Wales - itinerary comments
 

My wife and I are planning a spur of the moment driving trip thru Wales in early May. I have had some experience driving in the United Kingdom so that is not a concern. We like to make brief stops in the villages and poke around. Our time in the National Parks will be drive throughs as we will not be able to do any hiking. I would appreciate any comments on our itinerary. As I mentioned, this is spur of the moment and I don't want to pass by any can't misses. We are very flexible and can add days where needed. Our rough itinerary is as follows:
DAY 1 arrive London 500 am - drive to Bath or Chepstow area for overnight.
DAY 2 Tintern/Cardiff/overnight Brecon Beacon area.
Day 3 Brecon Beacon/Gower Penninsula
area overnight.
Day 4 Pembrokeshire Nat. Park area overnight.
Day 5 Pembrokshire/overnight Ciccieth area
Day 6 Snowdonia area overnight
Day 7 Snowdonia area overnight Chester.
Is this too rushed...should we spend more time in a particular area.

We will leave two days at the end to work our way back to London. We have already seen most of the sights along the way to London. Our flight is not yet booked so I can add days as needed. Thanks for your comments.

Sounds ok to me. My one addition would be to work in Tintern Abbey not far from Chepstow. Also the Chepstow Castle is worth a look.

Brecon Beacons NP is a good choice.

We enjoyed half a day or so in Portmeirion, and had a really good cream tea in Beddgelert on our way back to our hostel in Snowdonia.

Lee Ann

It is a reasonable itinerary and you'll see some wonderful scenery. And it really isn't than rushed since the only long driving day is day-1. Are you flying in transatlantic? If so, I'd take one of those "free" days at the end and add it to the beginning. That log a drive jet lagged is downright dangerous. 1+ day/1 night is plenty of time to get back to LHR from Chester.

(if you are flying in short haul - then the drive on day 1 is fine)

I personally avoid 1 night, 1 night, 1 night trips. Just too much packing/unpacking/checking in/checking out. I might look for areas along your route to spend 2 nights. The Pembroke coast and Snowdon areas would merit 2 nights.

JanisJ:
Yes, we are flying overnight from Boston. I planned on about two hours of driving from the airport to either the Bath area or a little longer to the Chepstow/Tintern area. Any suggestions on a nice town closer to the airport? We probably will spend a couple of nights in the Pembroke and Snowdonia areas.

W/ an overnight flight, the last thing I look forward to is a long drive. If it were me (and if you haven't been there before) I'd stay the first night in Windsor. It is only 7 miles from LHR and has plenty to fill your day w/o totally wasting you. The Castle, Eton, the river, walks in the Great Park, etc. Then after a good night's sleep you will easily be able to drive to south Wales.

The main problem is you have no idea what state you are in - until you are there and on the road. So I wouldn't plan a driving day right off. If you feel great - it just means you will enjoy Windsor more.

T