UK Travel: Our Dog Friendly Conwy Stay

We have officially been dog owners since we adopted our sweet English Bulldog, Nellie, in December, and we just recently returned from our first week-long holiday with her! As I am now qualified to talk about dog-friendly holidays, I thought I’d share the details of this lovely week away in Conwy, North Wales. We were extremely lucky with the weather, which was sunny and warm but never too hot to do anything with little Nellie. And she loved every minute of her first family holiday!

Dog Friendly Holiday Rental Near Conwy

We discovered a great dog-friendly place to stay, under 10 minutes drive from Conwy. Snowdonia Lodges is a small collection of luxury holiday lodges set in the foothills of Snowdonia. We stayed in Firefly Lodge, which is a lodge for 2 people and up to 4 dogs.

It’s just perfect for a dog-friendly stay, as it had lots of indoor space; a secure, enclosed, outdoor space with grass; plus a large shared field for a morning run. The location is great for visiting all sorts of places in Snowdonia and near Conwy with your furry friend. As an added bonus, the local pub is walking distance and dog friendly too! The site is fairly remote and therefore quiet and relaxing. But not too remote – just off a main road, making it accessible and findable by our takeaway delivery driver (very important for your first night!)

We found it a lovely place to stay – extremely comfortable and spacious, with everything we needed, and it felt luxurious too. Plus, just look at those views of Snowdonia! I’d highly recommend these lodges for your next dog-friendly trip.

Dog Friendly Places to Visit in North Wales

Morfa Conwy Beach

One of our main goals when visiting North Wales with Nellie was to spend some time on the beach with her. There are quite a few beaches in the UK that don’t allow dogs, or have restrictions on areas or times of the year when dogs are allowed. But Morfa Conwy beach is great because there are no dog restrictions at all. It’s a big open sandy beach, and when the tide is out it’s quite a walk to the sea, which is great if you want space for your dog to run about. It’s also very scenic, set against the backdrop of Conwy Mountain, which we discovered is a very popular spot for hang gliding. Nellie loved spending time on this beach, running in the water and chasing her frisbee on the sand, and although it was clearly a popular spot with dog owners, it was never busy. There is free car park (LL32 8GA) too.

Aber Falls and other Snowdonia Walks

Snowdonia (Eryri) National Park has lots of beautiful walks and scenery to enjoy with your dog. We particularly enjoyed our visit to the stunning Aber Falls waterfall, which was one of our holiday highlights! There are 2 small car parks for the Aber Falls walk, and as we visited midweek we had no trouble finding a spot in one of them. It costs £5 to park for the day, and it took us about an hour to walk from there to the falls through some attractive scenery, and an hour back.

The walk is all part of the experience, but the falls themselves are of course the main event. We spent probably another hour viewing the falls from different angles, taking pictures, basking in the sun and then paddling in the water to cool off.

Riverside Walk to Fairy Glen and Gwydir Forest Park

Gwydir Forest Park is an area of forest set in Snowdonia (Eryri) National Park and surrounding the pretty village of Betws y Coed. It provides plenty of great walking opportunities for you and your dog, and we really enjoyed a fairly short riverside walk to Fairy Glen, a secluded and magical gorge on the River Conwy. This pretty site is actually on private land, so there is a small (cash only) fee to park and visit there. We thought it was worth it, but it is better to be aware in advance so that you’re not caught with no cash!

There is a shorter and more direct route down to Fairy Glen, but we really enjoyed the scenic riverside walk. Right at the end of the walk there are some precarious natural stone steps all the way down into the gorge, which to be honest some will probably struggle with. In the end we didn’t risk it with Nellie as she’s not the sportiest dog! But I did descend myself to see the enchanting spot.

Conwy

Conwy itself was a highlight of our trip, with everything we love in a UK seaside town. Conwy Castle does not permit dogs inside, but the exterior and the town walls were nice to walk around. We enjoyed a lovely pop-up artisan market at the harbour, eating pastries at the seafront, wandering over to Conwy Marina, and enjoying lots of nice places to eat and shop. Although dogs won’t be allowed in every restaurant or building, we felt like it was a very welcoming town for dogs.

Llandudno

We drove to Llandudno one day too, and enjoyed walking along North Shore beach and promenade, paddling in the waves, and browsing the shops. Nellie enjoyed a puppuccino from Nero’s while we enjoyed sweet treats on the beach. Following the Alice in Wonderland wooden sculpture trail is a nice way to see a lot of the town and also Great Orme on foot with your dog.

It was pretty busy when we visited because there was a Victorian Extravaganza event on, so we didn’t do everything there was to do in Llandudno, but I did note a couple of attractions were dog friendly. The vintage tram up to the top of Great Orme allows dogs on board, so if you fancy that you can take your dog with you. And if you are interested in WW2 history, the Home Front Museum is also dog friendly.

Dog Friendly Places to Eat Near Conwy

Groes Inn

The Groes Inn was our local pub, walking distance from Firefly Lodge, and has the distinction of being the oldest licensed pub in Wales. Set in beautiful scenery, this dog-friendly pub had delicious hearty pub food and serves cask ales. On sunny afternoons the beer garden is sure to be huge hit! There was a great value set menu option, but we choose to dine from the regular menu, and I enjoyed an amazing Brewery Tower Burger whilst Craig opted for a Grilled Maple Bacon Chop.

Bodnant Welsh Food Centre

Bodnant Welsh Food was just a short drive from our lodge, and is home to The Furnace cafe and courtyard for breakfast and lunch, The Hayloft Bar & Grill for lunch and evening dining, and also a lovely farm shop. The dining spots are both dog-friendly and we enjoyed a tasty lunch and ice cream here during our stay.

Dylans

Conwy and Llandudo were not short of dog-friendly places to eat, and both have a Dylan’s restaurant! We love Dylan’s so we made sure to enjoy lunch there on one of our days in Conwy. We had buffalo wings followed by seabass tacos for me and and chargrilled chicken burger for Craig. Nellie was welcome too and given some water and treats by the staff there.

Parisella’s Ice Cream

We devoured our fair share of Parisella’s ice cream from various places during our stay, and it was only right that Nellie got a cooling treat too. We bought her a tub of Scoops doggy ice cream from Parisella’s Ice Cream Parlour in Conwy and she loved it!

North Wales was the perfect first holiday for Nellie. The drive from Manchester was under 2 hours, and there were so many things to see and do! She definitely enjoyed exploring new places, paddling in the sea, and eating all kinds of treats!

I hope you found this guide useful, and that is inspires you to pay a trip to Conwy and Snowdonia with your dog!