Half-day Wales from Liverpool?

[waterbug123]

Interested in recommendations for a tour company/guide to go into Wales for a half day or so while in port in Liverpool.  We have no particular ideas of anything we want to see or do, this would be more of an opportunity to simply say we've been to Wales.   A scenic drive with a visit into a small town for lunch would be fine.

[Harters]

I've no recommendations for you with regard to a guide (although I'm sure the question has been asked before so a search on the forum  should find the previous discussion).

 

The town of Conwy is about a 75 minute drive or so from Liverpool, taking you along the North Wales Expressway. Good scenery on the route. Conwy has one of the best preserved medieval castles in the UK. And,as regards lunch, you could do worse than visit one of the fish & chips places in town that have a cafe attached. Or, perhaps even better if the weather is fine, get your fish & chips as takeaway and eat them sat on one of the benches overlooking the estuary. The quay is also home to the smallest house in Wales.

 

If that was a bit far,  then Flint Castle is interesting enough and only about 45 minutes away from Liverpool . From there,  your driver could continue along the coastal road to the rather seedy tourist towns of Prestatyn and Rhyl, where you should also find decent fish & chips. Return via the Expressway (although the views are, IMO, better coming from Liverpool than returning to it. .

 

I think you could have a very pleasant trip to the "Land of my Fathers". Or, to be precise, Land of Granny Harters who came from Hawarden which is close to the North Wales border with England.

 

 

[milolii]

https://www.busybus.co.uk
 

We were going with this company but our port was changed. 

[John Bull]

I'm intrigued why you're considering a half-day trip to Wales. 🤔

Ships normally spend a full day in Liverpool, and if you're considering splitting your time between Liverpool & Wales I think you'll get much better value out of a full day in either.

 

As per Harters' post, Conwy is the most obvious choice.

Super castle, quaint waterside town. 

Can be done by train in about 2 hours e/w / £22 pp round-trip including a change of train at Chester.

(If you choose Conwy by train, post again for info about alighting and boarding at Conwy - it's one of only a handful of "request" stops in the UK)

Or it's an hour & a quarter by road, and altho the route from Liverpool is rather uninteresting there are a  few places near Conwy that are worth visiting including the Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno and a drive round the adjacent Great Orme. Or a circular route from Conwy back to Conwy via Betwys-Y-Coed and past Snowdon thro the  Llanberis Pass and its slate mines - 50 mile / 90-minutes driving plus stops.  Most of these places are included in the Busybus tour from Liverpool cruise terminal mentioned by Miloii - it's specifically for cruisers.

https://www.busybus.co.uk/sightseeing-day-tour-to-north-wales-from-liverpool-cruise-terminal/

 

Chester isn't in Wales, but it's an interesting compact ancient city - cheap & easy by frequent direct  from Liverpool (45 minutes, under £9 round-trip.

https://www.visitcheshire.com/chester

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

 

[Harters]

If you do have time for a full day tour, then the Busybus one certainly includes a good overview of North Wales.

 

The aqueduct mentioned is in a wonderful location. It carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley. Views are fantastic from the top of it but you're only going to get that if you're sailing a narrowboat across it (which, I can tell you, is quite a scary thing to do).

[nini]

We really enjoyed our tour into Wales with Busy Bus.

[Turtles06]

On 4/7/2023 at 8:30 PM, nini said:

We really enjoyed our tour into Wales with Busy Bus.

 

Having spent a couple of days last fall in North Wales/Snowdonia during a three-week tour of the UK, the itinerary of that Busy Bus tour looks like it would be very interesting.  That part of Wales was gorgeous, even in the pouring rain (which is the weather we pretty much had).

 

 

 

On 4/5/2023 at 5:46 AM, John Bull said:

Chester isn't in Wales, but it's an interesting compact ancient city - cheap & easy by frequent direct  from Liverpool

 

Very interesting city.  I really loved the Cathedral in particular.

 

 

[waterbug123]

On 4/4/2023 at 9:25 PM, milolii said:

https://www.busybus.co.uk
 

We were going with this company but our port was changed. 

Thank you, I'll take a look at that!

 

[waterbug123]

On 4/5/2023 at 5:46 AM, John Bull said:

I'm intrigued why you're considering a half-day trip to Wales. 🤔

Ships normally spend a full day in Liverpool, and if you're considering splitting your time between Liverpool & Wales I think you'll get much better value out of a full day in either.

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't say we plan to split our time between the two, it's just that I'm more interested in a brief visit to Wales than Liverpool.  We might consider a full day tour, or since that stop is mid-way through a 12 day cruise, we might just be ready to go back to the ship to relax a bit.  Exploring all options.  Thank you for your input.

[waterbug123]

Thanks everyone, I looked at the busybus link since several people mentioned it and it looks very intriguing. I've put it out to our friends to see who might want to join us.  Appreciate the input!