CURRENT STATUS AT PEN Y PASS: Pre-booking only, reverting to Pay & Display on Monday 4 Nov 2024
Pen y Pass car park
Contents
Location
Pen y Pass car park is at the head of the Llanberis Pass; this is 5 miles up the pass from Llanberis, and 5½ miles from Capel Curig in the other direction.
The Pyg Track and the Miners Track start from this car park.
- Grid reference: SH 647 557 (O.S. map Outdoor Leisure OL17)
- Postcode: LL55 4NU
- What 3 words: spud.salt.replaces
- Location on Google maps
Pre-booking (until Sunday 3 Nov.)
Pre-booking is now operating at Pen y Pass (reverting to Pay & Display on Monday 4 Nov 2024)
During the season (up until 3 November), any driver wishing to park at Pen y Pass will need to pre-book their visit at least 1 hour in advance. Booking can be made now for any date in the season. This is done via the JustPark website (here) or the JustPark app (download link below). With space limited to 68 cars, tickets can sell out very quickly, especially at weekends. (Motorbikes also need to pre-book.)
Parking charges for 2024 (unchanged from last year):
-
- Up to 8 hours – £20
- 8 hours to 12 hours – £30
- 12 hours to 24 hours – £40
Pen y Pass car park is manned round the clock, should any problems arise. For information, income from this car park goes towards path maintenance on the mountain.
When booking, you can choose any time – day or night – to start and finish your booked period, so if the app is showing no availability, try adjusting your hours slightly as there may be availability then (for instance, sunrise walkers may have booked only till 9 or 10 a.m.)
Don’t worry if you arrive a little early or late, or if you’re a little late returning to your car; you won’t be charged for short overstays, and anyway, whilst registration numbers are checked on entry, they’re not on departure.
Also make sure that the vehicle registration you enter when making a booking is that of the vehicle you will be travelling in on the day. However, if you want to book but don’t know the registration of the vehicle you’ll be in (because, for instance, it will be a hire vehicle), you can change the registration later on the booking. See this JustPark help page regarding this. Anyway, because Pen y Pass is manned, even if the registration is different, you’ll be OK if you can show them the original booking on your phone.
The maximum vehicle length able to park in this car park is 5m. If your vehicle is longer than this, you are advised to contact the National Park Authority to arrange parking beforehand. (That said, large minibuses can park at the Park & Ride car park as there are no height or length restrictions there.)
Using the JustPark website you can cancel (and get a refund) up to 24hrs before the start time of your booking.
The JustPark website has help pages, if you need more assistance.
Download the JustPark app for Apple or Android:
Overnight parking (pre-booking)
Note that whilst cars can book to park overnight, overnight camping or stays in campervans/motorhomes is not permitted at Pen y Pass or in any National Park Authority car park.
Winter Pay & Display (from 4 Nov.)
SHOW/HIDE winter parking arrangements (from 4 Nov)
Over the winter, from 4 November, parking is on a Pay & Display basis.
- £10 for 24 hours (by card only – ‘chip & pin’ or contactless)
Parking is on a first-come, first-served basis. On fine weekends and at holiday times it can fill up early (as early as 7a.m.), and when it’s full, it’s full. Mid-week it generally fills up much later.
Sometimes when it’s full you can get lucky, if you arrive just as a car is leaving (having done an early sunrise walk, for instance) but waiting around for such an occurrence just isn’t possible.
The maximum vehicle length able to park in this car park is 5m. If your vehicle is longer than this, you are advised to contact the National Park Authority to arrange parking beforehand. (That said, large minibuses can park at the Park & Ride car park as there are no height or length restrictions there.)
Overnight parking (winter)
If you are going up overnight, and you arrive after 6pm, you should pay for a ticket when you arrive, and this will cover you until you return the next morning. However, if you arrive before 6pm, you will need to pay for two tickets (for both days), and display them both in your vehicle.
