Castle Street
Castle Street, Beaumaris — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Castle Street is the spine of the town — a couple of hundred handsome metres running from the castle towards the seafront, lined with Georgian and Victorian frontages over medieval plots. This is where you’ll find the town’s independent shops, galleries and delis, along with its most venerable buildings: the timber-framed Tudor Rose, among the oldest houses in Wales, and Ye Olde Bull’s Head Inn, trading since the 15th century. In summer the queue outside Red Boat Ice Cream Parlour tells you exactly where the good stuff is.
The Green & Seafront
The seafront at Beaumaris on a summer day, Welsh flag flying — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Between the town and the water lies the Green — the open lawn where the medieval marsh once ran, now the town’s front garden: picnics, kite-flying, crazy golf in season, and the best free view of Snowdonia anywhere on the strait. Joseph Hansom’s Grade I listed Victoria Terrace presides over it. The seafront promenade and pier are steps away.
Practicalities
The town centre is compact and flat — everything above is within ten minutes’ walk. The main car parks sit close to the castle and the Green; on summer weekends they fill by late morning, so arrive early or come by bus from Bangor. Tourist information is available from the Town Hall on Castle Street. For eating and drinking along the way, see our cafes and pubs guides.
Buildings to Spot
Give the streets twenty minutes of proper attention and the town rewards it: the Tudor Rose’s medieval timber frame on Castle Street; the old Town Hall (1785) with its tourist information point; the David Hughes grammar school building of 1603, remembered in street and school names; Hansom’s trio — Gaol, Bulkeley, Victoria Terrace; and the courthouse of 1614 facing the castle it served. The whole centre is a conservation area, which is why it looks the way it does: little has been allowed to spoil it, and nothing needs to.
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