Places to eat and drink

Here are a few places we have had good meals at:

Elen's Castle Hotel - just down the hill so you would be supporting the Dolwyddelan economy. The hotel changed hands in 2007 and we have had several pleasant meals there since - together with, on each occasion, a good gossip with the owners Adam and Helen!

The village pub, Y Gwydir, has struggled for the past year or so by, so the local perspective has it, by not really addressing the needs of the village. A new (October 2008) tenant is trying to remedy this and, we feel, needs supporting. We had an OK meal there recently - the steak baguette is strongly recommended.

Ty Gwyn Hotel, Betws-y-Coed - quite smart, excellent food, good beer including Adnam's, but parking is a challenge.

Bistro, Betws-y-Coed serves the best food we have found in the valley; you will need to book.

Maenan Abbey Hotel - smart restaurant serving good food with an emphasis on local produce, cosy bar with very good bar meals. Both are worth the journey.

White Horse Inn, Capel Garmon - cosy, friendly pub serving good pub food in an informal manner. There is a stupendous view from the churchyard opposite.

The Bryn Tyrch, at the Bangor end of Capel Curig, is every bit as good as the Guardian said - "best pub in Snowdonia" - in its recent supplement on the National Parks (for which I cannot find the URL).

We have had a pleasant drink and good food at the slightly down-at-heel Tyn-y-Coed Inn also in Capel Curig. However, recent visitors were ungraciously refused food minutes after the advertised close of service at 2pm, which seems unnecessarily rigid and oriented towards the convenience of staff rather than the needs of customers.

The Asha Balti House in Llanrwst is a good Indian take-away. Llanrwst also has two excellent fish and chip shops; Tir-a-Mor gets particularly good reviews. Beware that they can close early by city standards, particularly in the winter - sometimes as early as 9pm.

On the negative side, we give the Plas Hall Hotel, down the valley near Pont-y-Pant station, a very wide berth.