Note that overnight camping or stays in campervans/motorhomes is not permitted at Pen y Pass.
(End of drop-down winter Pay & Display section)
Brief dropping off
Drop-offs are allowed at Pen y Pass, and can be a good alternative if the car park is full. There is space at the entrance to the car park for the brief dropping-off of walkers – by cars, minibuses or coaches – but this has to be kept very brief, as buses and taxis need constant access.
Motorbikes & bicycles
Motorbikes
If a motorbike is parked in a marked parking bay, the normal ticket policy and pricing will apply.
As Pen y Pass is manned, guidance can be sought from the car park staff as to the best/safest place to leave motorbikes (sometimes there will be free space out by the road).
Bicycles
There are currently no cycle racks at Pen y Pass, but if you have a word with the car parking staff on arrival, they will find somewhere safe for you to leave your bike near their manned hut.
Blue Badge holders
Free parking is available for blue badge holders at Pen y Pass car park. The space does not need to be pre-booked or paid for. However it is available on a first-come, first-served basis as it has always been, and therefore you may find that the space is already full when you arrive. This is even more likely to be the case in the busy summer months. Staff are on the ground 24 hours a day who will be more than happy to assist if you arrive and the space is already taken.
Facilities at Pen y Pass
For more information about the facilities at Pen y Pass, see this page.
Other options if Pen y Pass is not available
Please don’t be tempted to park on the roadside at Pen y Pass. This is a clearway so parking is illegal, and if you do so you are likely to have your vehicle towed away. (This will then cost you £65 in a taxi fare to the compound near Caernarfon, £195 in release fee, and if it’s a bank holiday their office won’t be manned until the next working day.) Illegal parking just isn’t worth it.
Nant Peris Park & Ride
If the car park is full (or in summer fully booked or you do not wish to pre-book), drivers are encouraged to use the much cheaper option of the Park & Ride facility at Nant Peris, 3 miles down the pass. During the season (from 1 April) this is served by buses every 15 minutes at weekends and school holidays, otherwise every 30 minutes. Buses connect with both Llanberis (where there is also parking) and Pen y Pass.
The earliest bus from the Park & Ride to Pen y Pass leaves at 07:15. The last bus from Pen y Pass to the Park & Ride leaves at 19:30. You can download bus timetables on the Park & Ride page.
Local taxis also frequently run up and down the Llanberis Pass, servicing Llanberis, Nant Peris Park & Ride, and Pen y Pass.
Pen y Gwryd
Additional car parking for Pen y Pass can also be found at Pen y Gwryd, a mile in the other direction, towards Capel Curig. There are pay & display lay-bys here on both sides of the road and on both sides of the junction (£2 for 4 hours, £4 all day).
Do not try and park for free on the verge here as this is a marked clearway (clearly signed by a red cross on a blue background), meaning that you will likely get a parking ticket even if you are not actually on the carriageway.
Beyond the clearway, in the Capel Curig direction and less than ½ mile from Pen y Gwryd, free verge and lay-by parking is allowed.
(If you park at Pen y Gwryd, please don’t walk the mile up to Pen y Pass on the narrow road; it’s dangerous. Use the signed off-road path which starts a little downhill from the junction. It’s exactly the same distance, but much safer. It’s shown on this map.)
Lay-bys in the Llanberis Pass
There is a small number of lay-bys in the Llanberis Pass between Pen y Pass and the Park & Ride at Nant Peris, and these are often used by climbers, such as at Pont y Gromlech, or people walking elsewhere from the Pass. If there is space you can park here, as long as your car is completely off the highway, but spaces are limited.
If you do park here, we suggest that you do not walk to Pen y Pass on the narrow road (which can be dangerous) but follow the path on the mountain side of the road (part of the Snowdon circular route and shown on the map here), or wait to flag down a Sherpa bus.
The path down to the Cromlech lay-by is signed from Pen y Pass
Parking for Snowdon’s other paths
For information about parking for Snowdon’s other paths, see here.