The Anglesey Hotel

Rooms and decor

The building is a late-19th-century Victorian one that has kept its structure and feel intact — stone walls, high ceilings, an old wooden staircase. The 12 rooms are done in a Welsh cottage style, each a little different, with double or king beds, good linen and an en-suite shower. The front rooms are the draw: they fill the window with the Menai Strait and Anglesey island, and that view is what guests rate highest. One review put it as opening the curtains to the strait and a sailboat — about as Welsh a morning as you get. The trade-off is the building itself: there is no lift, so it is stairs up to your room.

Food and amenities

The ground-floor pub is the heart of the place. It pours real ale and Welsh local beer from Brecon Brewery, Conwy Brewery and Snowdonia Brewing on the list year-round, and locals drink here too. The restaurant runs Welsh dishes — Welsh lamb pie, cockle and laverbread, Bara Brith and Welsh rarebit — with plates from about $15 to $28. A full Welsh cooked breakfast is included in the rate, eaten with the harbour in view. The concierge will help book a Snowdonia tour or the Welsh Highland Railway, and Wi-Fi is free. Several Saturday nights the pub has live Welsh folk music — worth sitting in for.

Location and getting there

It sits on The Promenade on Caernarfon Harbour, the best location in town for a water view. Caernarfon Castle is a 3-minute walk — the closest on this list — and Castle Square, with its restaurants and pubs, is five. The Welsh Highland Railway steam station is 8 minutes on foot, and Segontium Roman Fort a 15-minute walk. Snowdonia National Park is 15km out, about a 25-minute drive, and Bangor Station is 12km away, roughly 15 minutes by car.

Things to know before booking

This is a heritage building, so set expectations: no lift, and the stairs are the only way up. There is no private parking — you use the Slate Quay public car park nearby, around $6 a day. And the ground-floor pub gets noisy on weekends, with the bar running late on Friday and Saturday, so if you are a light sleeper ask for an upper-floor or rear room rather than one over the bar.

Our take

You book The Anglesey Hotel for the harbour and the Menai Strait out the window, plus a castle three minutes away — not for size or facilities. Doubles from about $91 a night make that view good value, and the pub downstairs is part of the appeal, not a flaw, as long as you pick your room with the weekend in mind. The 8.7/10 score fits: a small heritage place that nails the things it sets out to do.