Multi activity vacations in Snowdonia

North Wales is blessed with boundless opportunities to get active outdoors, with all of those peaks and valleys catapulting adrenaline seekers and outdoor enthusiasts into seventh heaven. Although it’s totally possible to book accommodation, grab your rucksack and skip off into them there hills, you might not always be getting the best possible experience if you do it yourself.

Safety first has to be the number one motto, and booking with a reputable activity company ensures you know instructors are well qualified and your participation supports the local community. Property prices are on the rise and buying a first home in Snowdonia is often out of reach to young local people. Vacation lets and second homes are pushing youngsters out of the market and forcing them to move away from their home towns. This not only leaves an ageing generation, it also does nothing for the local economy outside of the busy summer tourist season.

Choosing an activity company in Snowdonia that supports local kids through training and employment and provides a fair wage so as to keep them in work, and in their own community, all year round, is just as important as learning the correct way to pack raft, canyon, canoe and hike safely.

Not exactly, although multi activity vacations typically include a night wild camping in a bell tent, so you get an opportunity to sample Snowdonia’s Dark Sky Reserve. Bell tents comfortably accommodate six people and food around the campfire is hearty fare – no Pot Noodles – to ensure you’re raring to go the next morning after a night spent under the stars. For the rest of the time, you’ll stay in a boutique hotel in the village of Llangollen, just outside Snowdonia, or in Beaumaris, on the island of Anglesey.

On a typical five day small group multi activity vacations, the maximum group size is 15 people and the minimum age is 18 years old. Guide ratios are 6:1 for some activities, such as mountain biking, and 10:1 for hiking, for example. Small group vacations are perfect for solo travelers, providing a ready made group of adventurers, and there’s the choice to share a twin bedroom with another group member of the same sex to keep costs down, or pay a single supplement and have a private room.

There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. This adage certainly rings true for North Wales as no matter what time of year you visit you need to be prepared for every eventuality. Snowdonia National Park doesn’t shut down over the winter, the locals are way too hardy for that, but you will require a much better understanding of the mountains, and the elements, if you’re undertaking outdoor activities either side of April and October. For that reason, most multi activity vacations here run from April to September. Summers, too, can take some getting used to as many of the park’s villages and towns get clogged with crowds; mountain trails and riverbanks also tend to get busy, especially around the school vacations. Late spring and September are ideal for outdoor activities as although there might be a nip in the air at night and a bit more bite to river rapids and waterfalls, there’s nothing that beats Snowdon without another soul in sight.

Get a fuller picture of the Welsh weather in our Wales guide.