Ty Hyll

The walk up to Ty Hyll is steeper than you'd expect from the car park, and that's before you realise there's no proper visitor centre or facilities - just the ruin itself and the views. It's a 19th-century mansion that burned down, leaving stone walls and chimneys standing against the Conwy Valley like a stage set. You won't spend hours here. Twenty minutes, maybe thirty if you're the type who photographs every angle and reads every interpretation board (there aren't many). The real draw is what you can see from the site - the mountains roll away in every direction, and on a clear day the perspective over towards Snowdonia proper is worth the climb alone.

Walkers heading to Betws-y-Coed will find this a sensible detour, and it works well if you're basing yourself at Conwy Valley Touring Park or one of the nearby caravan sites. Families with young children might find the uphill slog a bit much for what amounts to a ruin and a viewpoint, though older kids who like scrambling around old buildings will get a kick out of it. There's no charge, and you can turn up whenever you like.

Go early morning or late afternoon when the light's better and you'll avoid the midday crowds from Conwy town itself, which sits just down the valley. The walk's not long, but it's worth doing properly rather than rushing it.