We are staying in Betws-y-Coed because it is an excellent place for walkers who aren’t planning on hiking “the mountain.” Most serious hikers come here to take on Mt. Snowdon. These are the paths. All are steep. All can be treacherous if the weather changes rapidly (which it does here). None of these things made David and me want to climb it! We thought of taking the incline railway up there, but COVID furloughs made it so they could finish winter repairs to the uppermost track. So you can take the train, but it stops 3/4 mile from the summit. No thanks.
Instead we decided to spend 3 of our days here doing local hikes that seemed much less daunting. Mainly we used our 1988 guidebook we found in our house as our guide for walks and local lore (definitely not up to date about restaurants and hotels).
The first day we walked from our house to the the Fairy Glen section of the Conwy River then to the town of Betws-y-coed (we are about 2.5 miles outside of it). First we had to walk down the public footpath the ran next to our house past some old stone houses. Then we came on to the old A5 road from the early 1800s. The new A5 runs behind our house. The old A5 is now just a walking path.
At first the Fairy Glen was beautiful when an elderly couple and we were the only ones there. Then came some people who decided to swim in the cold brown water (peat makes it brown). Then came the couple with two whiny dachshunds. We decided to leave at that point!
David and Heidi’s Travels 