Fairy Glen & Conwy Falls
Photo via Wikimedia Commons — licence & author.
Enchanted river gorge
This is a quick reference, not a full walked guide. The facts below — location, parking, grid reference and access — are maintained from our dataset, but we haven't published our own first-hand write-up of Fairy Glen & Conwy Falls yet. Know it well? Help us get it right.
A narrow, mossy gorge where the River Conwy squeezes between sheer, fern-hung rock walls — as fairy-tale as the name promises, reached by a short honesty-box path through a farm. The steps down are slippery, and it's a paradise for photographers with a tripod and a slow shutter. Pair it with Swallow Falls and the quiet Penmachno valley for a green, watery half-day.
Getting there
Fairy Glen & Conwy Falls is in Betws-y-Coed, Eryri (Snowdonia). It's roughly 6 min (0.9 miles) from Betws-y-Coed , and within reach of Capel Curig (17 min) and Bethesda (38 min).
The nearest parking: Fairy Glen car park off the A470 (Beaver Bridge). Grid reference SH 800 553 — works on any OS map and doesn't need a phone signal.
Good to know
Slippery steps down; photographers' heaven with a tripod and slow shutter. Combine with Penmachno's quiet valley.
🌟 Best time: Autumn colour turns the gorge molten — around October–November.
On the map
View Fairy Glen & Conwy Falls on OpenStreetMap ↗, or open it in the Explore Wales trip planner to add it to a day out with drive times and offline maps.
Staying over?
Betws-y-Coed makes a relaxed base for exploring the area — worth staying over to catch an early start or a golden-hour finish.
Browse places to stay near Betws-y-Coed ↗ opens Booking.com — needs signalNearby places
Make Fairy Glen & Conwy Falls part of a day out
Add it to a trip in the free Explore Wales planner — chained drive times, weather, campsite suggestions, and offline maps for when the signal drops.