Walking the Wales Coast Path from Aberdyfi

Aberdyfi has something most seaside villages would envy: a world-class long-distance walking route running straight through it. The Wales Coast Path passes along our front, which means two excellent walks leave from the door without a car, a map-folding session or any real planning at all. Here is how to make the most of it.

A path around a whole country

The Wales Coast Path opened in 2012 and runs for some 870 miles, tracing the entire Welsh coastline from Chepstow in the south to the edge of the Dee in the north. When it launched, Wales became the first country in the world with a continuous walking route along its whole coast. The Aberdyfi stretch sits on the Meirionnydd section, where the path threads between the mountains of Eryri and the sea — some of the finest walking on the whole route.

East, towards Pennal and Machynlleth

Turn inland and the path follows the Dyfi upstream, slipping beneath the railway and through old sessile-oak woodland with the estuary widening on your right. It is a there-and-back as long or short as you like — walk out to Picnic Island and back for an easy hour, or commit to the full run round to Machynlleth, roughly a dozen miles through quietly beautiful country. The light on the estuary at low tide, with the wading birds working the mud, is reason enough to go.

West and north, towards Tywyn

The other direction trades woodland for open coast. Head out past the golf links and the path runs north along the dunes and the long beach towards Tywyn, about four miles of sand, sea and sky with the hills at your shoulder. It is flatter and more elemental than the eastern leg, and on a bright, breezy day it is hard to beat. You can walk one way and take the train back, which is the civilised way to do it.

Doing it properly

This is a coast path, so the sea sets some of the terms.

• Check the tide. A few low sections, especially towards Tywyn, are far happier at low water; the beach is a different proposition when the sea is in.
• Watch the forecast. Exposed coast means weather arrives with little warning; layers and a waterproof earn their place in the pack.
• Use the trains. Stations at Aberdovey, Penhelig, Tywyn and beyond let you walk a section one way and ride back — see our train guide.
• Footwear. Trainers are fine for the beach in summer; the woodland path east can be muddy after rain.

If the hills are calling instead

The coast path is only half the walking here. When you want to climb rather than contour, our guide to the best walks around Aberdyfi covers the Panorama, the inland route up to Llyn Barfog, the Bearded Lake, and the bigger mountain days in Eryri beyond. And whichever way you walk, the rest of the village waits in our things-to-do guide.