Family Road Trip ~ North West UK ~ Part 1 Llandudno!

Today I’m going to kick off our road trip across North Wales & into the North West of England. As usual I’ll tell you where we went, how long it took to drive there, where we stayed, what we did & exactly how much we paid so you can work out how much it’ll cost you to do the same trip. Barod? (that's Ready? in Welsh *blows knuckles*)

Where to?

Over the course of this series of posts I’ll be bringing you along on our trip to Llandudno in North Wales where we went tobogganing and visited the Homefront Museum on to Liverpool where we visited The Beatles Story, Mattel Play & joined a couple of tour buses then further up the coast to Blackpool for a trip to Pleasure Beach. 

We headed inland to Leeds for the highlight of our trip, DiggerLand! We had time to visit the Royal Armouries to see King Henry VIII’s armour before driving back to Chester then onto Holyhead for ferry home. Our Road trip took us 7 days as we didn’t want to rush nor be on the road for long periods as we had 5 kids in the back. 

Six nights accommodation cost us £420.98/€457.12 I’ll go further into detail over the course of these posts.

Stone Travel Tip: 

Anytime we’re leaving from Dublin port I always fill up at Emo in Mount Brown, Dublin 8 as they consistently have the best price fuel. It cost me €78.40 to fill my 70 litre tank which did us for the entire trip, we didn’t have to fill up again till we revisited Mount Brown on the way home.

'On the road again'

Ferry:

Every year Stena Line has a fantastic offer to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Last year is was €1pp (!) each way foot passengers & I took 4 of my little ones on a road trip to London find out more HERE.

This year the price had increased to €2pp each way as a foot passenger. It usually books up very fast so I booked a solo parent trip with my 5 little ones for a 1 week break from Dublin to Holyhead costing just €24. I got searching for car hire & realised it had gone up since last year to just over €900 for a 7 seater for a week in July so I went back to check Stena prices to bring my Mammy Van, I paid €272.40 for van + driver for the same sailings. 

My husband decided last minute that he was able to join us so I changed the name on one of the bookings free of charge.

Llandudno, North Wales:

It took us just 50 minutes to drive the costal route from Holyhead ferry port to Llandudno. We arrived just before 8pm so we checked into our hotel along the seafront. We stayed in The Queens Hotel on the Promenade costing us £102/€110.76 for 1 night room only for 2 adults & 2 children. 

The hotel dates back to 1854, yes the rooms are dated but they were perfectly clean and suited our needs for centrally located accommodation. We used to holiday in this Victorian seaside town as kids so I really wanted to bring my kids to show them around. 

We took a walk along the longest Pier in Wales to stretch our legs after a day travelling but it bucketed down on us, we got drenched! I brought the kids back to the hotel to dry off and get pj’s on while my husband went to get us some of the tastiest fish & chips for dinner. He paid £27/€29.32 for dinner & drinks in a local chippy.

Home Front Experience:

We walked around the corner to Greggs for breakfast costing us just over £20/€21.72 for the 7 of us. I spotted a Pound Bakery across the road so after brekkie I had a look. Most things are a pound including, breads, cakes, hot toasties and little readymade lunches for kids. We had a ramble around the town before making our way to the Home Front Experience. 

It’s a lovely little gem of a museum jam packed with memorabilia from WWII including an Anderson shelter, the sights and sounds transport you back to the 1940’s as soon as you step inside the door. A family ticket is just £10/€10.86.

Tobogganing:

One of my favourite memories as a child is my brothers, sister & I whooshing down a mountainside in Llandudno laughing our heads off so I just had to bring my kids to recreate holidays past. The Ski & Snowboard centre is located in the Great Orme (the mountain beside the pier), home to the longest toboggan run in Britain.

Two rides on the toboggan costs £6/€6.52, under 4’s are not permitted to ride, children aged between 4-7 must go with an adult while over 7’s can ride alone. It was a good choice as they absolutely loved it.

The Alice in Wonderland Trail!

Source.

Alice Liddell, the real Alice in Wonderland used to holiday in Llandudno as a child, so it’s thought that her adventures in Llandudno were the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s famous novel. 

Every corner you turn in Llandudno you come across a statue of one of the iconic characters. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do the trail, if you do go be sure to download the app Alice Town Trails for the full tour.

Check back next week for Liverpool! 

*** Disclaimer: 

There is nothing to disclose!***