Top 5 Tips for Travelling Around Wales

Wales is a stunning country with rugged coasts, great beaches, quaint villages and towns and a green heart. Only needing 4 hours to travel North to South you may wonder why you need tips for travelling around such a small country?

Wales has some unique geography and a few surprises up its sleeve, so buckle up and read this guide before you set off, and your road trip will be stress-free and a lot more fun.

Bring parking money with you!

Almost all car parking in Wales is ticketed at beaches, castles, and important attractions.

It might range from £1.00 per hour to £5.00 per day, but make sure you have those pound coins readily available because most do not yet accept cards! Most of us don’t carry cash anymore, so remember to grab enough for your trip throughout Wales.

Be careful and have patience on country lanes!

Wales is a small country, and the South Coast is easy to travel along using the M4 and A roads. However, the roads become very small and twisty after you leave these routes.

More time is required to drive along them, so bear this in mind when calculating how long it takes to drive across Wales! Your Sat Nav will estimate the speed based on the legal speed limits. Still, it is often impossible to get near those speeds, especially with the number of tractors.

Wales is full of narrow country lanes as soon as you get off the main highways, and your satnav will guide you down a couple believing it’s the best way!

Although it may appear challenging to get two cars on the road simultaneously, the Welsh do so by being incredibly patient!

To navigate narrow country lanes drive slowly and take bends even slower, so you can stop if someone approaches from the opposite direction. Make your passenger keep an eye out as well.

Anything beyond 20 mph is needless. Keep an eye out for road junctions, and if you spot a car coming up behind you, pull in and let them pass. Remember to express gratitude to others as well. The Welsh are amiable!

In Wales, urban speed limits will be reduced from 30mph to 20mph beginning in September 2023.

Use SatNav or Google Maps.

In Wales, you should use SatNav or Google Maps. Do not attempt to be a hero by figuring out where to go in an old-fashioned way.

Keep a close eye on the signs of where the satnav takes you. Most of the time, the town or beach you want to go to isn’t even mentioned on the signs until you get closer. This means you’ll have to go by road names, which is problematic as road names are signposted infrequently, and you will struggle without the satnav.

The Welsh have their own unique language. The road signs and signs written on the roads are in both English and Welsh. You may see signs where the English have been painted out, leaving only the Welsh.

Although less common now, it still occurs in certain Nationalist strongholds, which is when a GPS will help out.

Don’t rely on the internet and phone service!

Parts of Wales are very rural, and phone and internet services in Wales can be a bit hit or miss, especially when you’re deep in the countryside or on the beach.

Three of the ten local authority areas in Wales with the most miles of road without a mobile signal are in Wales: Powys (437 miles), Gwynedd (172 miles), and Ceredigion (156 miles). That is a pretty significant amount of roads to travel without any signal.

It is prudent to set your maps, journeys and key points, such as car parks or postcodes, before setting off. While you have a signal, you can save them and use Google maps in “Offline” mode. Other Sat Navs have similar systems.

By conducting some research and screenshotting postcodes when you have access to the internet, you can avoid getting lost when you don’t have access to the internet!

Don’t underestimate how much you can see!

Wales is a small country; thus, getting about takes little time unless you traverse the entire length of the country. They have a lot of decent A roads that are only busy in the cities.

The M4 can be congested during rush hour. Still, it’s typically fine otherwise, so plan your day around visiting the excellent destinations!