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Path summary
The Llanberis Path (Llwybr Llanberis) is the longest path to the summit. Because the village of Llanberis is at a height of only 110 m (361 ft), the total ascent is 975 m (3,199 ft).
This path, also being the easiest (i.e. just a long walk with steep sections), is the most popular of the main paths, taking over 40% of all Snowdon’s walkers.
After the initial steep tarmac approach up the lane, the gradient is gradual all the way, with some steeper parts after half way, but it is wide, and has no narrow or exposed sections, and no hands are needed anywhere. (In the 19th century ponies used to carry people up this path, giving you some idea of what it’s like. As a bridleway today, bikes and occasionally ponies still use it.)
However, please don’t make light of the challenge. This is, after all, a mountain, and of all the main paths on Snowdon, the Llanberis Path – despite being the easiest – is the one which Mountain Rescue are called to most by people who have underestimated it.
Distance: 4½ miles (7¼ km) to the summit one way
9 miles (14½ km) there and back, if returning on the same path
(This distance is measured from the main road in Llanberis and includes an unavoidable ¾ mile of tarmac approach.)
Time: Allow between 2½ and 4 hours each way, depending on your level of fitness.
Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2024
Getting there
- The path starts at the far end of Victoria Terrace, Llanberis, off the A4086
- Grid reference: SH 647 557 (O.S. map Outdoor Leisure OL17)
- Postcode: LL55 4TD
- What 3 words: routine.visit.peach
- Location of start on Google maps
Parking for the Llanberis Path
There is no National Park Authority car park in Llanberis (because Llanberis isn’t in the National Park) but there are numerous other well-marked car parks in the village, starting at £6 per day.
The nearest car park to the Llanberis Path is the Snowdon Mountain Railway’s own pay & display car park (LL55 4TT, off Victoria Terrace, behind the station – £10 for 8 hours, no overnight parking) which is also available to the public. (The machine takes cash only, but card payments can be made at the adjacent Trading Post shop, the railway gift shop or the railway booking office, when open.)
The next nearest parking is the large car park directly opposite the station (£11 all day and £6 after 3pm – open 6am to 11pm only). Elsewhere parking is available any time of day or night. (Please don’t park in side streets or outside residents’ houses.)
If you want to park overnight, don’t use the big one opposite the station as you’ll get a ticket after 11pm (automated by camera). Use the large car park by the slate museum or (nearer) the community centre car park on the village side of the bus interchange.
It isn’t possible to pre-book a place in any of the main car parks in Llanberis, but it needn’t be a worry as there is plenty of parking to be had.
Equally, you may wish to take advantage of the Park & Ride car park at Nant Peris, two miles up the Llanberis Pass.
The Park & Ride car park is about half way between Llanberis and Pen y Pass (the start of the Pyg Track and Miners’ Track). Buses connect with both Llanberis and Pen y Pass so this can be useful if you are planning on, say, using the Llanberis Path just one way, and coming down on the Pyg or Miners’ Track, or vice-versa.
The Park & Ride is served by buses every 15 minutes in the season (at weekends and school holidays), otherwise every 30 minutes. In the winter it is served by just the two-hourly S2 service.
Other facilities
- There are toilets by the station (open in the season), in the village and at the Park & Ride car park.
- On the walk itself there is a café near the bottom of the walk (Pen Ceunant), and the Halfway House café (open seasonally).
- The station has a gift shop and sells refreshments from its Platform Grill (open when trains are running).
- There are plenty shops and cafés in the village of Llanberis.
- Llanberis and the Park & Ride are served by Sherpa services S1, S2 and S5.
Path description
- The Google Trekker (like StreetView) will provide you with a ‘virtual’ walk up the mountain on this path.
- When you are actually on the mountain, the Snowdon Walks App will show a map of the path, with your exact position on it. It doesn’t require a signal, and it also provides information about places and features you pass on the path.
The Llanberis Path is approached from the roundabout outside the Royal Victoria Hotel at the southern end of the village of Llanberis.
From this roundabout it is nearly ¾ mile up to the proper start, initially passing down Victoria Terrace. From the cattle grid the road climbs steeply up Allt y Parc, past the café of Pen y Ceunant Isaf.
The path goes off-road at the gate on the left, signposted ‘Llanberis Path’.
The off-road section starts here at the mountain gate.
For the best part of the next 2 miles the path climbs at a gentle gradient, which can be split up as follows:
After ¼ mile you’ll see (on the right) the former Hebron station and Hebron chapel ruin, then in another ¼ mile you’ll reach Hebron Gate. The Snowdon Mountain Railway is never far away down on your right, and another ¾ mile will see you passing under Halfway Bridge (where the railway now crosses to run higher up the hillside on your left).
The Llanberis Path at Halfway Bridge
A further ½ mile will see you reach the Halfway House café (open seasonally for refreshments after Easter).
From this lower part of the path the summit can be seen in the distance, but there are also views behind you (towards Llanberis and Anglesey) and across the valley of Cwm Brwynog. The hills on the right are (left to right) those of Moel Cynghorion, Foel Goch, Foel Gron and Moel Eilio, which form the ‘North-west Ridge’, a much more challenging route to the summit!
The Halfway House café (looking down the path) – it’s pretty much half way.
Half a mile after the Halfway House café the path reaches the bottom of Allt Moses (‘Moses’ Hill’), a very steep section of ⅓ mile. (Moses Williams opened the first refreshment hut in the 19th century, which was at the base of this steep section.)
At the top of Allt Moses is a railway bridge, close to Clogwyn station. Here you will see the views over the Llanberis Pass for the first time. It is here too that the weather often changes.
The steep path of Allt Goch, above Clogwyn station
The path then continues up Allt Goch, initially an even steeper section of some ½ mile, which can be slippy when wet, especially when coming down. Allt Goch gradually levels off as you approach Bwlch Glas, and by now, the views are widening considerably.
Bwlch Glas is marked by a huge standing stone on the left where the Pyg Track and Miners’ Track join the Llanberis Path. The Snowdon Ranger Path also comes in from the right, crossing the railway line. With so many paths joining here, Bwlch Glas can be a busy spot.
The standing stone at Bwlch Glas
From here it is just ⅓ mile to the summit, which can be clearly seen ahead of you. Down to your left are the lakes of Llyn Glaslyn and Llyn Llydaw, with the ridge of Crib Goch further behind you to the left.
On returning from the summit, head back down the path close to the railway for ⅓ mile, and at Bwlch Glas, where the huge standing stone is, continue on the central path (not left down the Snowdon Ranger or right up to Carnedd Ugain and Crib Goch).
Please don’t walk on the railway track at any point. Aside from the fact that it’s private property, this can result in damage to the ballast ‘shoulder’. Moreover, it can be particularly dangerous, especially in winter.
Distances up the path
Base map © S.N.P.A.
Combining with other paths
The Llanberis Path can easily be combined with the Pyg Track or Miners’ Track by using the Sherpa bus service or the Park & Ride service down the Llanberis Pass.
See the page on combining and mixing paths on Snowdon for more.