Portmeirion

Portmeirion is a village built in the 20th century, from 1920s until 1970s, made to look Italian. Now it is a tourist destination, one in which it’s easy to spend a day without any doubt. The village is stunning, there are restaurants, cafes, shops, two walks – a woodland walk and a beach walk. There is a hotel and some of the houses are available to rent, albeit at high prices (it starts at £200-something per night in the off-peak period). The village has an entrance fee and I would suggest booking in advance if you are visiting in peak season. Check their website for more details. Annual passes are available, but unless you live nearby it’s unlikely you would use them. I would have got an annual pass if it was within an hour’s drive, but it’s over 2 hours, so not ideal for day trips.

The buildings are so gorgeous, this is a place one can spend a lot of time, as new details can be observed. I would love to go back. From the gift shop a tree trail can be bought, I didn’t think it would be something that interests me, but after seeing all sorts of interesting trees, this is something I would definitely buy if I’m in Portmeirion again.

This is the road towards the village. They have a camping site, but only for campers. It’s lovely, lots of hydrangeas between the camping pitches. We have a caravan and a tent, so it’s not good for us.

I bought a booklet about the village, but I’m not going to write too much as this post will be long as it is. There were a few books on the village, proper size books, but I knew I didn’t have the time these days, so I’ve decided to get just the booklet. This was created by the Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis.

This is one of the first buildings in the village. On one side is yellow and on the other side is orange-ish. It’s amazing to think that this is the same building when it looks so very different.

The arch is just stunning, just look at that gorgeous ceiling.

More buildings, all beautifully coloured with lots and lots of details. There is a shop on the ground floor of the orange building.

All the buildings are gorgeous. On the top is an art-gallery and shop, but it was not open when we visited it. On the left, in the blue building is a big Buddha.

These are two shops with all sort of different items, but there is a much bigger shop as well. There are some art pieces here that looked lovely.

The village square, with a chess board, stunning houses with lots of decorations. The colours looked amazing even on a cloudy day.

The fountain is placed in formal gardens with lots of places to stay and soak up the atmosphere.

Over the road is the Town Hall, used for weddings and which houses a cafe. On the ground floor are the visitor toilets. Everything in Portmeirion is just gorgeous.

At the cafe birds were checking what we got. They were either on the stone balustrade or in the nearby bushes, keeping an eye on any leftovers we might leave. Unfortunately for them, we only stopped for coffee at that point. It was lovely to see the birds flying around and one coming to our table. Looking around it seemed all the other visitors were just as happy to see them.

The swimming pool is for the residents only, which include the ones who are camping. That’s the perfect ad for buying a camper.

Ship Amis Reunis or Friends reunited, is a stone ship in the harbour. The estuary-beach walk starts from there.

Lighthouse, not a real one, but one that looks gorgeous nonetheless, which also offers amazing views, see below.

We could order vegan pizza from one of the restaurants. It was very good. We also got some Welsh beer. There were a few other types of beer and we bought those to try at home.

Woodland walk was just as gorgeous, about 40 minutes, depending on how fast or slow you want to go. I think we spent a bit longer as we stopped and took pictures.

Fern tree, isn’t this stunning? I love fern and these trees were just incredibly beautiful.

Portmeirion is a must see if you want to visit North Wales.