In principle, dedicated walking resorts have a certain quality, one that is hard to fault. Everything is geared towards walkers, the other guests all have the same interests, there are guides and maps, boot rooms, all the general paraphernalia. And when all is said and done, it’s a place that takes walking seriously. On paper, it makes perfect sense. In practice, something is usually missing.
The alternative – and here is the point – is simply to base a walking holiday, not in a walking resort at all.
Llandudno is one of the few places in Britain where walking comes naturally. And where a town comes that easily, within easy reach, it has to be genuinely excellent. From the town, The Great Orme provides dramatic coastal walking and views that extend as far as Ireland. On a clear day, the mountains of Snowdonia are accessible directly from the promenade, while the North Wales coastal path opens up in both directions. Within an hour’s drive, walking offers completely different character and ambition. For a Luxury Hotel Llandudno, contact https://stgeorgeswales.co.uk/
But to return each evening to a boot room and a buffet dinner, with people discussing tomorrow’s route, is just not the same as staying in a proper hotel in a proper town, with proper restaurants. There are particular pleasures to be found in both but finally, it is the latter that offers people their own reasons for existing, beyond the walking.
The contrast between the thing that happens in a day – walking exposed coastal paths – and the thing that happens at the end of a day – a good dinner, perhaps in a Victorian hotel, watching the bay change colour in the evening light – is a different experience altogether from what a dedicated resort could offer, in most respects and certainly the richer one.
