Hiking the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path: 12 Stages & Holy Island Walk

One of the United Kingdom’s greatest natural features is its coastline. There are over 7,000 miles of it if you include the larger islands, which is more than enough walking and exploring to keep most people busy for a lifetime.

Even in that company, the Isle of Anglesey has some of the finest coastal walking anywhere in Britain, and its 130-mile coastal pathway serves up breathtaking views around every headland.

I have been coming to North Wales for as long as I can remember, and each time I return I am taken straight back to my early childhood holidays.

There is something evocative about the scents of the sea, the sand, fish and chips, and those classic seaside sounds that act as powerful memory triggers for anyone who grew up spending holidays by the water. Eau de chippy, sand, and salt is a time-travel fragrance like no other—instantly transporting me back to happy times on coastal sojourns.

I have visited Anglesey twice recently for two very different coast-walking experiences. Once was in the height of summer, where we enjoyed beautifully warm, sunny days; the sea was crystal clear in lovely shades of light blue, and we walked open-toed across the beaches with warm sunshine on our backs.

We also visited in the depths of winter, where we were wrapped in full waterproofs and battered by the elements—including a Saharan-style sandstorm on Rhosneigr beach—yet still managed to enjoy bracing clifftop walks and soul-warming sunsets.

Whatever the season, the Anglesey coast is deservedly designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (National Landscape), and the good news for walkers is that almost all of it is accessible via the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path.

Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path: At a Glance

Walking the Full 130 Miles: The 12 Official Stages

In total, 130 miles of pathway wrap right around the island, and it is possible to break this up into manageable segments to walk the entire coast in around 12 days:

1. Stage 1: Holyhead to Llanfaethlu (Porth Trwyn) — 11 miles
2. Stage 2: Llanfaethlu to Cemaes Bay — 10.5 miles (via Cemlyn Bay lagoon)
3. Stage 3: Cemaes Bay to Amlwch Port — 9.5 miles (rugged northern cliffs and copper heritage)
4. Stage 4: Amlwch Port to Moelfre — 12.5 miles (via Point Lynas lighthouse)
5. Stage 5: Moelfre to Red Wharf Bay — 10 miles (sweeping sandy bays via Benllech)
6. Stage 6: Red Wharf Bay to Beaumaris — 12.5 miles (rounding Penmon Point to Beaumaris Castle)
7. Stage 7: Beaumaris to Moel y Don — 10 miles (along the Menai Strait beneath the bridges)
8. Stage 8: Moel y Don to Llyn Rhos-ddu (Newborough) — 9 miles (with views across to Snowdonia)
9. Stage 9: Llyn Rhos-ddu to Aberffraw — 12.5 miles (past the tidal island of Ynys Llanddwyn)
10. Stage 10: Aberffraw to Four Mile Bridge — 11.5 miles (via the Church in the Sea and Rhosneigr)
11. Stage 11: Four Mile Bridge to Trearddur Bay — 9.5 miles (onto Holy Island via Rhoscolyn)
12. Stage 12: Trearddur Bay to Holyhead — 11.5 miles (via South Stack Lighthouse and Holyhead Mountain)

However, walking the whole island in one go is an ambitious undertaking.

For most of us, there are brilliant alternatives for more casual strolls and circular routes starting from picture-postcard beachside villages.

If you are lucky enough to stay by the coast, you can wake up to early morning sea mist rolling in and finish the day strolling along the cliffs watching the sun sink into the ocean.

My recent trips allowed me to properly explore the sections of the path between Rhosneigr and South Stack Lighthouse at the top of Holy Island—and there is some truly first-class walking to be had.

Rhoscolyn and the NCI Coastwatch Lookout

Rhoscolyn (LL65 2NJ) is a fantastic base for staying and walking from.

It is a lovely little village with some fabulous houses, a couple of sheltered beaches and inlets to explore (like Borthwen), and a famous pub—The White Eagle—that pulls in people from far and wide for its food, which has even been given a Royal seal of approval.

On sunny summer days, many visitors would find little reason to leave the beach, with thoughts of exploration limited to a crab hunt in the rock pools.

However, there is so much to take in and enjoy for those willing to head out onto the clifftop paths.

As you climb uphill from the village past prickly gorse bushes and the rabbits that make their home there, you reach the NCI Rhoscolyn Lookout Station.

