Snowdonia is not famous for sunshine, and anyone who arrives in Betws-y-Coed with a packed itinerary and wakes to persistent rain on the first morning needs a contingency plan. The good news is that rain is not a reason to write off the day. Several of the best things about Betws-y-Coed are either entirely weather-independent or are actively improved by wet conditions. The waterfalls are more powerful, the gorges more atmospheric, the forest more dramatic, and the pubs more welcoming when the weather closes in.
Swallow Falls in full spate after heavy rain is one of the best natural spectacles in North Wales. The River Llugwy runs brown and fast, the falls roar, and spray hangs in clouds over the gorge. You will need a waterproof jacket and will probably get wet anyway, but the experience is genuinely unforgettable. Conwy Falls is similarly transformed by high water, and the gorge walk downstream through the Fairy Glen is at its most atmospheric when the river is running hard. Rain and waterfalls are complementary rather than competing.
The Conwy Valley Railway Museum beside the station is the obvious indoor fallback and a genuinely good one. The indoor exhibits cover the history of the Conwy Valley Line and the broader Welsh railway story. The miniature railway runs in the covered yard regardless of weather. The museum cafe is a warm and comfortable refuge, and the gift shop stocks railway books that make good wet-afternoon reading material. Allow a couple of hours to do the museum properly.
Betws-y-Coed has a concentration of cafes that reflects its long history as a walking village where walkers need warming and drying out. The Alpine Coffee Shop is a reliable choice. For a longer, warmer stay, the Pont-y-Pair Inn opens for food from lunchtime and has the atmosphere of a proper walking pub: damp jackets on the back of chairs, muddy boots at the door, and good hot food throughout the afternoon. The outdoor gear shops along the high street — including the Cotswold Outdoor store — are spacious, well-stocked and entirely happy to have browsers rather than buyers during wet spells. You may emerge from a rainy afternoon in the shops with a better waterproof jacket than you arrived with.
If the rain is set in for the morning, the 20-minute drive south on the A470 to Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Llechwedd Slate Caverns is worth serious consideration. The underground mine tours are entirely weather-independent and among the most memorable experiences in the region. Blaenau receives more rainfall than almost anywhere else in Wales, but when you are inside the mountain it makes no difference whatsoever.
A wet afternoon drive west on the A5 towards Capel Curig and the Ogwen Valley gives a view of Snowdonia in a completely different mood. Mountains streaked with new waterfalls, the valley floor in mist, cloud pouring through the passes — it is dramatic in a way that clear weather cannot match. Stop at the lay-by near Llyn Ogwen for an atmospheric view of Tryfan’s ridge appearing and disappearing in cloud. This costs nothing and takes about an hour, and on the right rainy day it is one of the best things you can do in North Wales.
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