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Moelfre harbour, Anglesey, a working harbour with small boats moored below the village

Isle of Anglesey · North-east coast

Moelfre

A working harbour anchors this north-east coast village, with a headland view across to a tidal island and the Royal Charter's story still close at hand.

  • Type of placeHarbour village
  • Best forFree maritime museum & harbour views
  • Visit lengthHalf a day
  • SettingAnglesey's north-east coast, facing the Irish Sea
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01The village

A village that still launches its lifeboat

Moelfre wraps around one small harbour on Anglesey’s north-east coast. The lifeboat station, the Seawatch museum, the memorial and the car park all sit around it, close enough to see one from another. The coast path leaves from both ends of it: north along the cliffs, south towards Traeth Bychan.

Why it matters

Most coastal villages have a lifeboat story somewhere in the past tense. Moelfre’s is still running, a station launching since 1828, beside a memorial to the wreck that killed around 450 people on the rocks just north of here in 1859.

Ynys Moelfre seen across the tidal channel from the mainland headland north of Moelfre

Character

A working harbour village

A former fishing village that still behaves like one: cottages, a pub, a bakery and a chip shop set back behind the harbour.

Pace

Flat and easy

The harbour, car park and village centre sit within a few minutes of each other. The headland, the church and Traeth Bychan each need a walk or a drive.

Landscape

North-east facing, a headland and a tidal island

A rocky headland lies just north of the harbour, with the tidal island Ynys Moelfre close offshore.

Best for

Maritime history without a ticket

Best for a short stop that costs nothing, and for walkers joining the coast path at either end of the harbour.

02Discover

The moments that define a visit

Dic Evans' memorial statue standing directly outside the Moelfre RNLI Seawatch Centre

The harbour built around a rescue

A still-working harbour with a free RNLI museum, a retired lifeboat and Dic Evans’ memorial statue.

Ynys Moelfre seen across the tidal channel from the mainland headland north of Moelfre

A tidal island close enough to touch

A short walk onto the headland brings the tidal island into view, with a seal colony offshore.

St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo, from the west

A church that became a mortuary

A churchyard holding the graves of 140 people lost in the Royal Charter wreck, two kilometres from the harbour.

Traeth Bychan, a beach on the coast path between Moelfre and Benllech

A beach with its own shipwreck story

A beach along the coast path where a salvaged submarine was beached before her final tow to Holyhead.

Beyond the first defining moments, the fuller Moelfre catalogue continues below.

Find your bearings

A small harbour village strung along the coast path: the harbour is the centre, with the headland a short walk north and St Gallgo's Church and Traeth Bychan further south.

Dic Evans' memorial statue standing directly outside the Moelfre RNLI Seawatch Centre No verified image yet

Moelfre Harbour & the RNLI Seawatch Centre

The working harbour, the free museum and the Royal Charter memorial, all at the village centre.

Harbour

What to see and do

Four stops along the coast path, from the working harbour to a beach with its own shipwreck story. No cafés, pubs or shops are named here; see Local life for the village's everyday character.

Dic Evans' memorial statue standing directly outside the Moelfre RNLI Seawatch Centre

Harbour

Moelfre Harbour & the RNLI Seawatch Centre

A small harbour still launching lifeboats, with a free RNLI museum beside it: a retired boat inside, and Dic Evans in bronze looking out.

30–60 minThe village centre

St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo, from the west

Heritage

St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo

A late-medieval parish church whose churchyard holds a hundred and forty of the dead from the Royal Charter, the wreck that marked this whole coast.

20–30 minLlanallgo, south of the harbour

Traeth Bychan, a beach on the coast path between Moelfre and Benllech

Beach

Traeth Bychan

A further beach along the coast path towards Benllech, and the shore where the salvaged submarine Thetis was laid up before her last tow to Holyhead.

20–30 minSouth of the village, on the coast path

Parking charges and the Seawatch Centre's exact opening hours are reviewed seasonally, so confirm current details before you plan a day around them.

