At a glance
Country park on Llyn Padarn at Llanberis — lakeside walking (5-mile circuit), cycle trail along the south shore, Dinorwig quarry landscape, and the National Slate Museum on the water's edge (free, one of Wales's best museums). Llanberis Lake Railway runs along the lake; Dolbadarn Castle 0.5 miles; Electric Mountain 0.5 miles. Free park entry. LL55 4TY.
About Padarn Country Park
Padarn Country Park at Llanberis is centred on Llyn Padarn — the larger lake in the Llanberis valley, with Snowdon rising above and the Dinorwig quarry terraces covering the mountains on the north side. The park is free to enter and gives access to a range of lake, quarry, and woodland walking that is unmatched in the Llanberis area. The southern lakeside path (largely flat, suitable for pushchairs and families with young children) runs from Llanberis to the western end of the lake, passing through woods with views across the water to the quarry archaeology above. The northern quarry route is rougher and more adventurous.
The National Slate Museum (free, adjacent to the car park on the lake shore) is one of the best free museums in Wales — the preserved Victorian quarry workshops with working demonstrations of slate craft, a large surviving waterwheel, and restored quarrymen's cottages covering a century of quarry life. Allow at least 2 hours. The Llanberis Lake Railway runs steam trains along the southern shore. Dolbadarn Castle (Cadw, free, 0.5 miles) sits between the two Llanberis lakes below the Pass, with one of the best castle settings in Wales.
Electric Mountain (0.5 miles, the visitor centre for the Dinorwig pumped-storage hydro scheme) gives underground tours of the power station caverns. Snowdon Mountain Railway starts 0.5 miles from the park. Llanberis is the most complete base for a day of Snowdonia exploration at any weather.
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Frequently asked questions
Padarn Country Park is a country park centred on Llyn Padarn — the larger of the two lakes at Llanberis, the other being the smaller Llyn Peris which serves as the lower reservoir of the Dinorwig hydroelectric scheme. The park occupies the former slate quarrying landscape around the lake: the Dinorwig Quarry terraces (the second-largest slate quarry in the world at its peak) rise dramatically on the north side of the lake, while the south shore has walking and cycling paths, picnic areas, and the National Slate Museum. The Llanberis Lake Railway runs along the southern lakeside from Llanberis station to the far end of the lake and back. The park is free to enter (car parking charges apply) and is managed by Gwynedd County Council.
The main walk in Padarn Country Park is the circuit of Llyn Padarn — approximately 5 miles around the lake, combining the lakeside paths with some woodland walking and crossing the bridge at the western end of the lake. The southern lakeside path (between Llanberis and the western end of the lake) is largely flat and surfaced, suitable for families with pushchairs or those who cannot manage rough terrain. The northern side of the lake, through the Dinorwig quarry landscape, is rougher and steeper — through the quarry levels, past enormous slate tips, and across moorland — giving a more adventurous walk with views of the quarry archaeology. Shorter options include the wooded section of the southern shore (1–2 miles from the car park) or the walk to Dolbadarn Castle (0.5 miles from Llanberis, Cadw, free) on the eastern end of the lake.
The National Slate Museum (Amgueddfa Lechi Cymru) is on the shore of Llyn Padarn in the former Dinorwig Quarry workshops — the Victorian engineering buildings where quarry machinery was made and repaired. Entry is free. The museum has preserved the Victorian foundry, pattern shops, and waterwheel (one of the largest surviving in Wales) intact, with working demonstrations of slate splitting and other craft skills. The living history element includes restored quarrymen's cottages showing domestic life in the slate quarrying community from the 1860s to the 1960s. The museum is one of the best free museums in Wales — genuinely informative, well-presented, and with displays that give real understanding of the scale and human cost of the slate industry. Allow at least 2 hours for a thorough visit.
Yes — there is a cycle trail along the southern shore of Llyn Padarn, largely flat and suitable for families and casual cyclists. The route follows the lakeside from Llanberis, running alongside the Llanberis Lake Railway track for part of the way and through the woodland of the southern shore. It is not a demanding mountain bike trail — it is surfaced or on compacted stone — and suits hybrid or leisure bikes rather than mountain bikes. Bike hire is available in Llanberis village. The cycle trail does not complete a full circuit of the lake (the northern Dinorwig quarry side is walking only); for a longer ride, it connects with the Lôn Las Peris route which runs from Llanberis to Caernarfon (8 miles, largely traffic-free, one of the better family cycling routes in north Wales).
Dolbadarn Castle (Cadw, free, open at all times) sits on a rocky promontory between Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris at the eastern end of the park — 0.5 miles from Llanberis town centre along the lakeside. It is a Welsh castle (not a Norman or Edwardian English castle), built by the princes of Gwynedd in the early 13th century to control the Llanberis Pass. The circular keep — one of the best-preserved examples of a Welsh native round tower — is the most distinctive feature. The castle was used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last) to imprison his brother Owain Goch for 20 years. The setting, between two lakes with Snowdon rising behind, is one of the most dramatic of any Welsh castle — it inspired paintings by J.M.W. Turner and Richard Wilson.