Craflwyn Nature Reserve

The walk into Craflwyn Nature Reserve takes you through proper Welsh countryside, following paths that wind past stands of birch and oak before opening out onto moorland. It's the kind of place where you'll actually see something - red kites circling overhead, maybe a buzzard perched on a fence post, and on a clear day, views that stretch all the way toward Snowdon.

This is a reserve run for wildlife rather than visitors, which means it won't have the polished visitor centre feel of somewhere like Glaslyn near Beddgelert. What you get instead is rougher, more authentic. The paths are decent enough but you're picking your own route through habitat rather than following a manicured trail. Allow a couple of hours if you want to do it properly, though you can manage a shorter circuit in forty minutes.

Walkers will find this rewarding. Bird watchers especially - winter brings fieldfares and redwings, summer brings warblers. It's not the kind of place that'll thrill young kids for hours on end unless they're already into nature, but families doing a longer holiday based at one of the nearby campsites like Cae Du or Beddgelert would do well to include it as part of a day out around Caernarfon. The reserve is free to wander, which is just as well since there's minimal infrastructure. Go when the weather's decent - these Welsh hills don't improve in the rain.