Isle of Anglesey County Council, car parks

Sources

03Story

A village built on one thing: sea rescue

Moelfre was a working fishing port long before it became known for anything else. What changed the village was the sea itself, and what people here chose to do about it.

  1. A fishing harbour, and a lifeboat since 1828

    Moelfre was a working fishing port when the Anglesey Association for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck placed a lifeboat here in 1828; the RNLI took over the station in 1855.

  2. The Royal Charter, 1859

    In the worst storm of the 19th century, the steam clipper Royal Charter was driven onto rocks just north of the village on the night of 25–26 October 1859, with around 450 lives lost, more than any other wreck on this coast.

  3. Dic Evans and fifty years at sea

    Richard “Dic” Evans served as a Moelfre lifeboatman and coxswain for fifty years, credited with saving 281 lives and twice awarded the RNLI Gold Medal, in 1959 and 1967.

  4. A free museum, and a coast path today

    The Seawatch Centre and Dic Evans' memorial statue, unveiled in 2004, now tell that story for free, on a stretch of the Anglesey Coastal Path that still passes the working harbour every day.

The shingle beach at Moelfre, the Kinmel Arms and the village houses along the shore behind, boats drawn up on the pebbles

The lifeboat station has outlasted the fishing port it was built to serve.

Atlas of Wales

Local life & everyday character

A harbour village first, a museum stop second

Moelfre is a resident village before it is a visitor destination, a small population behind the harbour, with a café, pub, bakery and chip shop close by; no single business is recommended here.

The Anglesey Coastal Path runs directly through the village, so walkers doing the wider Anglesey coast are as much a part of the everyday scene as anyone stopping for the museum.

Local tip

The Royal Charter went down on the rocks north of the village, not at the harbour. The headland walk is where you actually see that coast.

Small boats and inflatables out on the water in Porth Moelfre on Lifeboat Day, the village and its slipway behind
Boats, the slipway and visitors share the same small harbour.

Where the village lives

The working harbour

Small boats and inflatables out on the water in Porth Moelfre on Lifeboat Day, the village and its slipway behind
The working harbour · Moelfre
The working shoreline

Small boats, the lifeboat boathouse and the everyday rhythm of a harbour that's never stopped being used.

The village behind the harbour

Pen-lan cottage and Y Siop Wlan above Moelfre harbour
The village behind the harbour · Moelfre
The everyday village

Cottages, a café, pub, bakery and chip shop sit a short walk from the water, an ordinary Anglesey village behind the museum.

The wider coast

Walkers on a street in Moelfre
The wider coast · Moelfre
The coast path

The headland, St Gallgo's Church and Traeth Bychan all sit a short walk or drive along the Anglesey Coastal Path.

Village rhythm

Morning
The harbour and coast path can be explored before any indoor stop.
Through the day
Coast-path walkers pass through while the museum and memorial hold most visitors' attention.
Evening & off-season
When indoor attractions are closed, the harbour, memorial and coast path still give the visit its shape.

The village in one visit

Moelfre unfolds from one harbour outward.

Sea rescue is the one thread that runs through Moelfre. The harbour, museum and memorial each tell a different part of that story.

Plan your time
  • Small boats and inflatables out on the water in Porth Moelfre on Lifeboat Day, the village and its slipway behind
    Boats at Moelfre harbour
  • Pen-lan cottage and Y Siop Wlan above Moelfre harbour
    Cottages above the harbour, Moelfre
  • The Kinmel Arms public house, Moelfre
    The village pub, Moelfre
  • Walkers on a street in Moelfre
    Coast-path walkers in Moelfre

Dic Evans served the Moelfre lifeboat for fifty years, and is credited with saving 281 lives.

Atlas of Wales

04Plan

Choose the pace that fits your day

  1. Moelfre harbour 1

    Arrive at the harbour car park

    Right at the water's edge, with the Seawatch Centre alongside.

