What’s your favourite seaside town and why?

I agree; Portmeirion describes itself as a Hotel, not a town. We love staying there, especially in the evenings, when the visitors depart and we have the place to ourselves.

But the survey is spot on with Llandudno. The North shore beach is pretty ropey, with a lot of stones and not a lot of sand for the building of sand things. The West shore beach is better and they certainly have a lot of sand 🙂

I agree that sounds very nice, even if UK residents would have to traipse half way round the world to get there.

..and cause the emission of 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide. 66 times that emitted per passenger on my recent trip to the West Country.

If you prefer urban seaside closer to home, then Barcelona is also a good option. But it’s no good during the UK winter, unlike Rio, which is up to 40°C in January.

How safe is Rio now, NFH?

It depends on the area. We always stay in Barra da Tijuca in the west of Rio, not far from the Olympic Park, not least as there are no favelas and very few tourists whom criminals attract. Although it’s mostly a residential area for wealthy locals, there are several hotels along the beach front from major international chains. The beach in Barra da Tijuca is much better than the more famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, and they have genuine Brazilian beach culture undiluted by lots of tourists.

I feel a lot safer in Barra da Tijuca than in Barcelona for example.

At least the “overpriced British seaside towns” are accessible at an affordable price and in under a day in most cases.

Indeed. And without any need for expensive planet scorching air travel.

Snobbery, I expect. I quite like it as well as many other traditional resorts along the east coast like Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton, Walton-on-the Naze, Lowestoft, Grear Yarmouth, Mundesley, Cromer and Sheringham. In between are lots of lovely unspoilt settlements many with excellent beaches or coastal margins. I would have included Aldeburgh and Southwold but they have been spoiled by attempts at sophistication . . . and money..

That’s also a very long bus journey John 🙂

Yes – but it did include a stop in Paris!

Holidaying – or even days out – anywhere in the UK carries the risk of rain so we simply need to be prepared for it – both in clothing and planned activities. Personally I like the variety of UK weather; nice to have long dry sunny spells but I wouldn’t want to live with that all the time. Particularly for the garden – being well-watered at the moment.

“Over much of Wales, the number of days with a rainfall total of 1 mm or more (‘wet days’) tends to follow a pattern similar to the monthly rainfall totals. In the higher parts, over 50 days is the norm in winter (December-February) and over 35 days in summer (June-August). In the driest areas of the east and south, about 40 days in winter and about 25 days in summer are typical……

……..Throughout Wales, the months from October to January are significantly wetter than those between February and September, unlike places in eastern England where July and August are often the wettest months of the year. This seasonal pattern is a reflection of the high frequency of winter Atlantic depressions and the relatively low frequency of summer thunderstorms. ”

Incidentally when God designed the Earth I wonder why it wasn’t arranged for rain to fall only at night.

You see, what those quotes are saying is simply and utterly incorrect for the North Wales Coast and give out an incredibly misleading impression. The problem, in fact, for the coast is the reverse of that. And, as I pointed out, as well as being inaccurate they’re indiscriminate, when the rainfall patterns vary so wildly within a very short distance.

It continues to be a source of fascination for us, living in Snowdonia, where it’s well known that rain in Betws means sun in Llandudno, heavy rain in Betws means cloudy sun in Llandudno and torrential thunderstorms in Betws mean thick cloud in Llandudno. The figures for a couple of years back were Betws: 70″ per year, Llanrwst 40″ per year, Llandudno 11″ per year. Capel Curig was in the 140″ per year range.

We visit Llandudno every week and I can’t remember the last day we went and it was raining.

Just quoting what the Met Office say 🙂 No doubt a generalisation, but really of little matter because it does rain, often, when we’re on holiday and we Brits need to be prepared 🙂 wherever we go in the UK.

But perhaps not in Llandudno.

As an excellent example today, there have been dire severe weather warnings for torrential rain yesterday and today. However, it’s worth checking the Met office site for Llandudno. Watch how the appalling weather completely misses Llandudno throughout the day.

Check any met site you wish and the story is always the same. There’s good reason why the Victorians designed it as a holiday resort instead of a coal terminus.

And only 26 years ago…………
Llandudno 1993 floods rare live footage – Great Orme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlIJ3vmlcP4

I come from the land of bad weather stereotypes but from the part that has its own dry microclimate. It used to annoy me but I recently started to look at it a different way.

If people go expecting good weather they might be disappointed. If they go with expectations of rain it will either meet their expectations or exceed their expectations. Pretty much everyone I know who has gone to Ireland has come back with good things to say about the weather!

malcolm r says: Today 16:41
And only 26 years ago…Llandudno 1993 floods rare live footage – Great Orme

Well, if they only get heavy rain every 26 years then it must rate as one of the driest places in the UK. I was actually in that flood, and it was vastly overrated. I drove a car up the Orme, which was supposed to be impassable.

But my point is that W? needs to exercise care when making asides which can have implications for the unfamiliar. The North Coastal climate of the Welsh coast is one of the most benign in the UK.