The National Trails

The National Trails provide one of the best ways of immersing yourself in the Welsh countryside. The numerous sites and monuments offer fantastic natural heriatage, great people, and the nation's heritage alive and kicking. Introduce yourself to the country...

There are three National Trails in Wales, all of them long-distance:

• Glyndŵr’s Way in mid-Wales
• Offa’s Dyke Path along the Welsh-English border
• Pembrokeshire Coast Path

Who manages them?

All three National Trails are developed, maintained and funded by a partnership between the Countryside Council for Wales and the local authorities through which they pass. 

Natural England also helps fund those parts of the Offa’s Dyke Path that are in England.

Each trail has a dedicated Officer, co-ordinating a team of people who look after the trail - keeping paths, gates, stiles and signs in the best condition.

How to get on the trails

Key points along the National Trails are within easy reach of buses and trains and essential services at towns and villages. You can follow the trails path through the landscape with our interactive countryside access map.  

Where to begin?

An acorn symbol is used to guide travellers along all the trails -outlining either challenging long-distance hikes or a series of shorter and easier walks, from a few hours to a full day.

Outdoor Wales onLine

You can view National Trails and shorter routes linking to National Trails on the Outdoor Wales onLine maps by:

• entering a place name or a post code into the website's search line;
• searching within a given distance of a specific location;
• manually zooming in to a specific area on the map;
• searching by actual name.

The site links to codes of conduct about how to enjoy the outdoors safely and responsibly in a way that won’t damage the environment and ensures respect for other users.

Guidebooks

There’s an excellent set of official guides for the National Trails, written by experts and full of good advice, useful background information and full colour maps.

The guidebooks are usually presented in sections, so you can easily read up on day trips, weekends away or longer breaks.