Yr WyddfaSnowdon · 1,085 m · highest ground in Wales

Sherpa'r Wyddfa buses (opens in a new tab) link the valley towns to every trailhead: S1 Caernarfon–Llanberis–Betws-y-Coed, S2 Bangor–Llanberis–Pen y Pass, S3 Beddgelert–Caernarfon–Rhyd Ddu–Llyn Cwellyn, S4 Pen y Pass–Beddgelert–Porthmadog, S5 Llanberis–Pen y Pass.

Adult day ticket £7.50; family (2 adults + up to 3 children) £16. The myTrip app gives live tracking and cashless tickets. Walking up one path and down another is possible, but in practice the connection is often limited by the bus timetable. Check it before you commit to a linear route.

• Pen y Pass · toilets by the warden building; a YHA café/bar and an information-centre café opposite.
• Llanberis · full village: cafés, pubs and shops, plus public toilets near the lake. Two seasonal cafés (Pen y Ceunant, Halfway House) sit on the path itself: never rely on them being open.
• Pont Bethania, Rhyd Ddu, Llyn Cwellyn · toilets at each car park; Rhyd Ddu also has a drinking-water tap.
• On the mountain · no toilets and no reliable water on any path between the car park and the summit.
• Summit · café at Hafod Eryri, drinks and snacks only, seasonal (1 May–25 Oct, weather permitting). Outside the season, and on bad-weather days inside it, there's nothing at the top.

Dogs must be on a lead of no more than 2 metres on open access land between 1 March and 31 July, and under close control near livestock at all times: a farmer may legally act against a dog attacking livestock. Dogs are not permitted on Crib Goch under any circumstances, or on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

The six named paths differ mainly in directness, crowding and exposure: the Pyg and Miners' Tracks share the busy Pen y Pass start (the Miners' begins flatter, past the lakes); the Llanberis Path is the longest but gentlest, running beside the railway; the Watkin climbs the most from near sea level, with loose scree near the top; and Rhyd Ddu and the Snowdon Ranger are the quietest lines, each narrowing to more serious ground near the summit: Bwlch Main's ridge on Rhyd Ddu, the cliffs of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu on the Ranger. Crib Goch is not one of these six: it's a separate, severe scramble, never a walking alternative.

Cloud is common on the summit and can hide the junctions where several paths converge, making the wrong descent line an easy mistake even when the climb itself went well. Wind is regularly much stronger at summit and upper-mountain level than anything felt in the valley, and wet or icy rock adds real difficulty to steps and zig-zags that are straightforward when dry. Snow or ice can turn any of the six walking routes into a winter mountaineering objective: an ice axe, crampons and the skill to use them may be needed, depending on conditions and the party's own competence, not as a fixed rule for every visit. Crib Goch is a separate, more serious case again: in wet, windy, wintry or otherwise poor conditions it isn't simply harder than the six paths, it's a different proposition entirely and shouldn't be attempted.

The Met Office publishes a location forecast for the Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon Summit point (opens in a new tab), and a separate Eryri/Snowdonia mountain forecast (opens in a new tab) that breaks conditions down by altitude — wind speed at 900 m, 600 m and 300 m, and the freezing level — figures a location forecast never carries. Read the first for the summit point and the second for the altitude picture; neither replaces your own judgement about summit wind, cloud, visibility, snow and ice. Yr Wyddfa Live (opens in a new tab) adds live summit and valley temperatures, current hazards and a webcam, and publishes ground-condition reports specific to the winter routes twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, through the season. Check them before assuming a walking route is still a walking route.

The Bwlch Glas standing stone is where the Pyg, Miners', Llanberis and Snowdon Ranger paths all converge just below the summit: in cloud, identify your line down before you leave the top, or you'll end up on the wrong path entirely.

The classic loop is up the Pyg, down the Miners', not the other way round. The Watkin Path's upper scree is easier and safer climbed than descended. On the Llanberis Path, keep off the railway line.

Dial 999 or 112 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue. Register for emergencySMS in advance so you can text 999 if you can't get a voice signal. Give your location, what's happened, and how many are in your group.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground: one of the busiest teams in the UK. The railway, the buses and the car parks all run to a timetable, not to you: none of them is a rescue plan. AdventureSmart (opens in a new tab) sets out the basics: the right knowledge and skills, the right weather, the right gear.

Every summit route is graded Hard/Strenuous by the National Park: there is no step-free or easy way to the top, and none of the six is an easy family walk despite the maintained look of paths like the Llanberis. First-timers are pointed toward the Llanberis Path. Blue-badge parking bays exist at Pen y Pass (first-come) and at Rhyd Ddu and Llyn Cwellyn (two spaces each).

The Snowdon Mountain Railway is the only non-walking way up: seasonal, weather-dependent, and best booked ahead. It does not sell single tickets down in advance; those are first-come-first-served at the summit on the day.