Mountains The principal ranges of the traditional Snowdonia are the
Snowdon massif itself, the
Glyderau, the
Carneddau, the
Moelwynion and the
Moel Hebog range. All of Wales'
3000ft mountains are to be found within the first three of these massifs and are most popular with visitors. To their south within the wider national park are the
Rhinogydd and the
Cadair Idris and
Aran Fawddwy ranges. Besides these well-defined areas are a number of mountains which are less readily grouped, though various guidebook writers have assigned them into groups such as the "Arenigs", the "Tarrens" and the "Dyfi hills". Snowdon's summit at is the highest in Wales and the highest in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands. At , is the highest in Wales outside of northern Snowdonia; , at , is next in line. including Snowdon (centre right) taken from
Mynydd Mawr. The
Glyderau are visible in the distance.|center
Rivers and lakes Rivers draining the area directly into
Cardigan Bay are typically short and steep. From north to south they include: • the and , which share a common estuary, • the and its tributaries the
Wnion and the , • the smaller • and on the park's southern margin the . A series of rivers drain to the north coast. Largest of these is the
Conwy on the park's eastern margin, which along with the drains into
Conwy Bay. Further west the and empty into the western end of the
Menai Strait. Part of the east of the national park is within the upper
Dee (Dyfrydwy) catchment and includes
Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), the largest natural water body in Wales. A fuller list of the rivers and tributaries within the area is found at
List of rivers of Wales.There are few natural bodies of water of any size in Wales; Snowdonia is home to most. Besides Llyn Tegid, a few lakes occupy
glacial troughs, including and at and south of . , and to the south and west of Snowdon feature in this category, as do and on the margins of the . There are numerous small lakes occupying
glacial cirques, owing to the intensity of past
glacial action in Snowdonia. Known generically as
tarns, examples are and on Snowdon, within the and on . There are two large wholly man-made bodies of water in the area, and , whilst a number of the natural lakes have had their levels artificially raised. reservoir and Power Station's are two cases where natural tarns have been dammed as part of
pumped storage hydro-electric schemes. A fuller list of the lakes within the area is found at
List of lakes of Wales. In 2023, the park
standardised its Welsh language lake names, to be also used in English.
Coast The national park meets the
Irish Sea coast within
Cardigan Bay between the Dovey estuary in the south and the estuary. The larger part of that frontage is characterised by
dune systems, the largest of which are and . These two locations have two of the largest
sand/shingle spits in Wales. The and estuaries form the largest indentations, and have large expanses of
intertidal sands and
coastal marsh which are especially important for wildlife: see #Natural history. The northern tip of the national park extends to the north coast of Wales at Point, west of , where precipitous cliffs have led to the road and railway
tunnels.
Settlements There are only three towns within the park boundary, though there are several more immediately beyond it. is the most populous followed by
Bala on the eastern boundary and then
Harlech overlooking
Tremadog Bay. More populous than these is the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is within an
exclave, that is to say it is surrounded by the national park but excluded from it, whilst the towns of
Tywyn and
Barmouth on the Cardigan Bay coast are within coastal exclaves. in the east,
Machynlleth in the south and
Porthmadog and
Penrhyndeudraeth in the west are immediately beyond the boundary but still identified with the park; indeed the last of these hosts the headquarters of the Snowdonia National Park Authority. Similarly the local economies of the towns of
Conwy,
Bethesda, and
Llanberis in the north are inseparably linked to the national park as they provide multiple visitor services. The lower terminus of the
Snowdon Mountain Railway is at Llanberis. Though adjacent to it, and are less obviously linked to the park. There are numerous smaller settlements within the national park: prominent amongst these are the eastern 'gateway' village of ,
Aberdyfi on the Dovey () estuary and the small village of each of which attract large numbers of visitors. Other sizeable villages are at the southwest end of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake),
Dyffryn Ardudwy,
Corris,
Trawsfynydd,
Llanbedr,
Trefriw and
Dolwyddelan.
Transport Roads Six
primary routes serve Snowdonia, the busiest of which is the
A55, a dual carriageway which runs along the north coast and provides strategic road access to the northern part of the national park. The most important north–south route within the park is the
A470 running from the A55 south past to to . It exits the park a few miles to the southeast near . From , the
A494 runs to whilst the
A487 connects with . The A487 loops around the northwest of the park from via to before turning in land to meet the A470 east of . The
A5 was built as a mail coach road by
Thomas Telford between London and
Holyhead; it enters the park near and leaves it near Bethesda. Other A class roads provide more local links; the
A493 down the Dovey valley from and up the coast to then back up the valley to , the
A496 from down the north side of the to Barmouth then north up the coast via to . The
A4212 connecting with is relatively modern having been laid out in the 1960s in connection with the construction of . Three further roads thread their often twisting and narrow way through the northern mountains;
A4085 links with , the
A4086 links with via and the
A498 links with the A4086 at . Other roads of note include that from up to via the high pass of , the second highest tarmacked public road in Wales and the minor road running northwest and west from towards via the high pass of .
Railways , Snowdonia national park road • The double track
North Wales Coast Line passes along the northern boundary of the park between Conwy and Bangor, briefly entering it at Point, where it is in a tunnel. Stations serve the communities of
Conwy,
Penmaenmawr,
Llanfairfechan and
Bangor. • The single-track
Conwy Valley Line runs south from
Llandudno Junction, and enters the park north of Betws-y-coed, which is served by a station, then continues west up the Lledr valley by way of further stations at
Pont-y-pant,
Dolwyddelan and
Roman Bridge. After passing through a tunnel, the passenger line now terminates at
Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station, where it connects with the
Ffestiniog Railway. :Before 1961 the route continued as the
Bala and Ffestiniog Railway via Trawsfynydd to Bala, joining another
former route along the Dee valley which ran southwest via Dolgellau to join the still extant coastal
Cambrian Line south of Barmouth. • The Pwllheli branch of the Cambrian Line splits from the Aberystwyth branch at
Dovey Junction and continues northwards via stations at
Aberdovey,
Tywyn,
Tonfanau,
Llwyngwril,
Fairbourne and
Morfa Mawddach to
Barmouth where it crosses the Mawddach estuary by the Grade II* listed wooden
Barmouth Bridge, a structure which also provides for walkers and cyclists. Continuing northwards, further stations serve
Llanaber,
Tal-y-bont,
Dyffryn Ardudwy,
Llanbedr,
Pensarn and
Llandanwg before reaching
Harlech.
Tygwyn,
Talsarnau and
Llandecwyn stations are the last before the line exits the park as it crosses the Dwyryd estuary via
Pont Briwet and turns westwards bound for Pwllheli via Penrhyndeudraeth, Porthmadog and Criccieth. Many sections of dismantled railway are now used by walking and cycling routes and are described elsewhere. The
Bala Lake Railway is a heritage railway which has been established along a section of the former mainline route between Bala and Llanuwchllyn. Other heritage railways occupy sections of former mineral lines, often narrow gauge and are described in a separate section.
Buses The national park is served by a growing bus network, branded ''Sherpa'r Wyddfa'' (formerly Snowdon Sherpa). The network was relaunched in July 2022 with this new brand to reflect the National Park's promotion of Welsh place names. Thus the publicity and websites for the newly branded service only use these Welsh names, even though the publicity is also directed at monoglot English speakers. Together with the network of buses, this provides a car-free option for tourists and locals wishing to travel across the National Park. ==Climate==