It is fair to say we are blessed with some stunning driving routes around our holiday cottage in North Wales. Here are some of our favourite routes that start from Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and include some of the best driving roads and scenery in North Wales. These routes are also suitable for on-road cycling.
The September 2021 issue of Classic and Sports Car has a feature Great British Dream Drives. The second of our routes detailed below (covering Llanarmon, Llangollen, Bala and Llyn Brenig) is included – although our route extends the journey a little further!
So don’t just take it from us, the road from Llanarmon to Chirk along the Ceiriog Valley is a classic whatever you are driving. So if you are looking for one of the best driving routes in North Wales, take a look.
Llanarmon makes a great base for a driving holiday in North Wales. As well as fantastic driving roads and beautiful scenery we also have two historic welcoming inns which make a great pit stop after a day exploring.
Four Lake Tour
Starting from Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog we first drive to Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant. This is not a great start to the drive but gets us onto the nice roads heading towards Lake Vyrnwy. While in Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant you can take a short detour to the waterfall at Pistyll Rhaeadr.
From Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant head south west to Lake Vyrnwy and follow the road around the Lake. If you want, you can do a circular route around the lake, however I think the south west side is nicer.
From the top of Lake Vyrnwy follow the road to Bala.
From Bala, head to Capel Celyn then onward to Trawsfynydd.
From Trawsfynydd head south towards Dolgellau.
From Dolgellau back to Bala.
From Bala head towards Llangynog, through Penybontfawr and back into Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant.
From Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant you then head back to Llanarmon.
Llangollen, Llyn Brenig and Bala
Starting from Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog we first drive along the beautiful Ceiriog Valley towards Chirk following the route of the river.
From Chirk we turn left towards Llangollen, eventually following the River Dee into Llangollen.
From Llangollen follow the road to Corwen.
From Corwen follow the road to Cerrigydrudion.
We now head up past Llyn Brenig (we are now on the famous Evo Triangle, beware speed cameras lurk here).
Once past Llyn Brenig we make a turn back towards Pentrefoelas.
Then from Pentrefoelas we head south west before turning east to drive past Capel Celyn. From Pentrefoelas there are various routes you can take to get you to Capel Celyn (including via Penmachno).
From Capel Celyn drive to Bala.
From Bala head towards Llangynog, through Penybontfawr and into Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant.
From Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant you then head back to Llanarmon.
