The full wall-walk
A complete circuit of the battlements without coming down, through all eight towers, estuary on one side and mountains on the other.
Source: Llywelyn2000Derivative: User:MathKnight — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Eight round towers, and restored spiral staircases that let you walk a complete circuit of the battlements without coming down. That is what sets Conwy apart from most medieval castles in Britain, which survive as scattered walls: here the shell is almost complete, and from the top you look one way over the Conwy estuary and the other at the Carneddau mountains. Edward I raised it between 1283 and 1287, four years flat, under the master mason James of St George, as one link in a chain of fortresses meant to lock down North Wales. Together with Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris it now forms a single UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd. Inside, the castle splits into two wards: the outer one with the great hall and kitchens, the inner one holding what Cadw calls the most intact set of medieval royal apartments in Wales. The roofs are long gone but the towers still rise some twenty metres above you. Ninety minutes covers the wall-walk and the towers; allow two and a half hours if you add the town walls, and you should. They are the other half of the story: 1.3 km of rampart wrapping the old town, 21 towers and three original gateways, free to walk in daylight hours, and they give the best view of the castle itself. Not every stretch is open: the short section between the Watch Tower and the Wing Gate is closed for safety works until Easter 2027. A plain word about effort: the path from the visitor centre to the castle is a steep 50 metres with steps, and the tower stairs are narrow and dim, hopeless for pushchairs and unkind to bad knees. Children of six or seven upwards love it; toddlers stay in the courtyard. There is no cafe inside, but the town is minutes away with plenty of places to eat, and the Smallest House in Great Britain sits on the quay if you want a quick photograph. Conwy is on the north coast, outside the Snowdonia core: about 25 km and thirty minutes by car from Betws-y-Coed on the A470, with a pay-and-display car park beside the castle that can fill up on summer afternoons. By train, Conwy station is a five-minute walk but it is a request stop with few services; Llandudno Junction, the mainline station across the bridge, is a twenty-minute walk. Adults pay £12.90, juniors aged 5 to 17 pay £9.00, and a family of two adults and up to three children £41.30; booking online saves 5% but is not required, so walk-up tickets are fine. In winter the gates shut at 16:00 and the battlements in wind and rain are a harder proposition than the photographs suggest.
A complete circuit of the battlements without coming down, through all eight towers, estuary on one side and mountains on the other.
1.3 km and 21 towers wrapping the old town, no ticket and open in daylight hours, with the best view of the castle from above.
Sister to Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris, and the one where a full circuit of the battlements is still walkable.
Rose Hill Street, Conwy LL32 8AY
Caernarfon is bigger, more famous and has more indoor exhibitions, but Conwy has the finer setting and is easier with a family: the walled town, the quay and the castle sit in one walkable spot, and the town walls cost nothing. With young children or only half a day to spare, Conwy is the better pick.
Honestly no. The approach is a steep path with steps, and the towers are reached only by narrow, dim spiral stairs. Anyone who struggles with stairs can still enjoy the two courtyards and the view from ground level, but pushchairs stay at the visitor centre.