you can cross one of the bridges onto the isle of Anglesey. This island has many interesting historical towns, a lot of unspoiled nature great for walking and some nice sandy beaches on the east coast. One of the most famous places however, is the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (sometimes written as LlanfairPG for short) - the village with the longest place name in the UK. Many people stop at the railway station for photographs with the (long) sign, but there's not really much else to see here!

Back on the mainland near Anglesey, in the town of Caernarfon there's another beautiful castle which looks very special when seen from the waterfront. There are a lot of Welsh-speakers here, and the town also has its own quite strange dialect which mixes Welsh and English words and grammar - not something you'll find on a TOEIC test!
The inland part of North Wales is very rural and undeveloped, with some wild mountainous scenery, especially in Snowdonia National Park. This is a great place for walking and climbing, and is home to Snowdon which is the highest peak in England and Wales. If you are brave you can climb the whole thing, or you can use the very steep and unique Victorian "rack" railway, which still uses steam trains.

LINKS
http://www.nwt.co.uk/ - the official North Wales tourism site
http://www.llandudno-tourism.co.uk/ - the official Llandudno tourism site with a good clickable map of the town
http://www.eryri-npa.co.uk/english/index.php - the Snowdonia National Park site
http://www.snowdonrailway.co.uk/ - a nice site about the Snowdon Mountain Railway
http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk - the longest URL in the world! Has an interesting section about how to pronounce the name!
http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/wales/index.shtml - a lot of information about walking in Wales including Snowdonia.