Llyn Padarn — Attraction in Llanberis

I spent a couple of days swimming at Llyn Padarn this September, and was hugely impressed by how well the lake and the surrounding country park are presented and taken care of. The lake itself is wonderfully clean and fresh, and the local management plainly take a lot of care to ensure a high standard of water quality. It's a brilliant location for outdoor activities, underneath Snowdon and right next to the small town of Llanberis.

The lakeshore has been carefully sculpted and presented, with many sensibly-placed car parks, play areas and pathways near the town - then merging into more 'natural' bays and 'beaches' around the shallow lagoons. There's excellent access to the water for swimmers, canoeists and kayakers, plus a handy toilet block within sprinting distance. Plenty of picnic tables and secluded 'groves' among the trees make this a wonderful location for a relaxing afternoon if you just want to lay back and watch the wildlife.

Alternatively, a paved cycleway provides a level footpath along the lakeshore if you want to take a longer walk - I walked the length of the lake and around to the steam railway, then back again in about two hours. Overall, the whole area was extremely clean. Plenty of other people around who were friendly and we exchanged greetings. Very little litter or dog mess.

I'll definitely be back for a longer stay and to explore more of the...

A lovely lake on the border of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales, n a nice day the lake is used by families with Kayaks, Paddle Boards etc but no motorised boats are allowed on the lake. Many bring their own but you can hire them also, I was there to try and get some Landscape Photography practice, mainly of the famous “ Lone Tree “ which I’ve seen many lately call the “ Lonely Tree “ for some reason, I’d never heard it called that until last. The only problem when the weather is nice is it’s so busy, which made taking photos hard work, I’m not happy with any of the photos I got as I seemed to rush things as I wanted some along Exposure images, not easy with, mainly kids going in and out of the frame, they were only enjoying themselves and as I was on a short break with my wife we had no intention of getting up early, travelling the 30-40 miles from where we were to get there before the crowds, that’s something I’ll have to do by myself. There’s plenty of Pay and Display Car Parks but if you look on the map here and head for one of the three near the Lone Tree, just search for the Lone Tree Cafe and they are on the right hand side, these are FREE but are not tarmac covered so may get muddy on wet days so may not be suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs etc but even the Pay and Display ones are not expensive. Enjoy...

Wonderfully fresh, clean water - swimming in this lake is bliss. The view is spectacular, breathtaking, and the lake is vast.

The cafe serves nice food, waits are quite long and prices could be better... but this facility is good to have!

The guy in the shop below the cafe was friendly and helpful! Thanks 🤙

There are many options for launching into the lake depending on your preference and you can bring your own equipment to launch or hire a variety of water sport equipment (probably best to book before hand online, as it sounded like they get booked up fast!)

The morning was lovely. Things started to get busy and quite hectic later on, so we left about an hour before we had planned to. It became difficult to swim and there was so much paddleboard traffic near the launching beaches; I was hit on the head with a paddle despite wearing an illuminous tote float (a young boy was unsupervised on a paddleboard) . Maybe a clear system or section for beginners might be necessary for busy days?

The parking was so convenient, clean and reasonably priced, and there was an electric pump across the road by the cafe too!

Will return again, early...