The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) is a voluntary organisation whose stations are manned by dedicated volunteers keeping watch over the coast for people and vessels that fall into trouble.

The view from the lookout is fabulous. The mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) sit just across the Menai Strait from Anglesey, so those with a keen eye and good mountain knowledge will be able to pick out Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) from Moel Hebog on a clear day.

If the cloud is down over the mountains, your eye is drawn instead to the Rhoscolyn Beacon on the rocky islands a few hundred metres offshore, and the cormorants and grey seals swimming in the swell below.

St Gwenfaen’s Well and the Sea Arches (Bwa Gwyn & Bwa Du)

Further along the path from the lookout sits St Gwenfaen’s Well, a medieval holy well and Grade II-listed structure tucked into the hillside, before the trail winds into the familiar rollercoaster pattern that typifies this stretch of Anglesey.

Coastal erosion has carved a series of deep bays and rugged headlands that the path snakes around, treating walkers to amazing scenery and dramatic drops around every new corner.

Care needs to be taken not to venture too close to the edges—especially if you are walking with children or dogs—but this section of the path is stunning.

You will often spot rock climbers scaling the cliff faces here and sea kayakers paddling below.

The sea has also carved two natural rock arches along this coast: Bwa Gwyn (the White Arch) and Bwa Du (the Black Arch).

On calm summer days, you can watch kayaking tours paddling right through the Bwa Gwyn arch, enjoying a seal’s-eye view of the white cliffs.

On my very first visit here, I could not find Bwa Gwyn anywhere. I stood on a precariously steep-sided shoulder of land, checking and rechecking my map, until I finally realised I was standing right on top of the archway!

I would not recommend that particular spot, as it can be viewed safely from the land just south of it—take it from me, if you are edging close to a drop and still cannot see the arch, you are standing in the wrong place.

Viewed from the right vantage point, it is a magic spot to take in the sunset and watch the changing colours on the cliff walls.

Strolling Across the Sands at Trearddur Bay

There are easy circular routes leading back to Rhoscolyn along quiet lanes from the area near the arches (making a lovely 4.5-mile loop), or alternatively you can carry on north along the coast path into Trearddur Bay (LL65 2UN) and its fabulously wide sandy beach.

On summer days, the beach is a huge draw for families, and strolling across the firm sand in any weather watching the tide roll in and out is time well spent—even more so if you combine your walk with an ice cream from one of the nearby parlours.

Trearddur Bay to South Stack Lighthouse & Holyhead Mountain

Heading north out of Trearddur Bay, the coastal path takes you four miles along the cliffs to South Stack Lighthouse and Holyhead Mountain (at 220 metres, I think we are surely stretching the definition of the word “mountain” here, though the views more than make up for it!).

I covered this section of the coastal path at the end of March, when walking had to be timed between bouts of inhospitable weather.

The experience is completely different at that time of year, but being exposed to the elements and the raw power of the Irish Sea makes the walk all the more dramatic.

After a storm, thick sea foam fills some of the smaller bays, and when the waves are rolling in at full tilt you can see in real time how the isolated sea stacks standing in the middle of the coves were created by the land washing away around them.

At the end of this stretch, below huge cliffs that are home to noisy colonies of seabirds, sits South Stack island and its famous lighthouse. South Stack Lighthouse (LL65 1YH) was built in 1809 and has been warning passing ships from this westernmost point of Anglesey about the treacherous rocks offshore ever since.

In the warmer months, you can walk down the cliff steps to visit the lighthouse and climb to the top for an unforgettable viewpoint.

From the lighthouse, the path heads right through the RSPB South Stack Cliffs Nature Reserve, where you can see some of the rich birdlife that calls these cliffs home.

Guillemots, razorbills, and puffins come to the ledges to nest in spring and summer, and I was lucky enough to spot a falcon hunting along the cliffs when I was here.

Climbing up onto Holyhead Mountain above the reserve gives you the best vantage point on the island—looking right back along the coastal path from where you have come, or sizing up where you are headed next.

Beyond Holy Island, there are plenty more classic sections of the path waiting to be explored, from historic Beaumaris Castle to the romantic tidal island of Ynys Llanddwyn.

Tackling the whole 130-mile coastal pathway is a brilliant challenge for anyone wanting to walk it in one go, but for most of us, a leisurely walk along sections of the trail is one of the best reasons to visit—and keep returning to—Anglesey.

Either way, you are in for some quality walking on a spectacular coastline.