Moel Wnion

The walk up Moel Wnion from Bangor is short but proper steep in places, and the effort pays off with views across the Menai Strait that'll stop you mid-conversation. It's a bare 400-metre ascent, so not a full day's work, but the path does test your calves. Most walkers manage it in under an hour each way.

What you're climbing is an Iron Age hillfort - there are earthwork traces up there if you know what to look for, though the landscape itself does most of the talking. On a clear day the views reach across Anglesey and back towards Snowdonia. On a grey one, which is fairly common in North Wales, you get a moody sense of why anyone bothered fortifying this spot in the first place.

This is really a walker's climb rather than a family jaunt. Kids aged eight and up will manage it fine if they're used to hills, but there's not much to do once you're up there - no café, no facilities, no playground. The appeal is purely the walk and the views. That said, if you're camped nearby at Ogwen Bank or Three Streams Glamping, it's an excellent way to tire everyone out before supper.

Best visited on a morning when the light's still good and before the midges get ambitious. The path starts from lower Garth, just outside Bangor. Allow two hours return if you're not hurrying. It's free, obviously - it's a hill.