At a glance
Boat trips from Trevor Basin cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the longest, highest navigable aqueduct in Britain, carrying the Llangollen Canal 126 feet above the Dee Valley. Narrow boat crossings take around an hour; longer trips continue to Llangollen town. The aqueduct towpath is also open to walkers. One of the most extraordinary pieces of civil engineering in Wales, and an experience not replicated anywhere else in the country.
About Pontcysyllte Canal Trips
Thomas Telford built the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct between 1795 and 1805, and the scale of the ambition it represented was extraordinary by the standards of its time. The canal engineers of the late 18th century were already adept at carrying waterways across valleys by embankment or culvert; what Telford proposed at Pontcysyllte was different in kind — a cast-iron trough supported on stone piers at a height above the valley floor that no navigable structure had previously reached. When it was completed in November 1805, the same month as Trafalgar, it was the longest and tallest navigable aqueduct in the world, and it remains the longest and highest in Britain.
The experience of crossing the aqueduct by boat is not easily compared to anything else available to a visitor in Wales or indeed in Britain. The narrow boat enters the iron trough — barely wider than the boat itself — at the Froncysyllte end and moves out over the valley at walking pace. The Dee is visible 126 feet below through the gap between the hull and the trough's edge on the open side; the valley walls rise on either side; the 19 piers of the structure diminish in perspective behind. The crossing takes around twelve minutes at canal speed. It is, by any objective measure, one of the most singular twelve minutes available to a tourist in this country.
Trefor Basin, from which the trips depart, preserves the industrial canal infrastructure — the warehouses, the lime kilns, the weighing machine house — that attended the original commercial operation of the waterway, and the Llangollen Canal itself, winding westward through the Dee Valley towards the town and the Horseshoe Falls at Llantysilio, is among the most scenic waterways in Wales. The aqueduct is the destination, but the canal is the journey, and the pace of a narrow boat allows the valley's detail — the hanging woodland, the limestone outcrops, the herons on the bank — to register in a way that road travel through the same landscape cannot.
Find it on the map
Frequently asked questions
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a navigable cast-iron aqueduct carrying the Llangollen Canal across the valley of the River Dee near Froncysyllte, Wrexham. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1805, it stands 126 feet above the valley floor on 19 masonry piers and stretches 1,007 feet across the valley. It is the longest and highest navigable aqueduct in Britain, and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009 as part of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site.
Yes. Boat trips specifically designed to cross the aqueduct operate from Trevor Basin, located directly beside the aqueduct at the southern end. Narrow boats carry passengers across the full length of the aqueduct — a 12-minute crossing at canal pace — and return on the same route or continue into the Dee Valley beyond. The experience of crossing the aqueduct in a boat, with the river 126 feet below and no rail on the towpath side of the iron trough, is unlike any other in Britain.
Yes, with appropriate supervision. The trip is calm and takes place on flat water. The boat crossing is straightforward and suitable for children of all ages. The notable feature for visitors is the exposed drop on the non-towpath side of the aqueduct — the iron trough has a low edge on that side and open views straight down to the valley. Children should be kept away from the unprotected edge of the aqueduct if walking the towpath; on the boat they remain safely within the vessel throughout.
Yes. The towpath on one side of the aqueduct is open to walkers and forms part of the Llangollen Canal towpath. Walking the aqueduct is free and available throughout the year during daylight hours. The narrow towpath with the drop on one side is an exhilarating walk for those comfortable with heights. Visitors who prefer not to walk it can still view the structure from the valley below, from the road bridge at Froncysyllte, or by taking the boat trip across it.
Short trips from Trevor Basin crossing the aqueduct and returning take approximately 45–60 minutes. Longer trips cruise further along the Llangollen Canal into the Dee Valley, reaching the Horseshoe Falls at Llantysilio above Llangollen, and take 2–3 hours in each direction. Some operators run full-day trips to Llangollen town with time ashore. All trip lengths are available with varying departure times subject to canal operating conditions.
Boat trips on the Llangollen Canal operating the Pontcysyllte crossing start from Trevor Basin — a historic canal basin at the southern end of the aqueduct, signposted from the A539 at Froncysyllte. Trevor Basin has free parking, a visitor centre, a café, and the original canal warehousing. It is also the point from which the canal continues south towards Llangollen itself. The basin provides a good hour's exploration in its own right before or after any boat trip.