Snowdonia National Park

Britain's second-largest national park, after the Lake District, Snowdonia covers 840 sq miles (1352 sq km) of North Wales, including Snowdon - at 3560ft (1068m), the highest peak in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands.

About 500,000 people touch the rugged summit every year, whether by climbing, walking or taking the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Long the testing ground of more ambitious mountaineers (Edmund Hillary, for example), Snowdon's many trails make the summit accessible to hikers of varying abilities.

The park also contains rivers, lakes, waterfalls, forests, moorlands, glacial valleys and a lovely coastline, as well as Stone and Bronze Age burial chambers, Roman forts, Norman castles, steam railways and relics of the country's mining heritage. Centers include the climbers' haven of lakeside Llanberis, postcard-pretty Betws-y-Coed, the former slate-mining village of Blaenau Ffestiniog and the castle town of Harlech.