North Wales & Eryri

Three nights in North Wales, self-guided from a single base at Betws-y-Coed, in the guest’s own car.

The format is the appeal: one hotel, no packing and unpacking, two full days free and a road book full of routes rather than a schedule to keep to.

The Royal Oak is the base, a former coaching inn where the A5 meets the river at the gateway to Eryri, with a welcome dinner on the first night. From there the suggested drives reach the mountain passes of the national park, the Llyn Peninsula and the Cambrian coast, Llandudno with its Victorian and Edwardian seafront largely intact, the Great Orme copper mine, which was worked in the Bronze Age four thousand years ago and is open to visitors, Conwy and its medieval castle and complete town walls, and the quieter hills and valleys of the Borderlands to the east.

Three nights at the Royal Oak, three breakfasts, the welcome dinner, a road book with maps, drives and local attractions, a commemorative rally plate and hotel parking are all included; lunches, other dinners and fuel are not. Four days at this price is the cheapest tour the operator sells and the easiest to add to a weekend. Late spring to early autumn gives the best of the weather, though North Wales rewards a clear day at any time of year. Anyone wanting the Portmeirion village drive-through should look at the club tours from the same base instead, since this one leaves the days entirely open.