Wales

Lampeter

(http://www.lamp.ac.uk/). the third oldest university in either wales or england, behind only oxford and cambridge, based in the small town of lampeter in west wales. home to the oldest rugby and hockey teams in wales.

Glyndwr University, Wrexham

(http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/). wales' newest university, constituted in 2008 from the north east wales institute of higher education.

Aberystwyth

(http://www.aber.ac.uk/). a university overlooking the sea - excellent facilities.

 

Wales has ten major universities, all of which have large foreign student populations:

Glamorgan

(http://www.glam.ac.uk/). a large university, set in the south wales valleys.

Swansea Metropolitan

(http://www.sihe.ac.uk/). this university is located at several campuses throughout the city, and it is famous for its courses in stained glass design (http://www.agc.org.uk/) and digital media (http://www.sihe.ac.uk/sih...).

University Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC)

(http://www.uwic.ac.uk). the self styled cardiff metripolitan university.

 

Wales' offers some spectacular coastal and mountainous scenery. Which offers the opportunity for various activity holidays.

Cadair Idris

Close to the mid-wales coast, overlooking dolgellau to the north and bro dysynni to the south-west is another very popular mountain. it has good rail access on both north and south sides from the cambrian coast line, but this is virtually at sea level. the actual summit is 893 m or 2,930 ft above sea level. this makes for a strenuous walk which takes most of the day.

International Eisteddfod

Llangollen. (http://www.international-...) an international festival of traditional music and dance.

Brecon Jazz Festival

Brecon (http://www.breconjazz.co.uk)

Guardian Hay Festival

Hay-on-wye. (http://www.hayfestival.com/) a literary festival, which bill clinton aptly described as 'the woodstock for the mind.'

Dylan Thomas Festival

Swansea an annual event held between 27 october and 9 november the dates of the poet's birth and death to commemorate the works of thomas. in addition, the festival hosts the awards' ceremony for the winner of the dylan thomas prize (http://www.thedylanthomas...) - a biannual writing competition for most outstanding literary talent in english, aged under 30.

Dylan Thomas Fringe

Swansea. (http://www.dylanthomasfri...). compliments the main events at the dylan thomas festival and is held at various venues throughout the city.

Faenol Festival

(http://www.brynfest.com/) is organised by the internationally renowned opera singer bryn terfel, and takes place on august bank holiday weekend every year at y felinheli, between bangor and caernarfon.

Cardiff Singer of the World Competition

Cardiff

National Eisteddfod

eisteddfod genedlaethol cymru (http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/). first week of august. a welsh language week long event with simultaenous translation available for the main events that is hosted by a different town each year, alternating between north and south wales. in 2011 it was held in wrexham its 150th anniversary in the modern form.

Sesiwn Fawr

(http://www.sesiwnfawr.co....) world music festival takes place every july in dolgellau. with 6 stages, there's something for everyone.

Swansea Bay Film Festival

Swansea. (http://www.swanseafilmfes...). the uk's largest international indie film festival.

Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts

Swansea. (http://www.swanseafestiva...). an annual october three week bash of culture at various locations in swansea, and the second largest such festival in the uk.

Wakestock

(http://www.wakestock.co.uk/) is a music festival combined with a wakeboarding contest, which takes place in abersoch every july.

heritage railways

These are more generally thought of as pleasurable attractions rather than ways to get around, although the Ffestiniog Railway from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog can be used to link places on main rail lines, and the planned extension to the Welsh Highland Railway will create a useful link between Caernarfon, Beddgelert and Porthmadog. They are all historic lines that have been either preserved or restored and steam is a major feature on these lines.

Bala Lake Railway (http://www.bala-lake-rail...)

Brecon Mountain Railway (http://www.breconmountain...)

Ffestiniog Railway (http://www.ffestiniograil...) - initially depended on gravity and horse power.

Gwili Railway (http://www.gwili-railway....) - unusual in that it is a standard gauge where the others listed here are all narrow gauge railways.

Llanberis Lake Railway (http://www.lake-railway.co.uk)

Snowdon Mountain Railway (http://www.snowdonrailway...) - perhaps the best known of all.

Talyllyn Railway (http://www.talyllyn.co.uk) - The World's first heritage railway

Vale of Rheidol Railway (http://www.rheidolrailway...) runs from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge.

Welsh Highland Railway (http://www.welshhighlandr...)

Welshpool and Llanfair Railway (http://www.wllr.org.uk)

English Study Centre

19-21 uplands crescent, uplands, swansea sa2 0nx. tel:+44 1792 464-103. email: [email protected] (http://www.escwales.co.uk...)

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Cardiff (http://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/). a college focusing on music and drama.

golf

Wales has a long golfing history, with many top-quality courses, however it offers golf courses which tend to be less crowded, and less expensive than the other Western European destinations.

There are high quality courses of all sorts throughout Wales, both well established and recently built.

As a very rough rule North Wales tends to have the better Links courses, and the South the better parkland courses, although it is well worth playing both sorts of courses in both parts of Wales just to find out! There is a relatively density of courses in the Vale of Glamorgan area, between Cardiff and Bridgend, due to the proliferation of course in the last fifteen years, serving the Cardiff Commuter Belt. There is also a high density of courses in the Conwy and Llandudno area.

Further details can be obtained from the Welsh Assembly Government's official golf tourism website (http://www.golf.visitwale...), as well as on pages concerning the specic areas of Wales.

Wales's most prestigous courses include:

The Celtic Manor Resort (http://www.celtic-manor.com/) - located in Newport, Monmouthshire, it has three courses, and is the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Conwy Caernarvonshire, Conwy, Caernarvonshire - this Links hosted a final qualifying round for the 2006 Open Championship

Machynys Golf and Country Club (http://www.machynys.com/), Llanelli, Carmarthenshire - Links, opened in 2005 Wales' first and so far only Nicklaus-designed course.

six nations rugby tournament

Cardiff's Millennium Stadium hosts two or three matches per year as part of the premier Northern Hemisphere Rugby Tournament. As well as the match itself, Cardiff will host many visitors attending the game. Tickets and accommodation would generally need to be bought well in advance. If you are able to see a match then it is a valuable insight into Welsh culture, whether watching in a pub or in the Millennium Stadium.