Wales: North to South

Conwy, on the north coast of Wales, is one of Europe's most completely preserved fortified towns. Edward I had the castle and town walls built between 1283 and 1287 in just four years, as part of the iron ring of fortresses with which he secured the conquered Gwynedd. The master builder was James of St. George from Savoy.The town walls are preserved intact for 1.3 kilometers, with 21 towers and three gates, and are largely walkable. The castle, with its eight towers, stands on a rock above the Conwy estuary. Both have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1986.On the quay stands the Smallest House in Great Britain, 3.05 meters high and 1.8 meters wide, inhabited until 1900. Three bridges span the river side by side, including Thomas Telford's suspension bridge from 1826, whose towers are deliberately modelled on the castle's battlements.

Eryri, officially Snowdonia until 2023, is Wales' oldest national park and covers 2,130 square kilometres in the northwest of the country. Unlike German national parks, it is a cultural landscape: around 26,000 people live within it, more than half of whom speak Welsh, and the slopes have been grazed for centuries.The highest point is Yr Wyddfa at 1,085 metres. Six marked paths lead up to it, along with a rack railway from Llanberis. The rock is predominantly of Ordovician volcanic origin, shaped by glaciers that left behind the characteristic corries and U-shaped valleys. The park is so well geologically exposed that significant parts of geological research originated here in the 19th century.Slate mining is also a defining feature. The quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog and Llanberis once covered the roofs of half of Europe; the landscape with its grey spoil heaps has been on the World Heritage List since 2021. Yr Wyddfa is heavily frequented, while the Carneddau in the north and the Rhinogydd in the south are quieter.

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in southwest Wales is Great Britain's only national park consisting predominantly of coastline. It stretches as a narrow strip for over 400 kilometres of coastline and is in places only a few hundred metres wide.The rock types vary over short distances between Precambrian volcanite, Old Red Sandstone, and limestone, creating bays, rock arches, and sea cliffs in close proximity. The Pembrokeshire Coast Path follows the entire route; whoever walks its full length ascends more metres in elevation than climbing Everest.Off the coast lie Skomer and Skokholm, two islands with one of the world's largest colonies of Manx Shearwaters; in early summer, tens of thousands of puffins also breed here. On land, the density of prehistoric monuments is striking, including the Pentre Ifan Dolmen. The bluestones of Stonehenge demonstrably originate from the Preseli Hills in the north of the park.

Bannau Brycheiniog, known as Brecon Beacons until 2023, is located in South Wales and consists of four distinct mountain ranges of Old Red Sandstone. The characteristic shape is uniform throughout: gently sloping southern slopes and abruptly dropping northern faces, carved out by glaciers. The highest point is Pen y Fan at 886 metres.The reversion to the Welsh name was a deliberate decision by the park authorities: Beacon refers to signal fires and thus to fossil fuels, which no longer seemed appropriate given the park's climate goals. Bannau simply means peaks.To the south, Waterfall Country around Ystradfellte is a zone where limestone and sandstone meet; several waterfalls cascade over rock steps, and behind Sgwd yr Eira, one can walk through. Beneath these lie extensive cave systems. The entire park is designated as an International Dark Sky Reserve, where the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye on clear nights.

Cardiff has only been the official capital of Wales since 1955, having been an insignificant coastal town until the 19th century. Coal from the valleys to its north then transformed the city into the world's largest coal port. The Bute family, controlling the docks and mines, was for a time considered Britain's richest family.This wealth is reflected in the opulently designed Cardiff Castle and the Coal Exchange in the Bay, where the first million-pound contract was allegedly signed in 1904. After coal exports ceased, the docks fell into disrepair; since the 1990s, Cardiff Bay has been transformed by a dam into a freshwater basin and revitalized with cultural buildings like the Wales Millennium Centre.The city centre is compact and easily walkable, crisscrossed by covered Victorian shopping arcades. On rugby match days at the Principality Stadium, located right in the city centre, Cardiff becomes a single human tide.