No new posts on Wales since 27/6 (or 6/27 if you are an American).

I love Wales but many destinations are not well connected by train. It's also smaller, so less places to see than England or Scotland. And I think more Americans are of Irish descent, so maybe that increases the lure of Ireland.

My paternal ancestors came from a small sheep farming town in Cardiganshire, SW Wales. While touring England and Wales by car in 2017, we visited that town as well as St. Davids, Tenby and Cardiff. Also, we visited some awesome castles and the Museum of Welsh life.

Many Welsh settled in the USA, especially in the mid=-Atlantic areas like NJ, Pennsylvania and MD.

By the way the two countries with the most immigrants to the USA are England and Germany. Yes, many from Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

North and South Wales are very scenic and with much history.

I agree somewhat with cala. Wales’ public transportation isn’t well connected and many from the U.S. don’t want to drive in the UK. There is plenty to see there, but you need to get to it, and much of it involves outdoor activities. We were last there in 2019 and may go back in the spring.

Tintaldra is very right,

It is very noticeable how hard it is on this forum to get people into Wales proper.

As far as I can gather none of Rick's tours gets much further into Wales than Conwy- and to me I do not understand why everyone wants to stay in Conwy itself, when there are lots of other places along the coast railway line/the A55 expressway, within very easy reach of Conwy.

The main line trains are supplemented by the "Great Little Trains of Wales" steam services- almost all of which lines (now tourist railways) have a rich and interesting industrial history.

It seems to be a self defeating circle. People don't go there, so there is little peer to peer information to encourage forum people into Wales. The train service is supplemented by the Traws Cambria bus network, and by often good county local bus networks.
Traveline Cymru is a really good planning tool- by far the best of the regional Traveline journey planners.

It's not only Wales- yesterday I spent a lot of time (too much) planning for the offshore islands of the Republic of Ireland. Apart from the Aran Islands this forum has almost no mention of any of those islands.

For those interested in wales, but don’t want to drive, rabbie’s has a 5-day wales tour that starts and ends in London. I have this in mind for a future trip.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/england-tours/from-london/5-8-day-tours/discover-wales-5-day-tour

People don't go there, so there is little peer to peer information to encourage forum people into Wales.

Same is true for most US states.

27/6 (or 6/27 if you are an American).

Or Hungarian, which also uses the month before day date convention. Noting that for the Prague to Budapest train, tickets for the same August 7 train are dated 07.08 if bought from Czech Railways and 08.07 if bought from Hungarian Railways. I am sure the conductors have it figured out.

I check the Wales forum everyday. We will be there the end of September. However, I find that when people do ask questions, there often is no response. For example, someone asked about restaurants in Cardiff a few weeks ago but there were no responses.

I'm always surprised when people don't just look at the All Topics view of the forum to see everything and scan down. This is what I have bookmarked for the forum. It's easy to look down and pick out what is of interest.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/all-topics

I think also that Wales gets lost because people often combine it with stops in England so questions are asked there.

I'd agree that it's tougher to get around without a car. One of Rick's former guides has a company that has occasional Wales tours for those of us who rely on public transport or guided tours when out of the US. I also did a really good Road Scholar trip a number of years ago that spend 10 nights in Wales staying in Betws-y-Coed and Carmarthen.

I'm always surprised when people don't just look at the All Topics view of the forum to see everything and scan down. This is what I have bookmarked for the forum. It's easy to look down and pick out what is of interest. I think also that Wales gets lost because people often combine it with stops in England so questions are asked there.

Pam, I think that many people here don't even know it's there. It's really not very obvious - it's tacked on at the end of a sentence that sits above all the categories, and so new members probably just zero in on the categories and never notice the All Topics. I might mention it to Andrew and see if he can do anything.

And I do think you're right about Wales getting lumped in with England. I don't know of too many people who visit Wales as a sole destination. When I traveled to Wales, I combined with a trip to England and really enjoyed it.

Same is true for most US states.

Ha ha, so true! Most Europeans I know or know of hit the east coast, the west coast and some major national parks, but I don't know of too many who visit the midwest, which has some very beautiful areas. I know there are exceptions as to where visitors go (as with Wales) but let's face it, most people want to visit the known entities that are on the guidebook covers.

Most Europeans I know or know of hit the east coast, the west coast and some major national parks, but I don't know of too many who visit the midwest, which has some very beautiful areas.

One could say this about Americans by geographic region, too. There was a time when Americans road-tripped a lot (50s-70s) learned firsthand what the country was about, and roadside motels were abundant. Now it’s just Hawaii, Vegas, Orlando—or Italy or Prague. I am sure this reduction in scope of domestic travel is increasing political polarization.

As an aside, I was wondering what the size in square footage was of the Chicago Art Institute as compared to the Metropolitan (found out it’s half the size) where I visited in April to judge whether or not I need 2 days, and was surprised to see that the Minneapolis Art Institute is the nation’s fourth largest art museum (National Gallery @Smithsonian is third).

