trip to wales

I've never been to Wales, but in order for people to answer your question, they need to know where exactly in Wales you want to go. If you're not sure, you need to say what kind of experience you are looking for. For accommodation, you need to specify not only what town you want to stay in, but what "budget" means to you (everyone has a different definition). I do know that some places in Wales have train service, but others have only coach service, and others have no mass transit access. London to Cardiff is easy, but some other connections could be difficult or impossible without a car.

Hi Harold Thanks for reading my rather general question.You are right,I need to be a little more specific here. I am thinking of taking in the Snowdonia National Park region .I would be looking at accomodation which would be around the $50-80 per night. I am also planning to take in Stonhenge and Oxford,which are not in Wales,so I need a plan which would tie in all these places and I have 4 days for the whole trip.
Thanks

'Plan' is the operant word about rental cars. If you have any wiggle room, a car is the best way to go. You can drive the circumference in four days and see a heck of a lot. If you're interested in the iron-age hill forts and megaliths you can't do it without a car. Her's a sketch of the rail system: http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/maps/railways.htm You can see that you either have to do a lot of back-tracking or go back and forth into England to get anywhere. I've hiked most of the country. The few times I've been unable to get somebody to help me preposition a car for the end of the day, trying to catch a bus has been so maddening that I've just turned around and walked back - - which really sucks if the car's twenty miles behind you. What aggravates trying to use buses is that there are a bunch of companies, all serving a relatively small area with not necessarily an overlap. Also, with a car it's easier to find budget accommodations since they're all over the place, but not really close to the city centers. I don't care for urban hostels one bit, but the rural ones are a real treat. If you're nowhere near a TI walk into a pub and ask the keeper. Many of them even have spotless rooms upstairs or around the corner that aren't advertised, even with a window sign. Cardiff is the only area with much traffic congestion and that's only relative since it's not bad at all. The rest of the country is really easy.

N. Wales is best seen by car otherwise it can be very limited. And accomodations at budget rates prob leaves you with hostels only. gd luck.

Nigel has a wealth of knowledge about everything. But, unless he's moved again, he's from Northamptonshire which is in England.

We have stayed in Betws-y-Coed. It is a lovely small village near Snowdonia National Park. We used buses to get to Mt. Snowdon. Only stayed a couple of nights, but it was lovely. There are lots of b&bs in the center of the village. And it is on a main rail line. Easy to get to/from Cardiff.