Ask someone to name Britain’s most spectacular natural features, and they’ll say the Jurassic Coast, the Giant’s Causeway, the White Cliffs of Dover, Snowdonia, the Lake District, and the classic British attractions. Yet overlooking all these is one of Britain’s most spectacular natural features, which no one ever talks about enough: the Great Orme.
This is a limestone headland that rises dramatically from the coast of North Wales, just to the south of Llandudno. It’s a headland that’s so dramatically extroverted, its visual confidence is not diminished by the lacklustre lowlands that lie around it. The Great Orme is 207m high. It’s not the highest point in Wales, but that, of course, is part of the point.
What you need to remember is that the Great Orme is a headland of singular variety, a place that rewards exploration, where you see that which announces itself gradually. There’s the summit, of course, which, on a clear day, offers stunning views of the Isle of Man, the Irish coast, and the mountains of Snowdonia. There’s the Marine Drive – a circuitous road around the headland that offers the best of the coastal scenery. And there’s the country park, with its wandering Kashmiri goats that pose so obligingly for the tourists taking photos. For the Best Hotel in Llandudno, visit //stgeorgeswales.co.uk/
And then there’s the way you get there, because the Great Orme has to be one of the most interesting ways up a hill in Britain. There’s the Victorian tramway that has been carrying tourists up the hill since 1902, as well as the thrilling cable car. The Great Orme is a top destination.
