Golf in North Wales

North Wales is the richest golfing region in the country and one of the most scenic anywhere — a run of superb links wrapped around the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia), from a royal championship course beneath a castle to a clifftop links with a beach pub below the greens. Add wonderful, wallet-friendly courses on Anglesey and a couple of characterful inland tracks in the Dee Valley, and you have a week's golf as varied and beautiful as any in Britain.

Beneath the walls of Harlech Castle, with Snowdonia rising across the estuary, Royal St David's is a royal championship links famous as the world's hardest par 69 — and one of the best value in Britain. Out on the Llŷn Peninsula, Nefynis pure exhilaration: a clifftop links with the sea in view from every tee, celebrated "Point" holes running out along a narrow headland, and the world-famous Tŷ Coch beach pub sitting right below the course at Porthdinllaen.

On the north coast, Conwy is a genuine championship links — a 2021 Curtis Cup host — framed by Snowdonia and Conwy Castle, while North Wales at Llandudno offers classic dunes golf laid out with the help of Open champion Harold Hilton. Cross onto Anglesey for two wonderful, wallet-friendly links: the Herbert Fowler heath at Bull Bay— the most northerly course in Wales — and James Braid's Holyhead at Trearddur Bay. Further east, Prestatyn is the most northerly links on the Welsh mainland.

Inland, in the north-east corner near the English border, two more courses reward a stop. Wrexham is a fine James Braid design on sandy, free-draining ground with a heathland feel, and Vale of Llangollen is one of the most scenically situated parklands in Wales, laid out along the River Dee beneath the ruined Castell Dinas Brân. Both are great value and easy to reach from Chester.

Conwy and Llandudnomake an excellent north-coast hub — a walled medieval town and the "Queen of the Welsh resorts" side by side, with Anglesey and Snowdonia close and Liverpool and Manchester airports around ninety minutes away. For the Llŷn and Harlech, Pwllheli, Abersoch and the harbour villages are quieter, more scenic bases.

Conwy & Llandudno

Bodysgallen Hall, a National Trust country house in gardens above Llandudno, is one of the finest hotels in Wales; the seafront St George's Hotel is the grand Llandudno classic, and the Quay Hotel & Spa at Deganwy has the best estuary views.

Anglesey & the Llŷn

Ye Olde Bull's Head in Beaumaris is a characterful coaching inn, and Château Rhianfa on the Menai Strait is a fairy-tale French-château stay. On the Llŷn, Porth Tocyn above Abersoch is a long-loved family country-house hotel.

Dee Valley

The Wild Pheasant and Bryn Howel at Llangollen are comfortable bases for the inland courses, and The Hand at Llanarmon is a lovely country inn up the Ceiriog valley.

The unmissable stop is the Tŷ Coch Innat Porthdinllaen, right below Nefyn — a pint on the beach at one of the world's great pub settings. In Llandudno, dinner at Bodysgallen Hall or the Victorian Osborne House is the treat; in Conwy, Watson's Bistro and the ancient Albion Ale House are the picks. Around the Menai Strait, Dylan's at Menai Bridge and The Marram Grass on Anglesey are both excellent.

The mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) are the backdrop to everything here — take the Snowdon Mountain Railway from Llanberis to the summit of Yr Wyddfa, or ride the heritage Ffestiniog Railway through the hills. Near Harlech, Portmeirion — the Italianate fantasy village where The Prisoner was filmed — is unmissable.

Edward I's great castles at Conwy, Caernarfon and Beaumaris are UNESCO World Heritage Sites; the Great Orme tramway above Llandudno and the South Stack lighthouse on Holyhead are classic coastal outings; and thrill-seekers can fly the fastest zip line in the world at Zip World in the old slate quarries. In the east, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at Llangollen — a World Heritage site — carries the canal 126 feet above the Dee.

It pairs naturally with Mid Wales down the coast, or read the best courses in Wales.