  2. Dic Evans' memorial statue outside the Seawatch Centre 2

    The Seawatch Centre & the memorial

    A free look at Moelfre's lifeboat story, statue included.

  3. Boats out on the water in Porth Moelfre on Lifeboat Day 3

    The harbour itself

    Boats, the boathouse, and the everyday working edge of the village.

  1. Moelfre harbour car park 1

    Arrive at the harbour car park

    The Seawatch Centre is right alongside.

  2. The Seawatch Centre and Dic Evans' memorial 2

    The Seawatch Centre, in full

    Time inside the free museum, retired lifeboat included.

  3. The shingle beach at Moelfre with the village along the shore behind 3

    Walk north onto the headland

    A short stretch of the Anglesey Coastal Path.

  4. Ynys Moelfre seen from the headland 4

    Ynys Moelfre from the headland

    The tidal island and, tide allowing, the odd seal.

  1. Moelfre harbour, early in the day 1

    Start at the harbour

    An early start gets ahead of the car park filling.

  2. The Seawatch Centre and Dic Evans' memorial 2

    The Seawatch Centre & memorial

    The harbour's own rescue story, told for free.

  3. St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo 3

    Drive or walk to St Gallgo's Church

    The Royal Charter graves, a short way south at Llanallgo.

  4. Traeth Bychan beach 4

    On to Traeth Bychan

    A further beach, and the HMS Thetis story.

  5. Looking back along the shingle beach at Moelfre to the village 5

    Back to Moelfre

    Along the coast path, or by road.

Practical

Plan your visit

Everything you need for arriving and getting around.

Getting here

By road

Moelfre is about five minutes' drive off the A5025, with a pay-and-display car park at the beach and two free council ones above the harbour.

Find Moelfre’s car parks in Maps

By bus

Bus services (the route 62 family, Arriva Cymru) name Moelfre Bus Station as a stop, connecting towards Benllech, Amlwch and Bangor. Check the current service before travelling.

Route 62 timetable

Practical details

Parking

Four car parks: pay-and-display behind the Seawatch centre, two free council ones in the village, and a seasonal one at Traeth Bychan.

Check the Isle of Anglesey car parks listing

Charges and restrictions can change. Check the signs when you arrive.

See them on the map
Once you arrive

The car park sits at the water's edge, so the harbour, the museum and the memorial are reached without moving the car again.

Use Moelfre as a base

Where to go next

Four real Atlas destinations pair with a Moelfre visit. Distances are straight-line from the harbour, not driving times.

The circular stone walls of the Din Lligwy Romano-British hut group standing in a woodland clearing near Moelfre, Anglesey.

Din Lligwy Ancient Sites

Three free Cadw monuments above Traeth Lligwy: a Roman-era walled village, a Neolithic burial chamber and a medieval chapel, in one short walk.

About 1.0 miles west (straight-line) The rugged coastline between Moelfre and Lligwy: sea, rock and the edge of the bay.

Traeth Lligwy

A broad east-coast beach with pale sand and low dunes, a little further north: a calmer, quieter Anglesey horizon.

About 2.2 miles west (straight-line) An elevated view of Benllech beach, promenade and the beachside car park, Anglesey

Benllech

A sandy beach village a little south: car parks, toilets and a café already sorted, an Iron Age hut group close by.

About 2.3 miles south (straight-line) A rocky foreshore giving way to wide sand and sea at Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey, with a headland in the distance.

Red Wharf Bay

A wide tidal bay a little further south: miles of sand only there to walk on part of the time, with a landmark rock and a hillfort inland.

About 3.4 miles south (straight-line)

On the Atlas

Continue from Moelfre.

On Anglesey's north-east coast, between Traeth Lligwy and Red Wharf Bay.

Open Moelfre on the map

Before you go

Moelfre keeps its rescue story close at hand.

A free museum, a working harbour, and a headland walk, and the older village is still there if you look.

Open Moelfre on the map Explore the Anglesey Atlas