Travel to Conwy Wales from Heathrow

Heathrow to Conwy has been explained in the England forum.

Please take a look at this map of long distance bus routes in Wales operated as Traws Cymru:>http://www.trawscymru.info/routes/
(The railways have been shown on blue). The Traws Cymru buses where the routes begin with a T are free to use on weekends.

To find any journey in Wales, use:>https://www.traveline.cymru
https://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk
To get from Conwy to Aberystwyth by train, you would need to travel east back into England & get to Shrewsbury - where you change trains for one that will take you west to Aberystwyth. (Shrewsbury is worth a look / stop for lunch and take a later train if you don’t want to do it all in the 4 hours or so.https://www.visitshrewsbury.co.uk

Another way of doing it by train is to go from Conwy to Llandudno Junction (1 mile east) and take a train to Blaenau Ffestiniog where you change for the narrow gauge steam train of the Ffestiniog Railway - which will take you to Porthmadog. You would then need to walk up the main street to the ‘normal’ train station and take a train to Machynlleth and then change for Aberystwyth. Going this way is very scenic but you may have difficulty in getting the train connections to work reasonably.

Another way to do it is to go from Conwy to Bangor by train (or bus) and then take the T2 Traws Cymru bus to Aberystwyth - again, most of this route is scenic.
When in Aberystwyth, take a ride on this railway:> http://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk

From Aberystwyth to Lydstep, you will find some local operators link up to form a route with connections. Alternatively, T1 bus to Carmarthen and then train to Penally - ask accommodation provider to pick you up as Lydstep is very near. OR - T5 bus from Aberystwyth to Haverfordwest and then check out for the local connection on traveline-cymru.

Here is a satellite view of the Lydstep area:>https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6535086,-4.7635258,5905m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1
You can see several sandy beaches and they are linked by a coastal path where you will see wonderful cliff formations. Be sure to go into Tenby and try and take a ferry over to Caldy Island (which I think is closed on weekends). Pembroke has a castle.
Bosherston - further west, has a lovely walk by lily pools down to the coast. If you do this & then turn E, you reach beautiful Barafundle Bay.http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com
http://www.tenbyvisitorguide.co.uk
http://pembroke-castle.co.uk

James, your reply was so very helpful. I sincerely appreciate all the great
info you provided. I booked the train via Euston on Virgin Train and on
Arriva from Chester to Conwy.

Is Uber an option in Wales? I'd love to book a local driver in each area
to take us around but that might be cost prohibitive.
Again, many thanks!

I would consider a company who operate guided tours by mini-bus.
https://www.celticos.com/activities/sightseeing-tours/description
http://www.viptravelservices.co.uk/sightseeingtours.html
http://guidenorthwales.com/conwy-valley-tour/

You may well find similar tours in other parts of Wales if you Google for them.

This might complicate matters slightly.....

when you say Conwy do you mean the small town? Or the large but mostly unpopulated county? This catches many people out, especially the admin staff at Trpdvsr.

Conwy town is just across the river from Llandudno Junction station which is a major transport hub.

As for Uber, it needs a cellphone - and in much of rural Wales there's no signal!!

Hi !
My first stay is in the town of Conwy, near the
Castle. I moved my accommodations for the
last 3 nights to Tenby (in town near beach,
as without a car, Lydstep seemed like a difficult
stop.)
Sorry to learn that cell phones might be a problem,
reception wise. Any thoughts on what I need to do
to switch my USA based phone to work the best &
most reasonable way while there?
Thank you all for your suggestions!

Good news about Conwy hotel, some people find themselves miles from anywhere and needing an SUV!!

Conwy-Aberystwth is easy, probably using local bus to Bangor then the Trawscymru T2 bus. Get a Red Rover day ticket from the first driver
https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Residents/Parking-roads-and-travel/Travel-passes/Red-Rover-Tickets.aspx - unless it's a weekend in which case just pay to Bangor because the T2 is free!!!! Or you could make things interesting by using either of the steam trains into Porthmadog from either Caernarfon or Blaenau Ffestiniog http://www.festrail.co.uk/index.htm - in this case use a Red Rover for either side of the train and buy the train ticket as appropriate.

Tenby is a pretty little town and can get really good weather. Easiest way from Aber is Trawscymru T1 bus to Carmarthen then a train to Tenby. Bus fare is £5.95 (free at weekends!!), train section is £9.50

Info about Trawscymru (and free weekends) at http://www.trawscymru.info/ - this network is organsied by the Welsh Government who have been known to get things badly wrong but in this case they've done well! Note the free Wi-Fi.

The Red Rover ticket might be only for residents of the County of Gwynydd?

not as far as I know but I can see what you mean, the website is a little odd. You start in the Visitor section, click the link for bus timetables and it jumps to Residents! It wouldn't be worth setting up a chargeable residents only card, they don't have a big population and the seniors already have a seperate free pass, add to that they are including routes aimed at tourists. The number of residents who would actually buy it is very small. Also they don't mention what you would need to prove to the driver that you are a resident, there are no simple compulsory official ID documents in UK so anyone without a driving licence (the only common ID with address included) would have to take a gas/electricty bill or something similar. I have emailed for confirmation but I think this is just an oddity of the site design.

Edit: and the reply came in less than an hour!

"The ticket is available to any person boarding a local bus in Gwynedd – you can purchase the ticket from the driver on the first bus you board"

Which actually raises a second question since Conwy town is well within the travel area but not within Gwynedd. The website doesn't say that, it only lists the routes and area, so print the page and take it with you!