Sorry for the tangent from Wales.

I was surprised to see that the Minneapolis Art Institute is the nation’s fourth largest art museum.

I didn't know that either, Tom. I used to live just a few blocks from the Art Institute and loved visiting there, but had no idea it was that big. Very interesting.

Besides the combined itinerary questions for England + Wales that get lumped into the England category, there’s also mention of Wales in some trip reports. We were there in June and had a wonderful time.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/june-2023-england-wales-trip-report

I especially appreciated the people on this forum who contributed helpful answers and additional information for both Wales & England! …and whether a location is or is not mentioned in a RS guidebook doesn’t affect whether I want to visit it. In fact, many times, I’d rather go someplace that is less known!

I suppose the lack of exposure could be a mixed blessing. When so many places are struggling with an overflow of tourists, perhaps it is nice that there are still some lovely spots that remain under many people's radar.

I am a huge fan of Wales; it’s every bit as appealing as the rest of the British Isles. We spent a couple of weeks there in 2013. I was so enthralled, I titled my trip report Why Isn’t Everyone Raving About Wales? The lack of public transportation is an issue, but that doesn’t stop people from going to Ireland. I think perhaps it’s overshadowed by England. Or maybe it’s a lack of PR. With its gorgeous scenery, wonderful people, and all those castles, it should be an easy to promote.

Last summer I added 17 nights after my RS Best of Ireland in 14 Days tour to go to....WALES. Why? Because it was the only ancestral country in my DNA that I hadn't been to. When I went there it was listed as my lowest percentage. I hadn't been back home very long when Ancestry.com did an update and my Welsh DNA went up to 8% and the Irish went down. That made me even happier that I'd been to Wales.

I got to Wales and did all my traveling there by public transportation. Although it may be easier for some to drive, I enjoy getting around the way many people do, whether they are a family going to the beach or old ladies like me doing their grocery shopping in the closest town of any size to the village where they live. I visited and stayed in towns on the water. I didn't list everything I did or saw below, but as always, the most important thing to me is simply being in a very different place than where I live, eating differently and walking around. I didn’t hear any North American accents and only ran into one person from the US. She was from Seattle and we were two of the very few people on the bus when she got on.

I took the ferry from Belfast, where the tour ended, to Liverpool. From there I took the train to Llandudno where I spent 4 nights in a B&B right on the water with a side trip to Conwy for one full day. While waiting for the bus to Conwy, I met a woman who worked at the Smallest House in Great Britain which is in Conwy. She walked me from the Conwy bus stop to my main reason for going there -- Plas Mawr, the finest surviving Elizabethan town house anywhere in Britain. I'm not a big castle person, so I chose not to visit the castle. I did go see her at work and she took my picture posed like all the other tourists -- with my arms spread out to show how narrow the house is.

After Llandudno, I took the bus to Caernarfon where I stayed 2 nights in a hotel. No castle visit there either. Then it was on to Aberystwyth, again by bus. I stayed there 3 nights in a Premier Inn. My primary goal was to take the Vale of Rheidol Railway steam train from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge and back. Note that if you ride in an open car, you may get soot on your clothes.

My next stop after that was St. Davids. I spent 2 nights in a B&B very close to St. Davids Cathedral, my sole reason for being there. The town is tiny, in fact it's Britain's smallest city. After that, it was back on a bus to Tenby where I spent 2 nights in a B&B about 2 blocks from the train station. It's a lovely little tourist town with a picturesque small harbor where the boats are anchored in and sitting on the sand when the tide is out and floating when it's in.

From Tenby I took the train to Cardiff. I spent 4 nights in a hotel there and I finally went to a castle, but not the one in town. The guy from the laundry service that picked my laundry up from me in front of the hotel advised me not to bother with the touristy castle in town, but to take the bus to Caerphilly Castle, which he called a real castle. As it turned out, the bus to Caerphilly left from right in front of the hotel. The castle there is a medieval fortified castle on 30 acres, surrounded by large artificial lakes designed for defence. It's the largest castle in Wales and the second-largest castle in Great Britain (after Windsor).

The country is beautiful and its people are wonderful. Everyone was so friendly and helpful in every way I could possibly imagine and in ways I would never have expected. I was sorry to leave, but I was spending my last night before flying home in a hotel at Heathrow and I had to go. I took the train and a bus (RailAir) from Cardiff to get there.

I haven’t yet been to Wales, but it remains on my wish list. I have been to Romania, though, and Rick doesn’t even have a specific Romania column. I sometimes glance at Bulgaria, and it can be a long time between posts for that country, which is a wonderful place. As of right now, the most recent post was on July 5 (or 5 July for some).

It seems that the Big 5 are France, Italy, Germany, England, and either Netherlands or Spain. It’s time for Wales, though. There still hasn’t been a new post under that category since June 27. Thanks for this posting!