Caernarfon

The Royal town of Caernarfon - the current Prince of Wales, Charles, received his investiture here in 1969 - in North West Wales proudly wears its welsh pride, history and tradition on its sleeve.

A fortified town in Roman times due to its strategic position on the coast of the Menai Strait where the mouth of the River Seiont forms a natural harbour, Caernarfon directly faces the island of Anglesey.

Whilst the remains of Caernarfon's elevated Roman fortress can still be visited today, it is the town's magnificent thirteenth-century castle that is truly unmissable. Upon the orders of King Edward I following England's conquest of Wales, Caernarfon Castle and the town's enclosing walls were built to protect what was now the administrative centre of North Wales.

Today Caernarfon Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best surviving examples of medieval defensive architecture in Europe. But whilst Caernarfon is rich in fine architecture from various eras, the town has many more attractions to offer. On the waterfront, Galeri Caernarfon is a combined entertainment centre, theatre and art gallery with a bar café that overlooks Caernarfon's handsome marina. The adjacent Doc Fictoria development offers fashionable bars, cafes and shops as well the town's maritime museum. Other excellent museums include Caernarfon Airworld, the Segontium Roman Museum and the Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum.

The magnificent Plas Glynllifon Mansion, an outstanding example of Regency architecture with a near thousand-year history is set within a beautiful Grade 1 listed country park. The park features seventy acres of woodland, lawns and gardens and is home to some of Wales' rarest plants and animals.

The childhood home of prominent Welsh author Kate Roberts, Cae'r Gors is a stone-built quarryman's cottage dating from the nineteenth century. A Grade II listed building; Cae'r Gors has been sensitively restored as a museum which accurately recreates the living conditions of the time and explains local customs and traditions.

Slate mining is a typically Welsh industry and the Inigo Jones Slate Works, six miles south of Caernarfon, was founded in 1861 to produce slates for school classrooms. Today the slate works still produces a wide range of slate products for domestic and commercial use and visitors can take a fascinating tour of the workshops, learn about the 500 million-year history of Welsh slate and try their hand at slate engraving and calligraphy.