Quieter and more open than the North Shore, West Shore is all big skies, shifting sands and estuary views — ideal for calmer walks and sunsets when you want the sea without the crowds.
While the North Shore gets the pier and the promenade, the West Shore gets something rarer -- genuine peace. Tucked on the far side of the Great Orme headland, facing out across the Conwy Estuary towards the mountains of Snowdonia, it is a quieter, wilder, altogether more contemplative stretch of coastline, and all the better for it.
The beach itself is open and sandy, with big skies and long views. There are no amusements, no land train, no crowds in peak season -- just the estuary, the shifting sands, a boating lake, and the kind of unhurried atmosphere that is increasingly hard to find on the North Wales coast. At low tide the sands stretch far out, and the views across to Conwy and the hills beyond are exceptional.
The West Shore has a quietly famous literary connection. Alice Liddell -- the real Alice, who inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland -- spent her childhood summer holidays here between 1862 and 1871. Her father, the Dean of Christ Church Oxford, had a holiday home called Penmorfa built on the shore in 1862. Whether Carroll himself ever visited is a matter of some historical debate -- his diaries never mention Llandudno -- but a plaque unveiled in 1933 by David Lloyd George claims these shores inspired the story, and a White Rabbit statue still stands near the former site of the house. The connection, however contested, has become part of the fabric of the place.
It is a short walk or a pleasant cycle from the North Shore, cutting through the town via Gloddaeth Avenue. Go in the late afternoon when the light drops over the estuary and the mountains turn purple -- it is one of those views that quietly stops you in your tracks.
Why Go
- Highly rated by our guests
- Easy to reach from The Rosedene
- Suitable for all guests
