Menai Strait (Menai Bridge)
Photo via Wikimedia Commons — licence & author.
Tidal paddling under Telford's bridge
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 Menai Strait (Menai Bridge) yet. Know it well? Help us get it right.
Paddling beneath Telford's 1826 Menai Suspension Bridge and around Church Island is one of the most spectacular trips in Wales — but the Strait is seriously tidal, funnelling through the notorious rock-strewn narrows known as the Swellies. This is a venue for experienced paddlers at slack water, or for a guided trip from Menai Bridge — never a first-timer's outing. Treat the tide tables as gospel.
Getting there
Menai Strait (Menai Bridge) is in Anglesey, Anglesey (Ynys Môn). It's roughly 0 min (0.1 miles) from Menai Bridge , and within reach of Bangor (8 min) and Beaumaris (15 min).
The nearest parking: Porth y Wrach slipway car park, Menai Bridge. Grid reference SH 556 717 — works on any OS map and doesn't need a phone signal.
Good to know
Go at slack water with someone who knows the tides, or book a guided trip from Menai Bridge. Not a first-timer venue.
On the map
View Menai Strait (Menai Bridge) 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?
Menai Bridge 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 Menai Bridge ↗ opens Booking.com — needs signalNearby places
Make Menai Strait (Menai Bridge) 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.