Tywyn

Why base here

Tywyn is a seaside town on Cardigan Bay with a population of 3,264 at the last count Wikipedia reports, and a history older than its resort trade suggests: Saint Cadfan founded a religious community here in the early sixth century, and St Cadfan’s Church holds the Cadfan Stone, a cross carrying the earliest known written Welsh. The industrialist John Corbett paid for much of the Victorian town in the 1870s, including the promenade, completed in 1889. For a walking holiday it is the opposite choice to Dolgellau and Barmouth, the two bases it sits between: closer to the sea, with the Dysynni and Tal-y-llyn valleys and the south side of Cadair Idris behind it.

On foot versus by car

Almost nothing on this list starts from the front door. The exception is the Mawddach Trail, which runs 15km between Barmouth and Dolgellau and is reached from Tywyn by the Cambrian Coast Line, so it works without a car. The Dysynni valley is a drive: Craig yr Aderyn is around six miles inland by road, and We Travel Wales records no public transport to its lay-by. Cregennan Lakes are off the A493 near Arthog. The Minffordd Path up Cadair Idris starts at Dôl Idris, beyond Tal-y-llyn, which Wikivoyage places ten miles north-east of the town, and no source opened for this page shows a bus to the Minffordd car park, so plan on driving.

Practicalities

Tywyn station is unstaffed and sells no tickets; Wikipedia gives the weekday service as roughly every two hours each way, operated by Transport for Wales. The Talyllyn Railway starts 300 metres south at Tywyn Wharf and runs seven and a quarter miles up the valley to Nant Gwernol, with a stop at Dolgoch, where Wikipedia records access to nearby falls. It became in 1951 the first railway in the world preserved as a heritage line by volunteers, so a wet day has a use. The town has more than four miles of beach, according to Wikivoyage, and is walkable end to end. Buses up the valley through Abergynolwyn are thin and do not run every day; check Traveline Cymru before relying on one for a walk.