Castell Dolwyddelan

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Cadw provides no parking and asks visitors not to use the car park by the farmhouse, whose path to the castle is private. Limited parking is possible in the lay-by on the A470 about 500 m east of the monument, from which a signposted public right of way climbs through a small gate and across the farmer's land to the castle, about 15 minutes on farm tracks with small wooden bridges, muddy after rain, with livestock in the fields; close both gates. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown.

Driving pin: the lay-by on the A470 between the castle and Dolwyddelan village, 709 m east of Cadw's marker; the track leaves the road about 160 m back towards the castle. By road: the A470 between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed. By rail: Dolwyddelan, 2 km, on the Conwy Valley line. National Cycle Network route 8 passes 15 km away.

About

Castell Dolwyddelan, Dolwyddelan Castle, is as Welsh as the rugged mountains of Eryri that give it a spectacular backdrop and a lasting memorial to Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Llywelyn the Great, ruler of Gwynedd from 1201 to 1240. He began the squat stone keep on its rocky outcrop above the Lledr valley some time after 1210, guarding a key route through the mountains. Edward I took it in 1283, raised the keep and built a second tower. By the early 19th century it was a romantic ruin, and Lord Willoughby de Eresby restored the keep with medieval-style battlements; the join between his fantasy architecture and Llywelyn's genuine handiwork is still clear. Visitors climb to the roof of the keep, with history boards inside, on summer weekends; at other times the castle is viewed from outside. Tips from visitors: park in the A470 lay-by, not at the farm, close the farm gates on the steep 15-minute track.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Castell Dolwyddelan10:00 – 16:00external viewing only

Opening times may change at short notice.

The interior of the castle is open April to September on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, 10am to 4pm, last admission 30 minutes before closing; on all other days, and from October to March, the castle is viewed from outside only, 10am to 4pm. Closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. No admission charge. Cadw may close monuments at short notice in extreme weather.

Terrain level 4, strenuous: the 15-minute farm-track approach, an angled sheet of smooth rock at the entrance that is slippery when wet, entrance steps with a handrail, and a steep, dimly lit stone staircase to the upper wall walks; small children must be strictly supervised. No toilets or facilities. Assistance dogs only. Drones are not permitted.

Photo: The battlemented keep and the ruined west tower of Dolwyddelan Castle on their rocky outcrop. Jeff Buck, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dolwyddelan_Castle,_Conwy,_Wales.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.