Parking
Start at the Coed y Brenin Visitor Centre car park, signed from the A470, postcode LL40 2HZ. Follow signs to the visitor centre and do not take the no-through road. Overnight parking is not allowed.
Overview
About Afon Eden Trail (Riverside Loop)
Why go
- Riverside picnic site
- Family-friendly mixed woodland
- Waymarked loop
Heads up
- Short uphill return
- Visitor-centre access and parking logistics
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Eryri Tour Guide
Your drive to Afon Eden Trail (Riverside Loop), narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Eryri National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Coed y Brenin Forest Trails0:00 / 0:34
“You're coming up on Coed y Brenin, Britain's first purpose-built mountain biking centre, with forest trails for riders and walkers alike.”
Plays on the road 0.2 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Eryri Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Rhaeadr Ddu at Ganllwyd
- The Forest That Fueled Iron
- The Walls Made to Give Way
- The King's Guards at Pont Ty'n-y-groes
- 298 audio storiesacross Eryri’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grey Heron, Tawny Owl, Common Raven, and 9 more
- Works offlinemaps, 120 trails, 82 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Afon Eden Trail (Riverside Loop)
The shape of itA 0.8 mile / 1.3 km loop from the Coed y Brenin Visitor Centre, following the yellow waymarkers.
A 0.8 mile / 1.3 km loop from the Coed y Brenin Visitor Centre, following the yellow waymarkers. Allow about 45 minutes. Mapped, it comes out around 1.28 km, so the official figure is honest.
Down to the riverThe first half runs out on a well-surfaced route roughly 2 m wide, with gradients no steeper…
The first half runs out on a well-surfaced route roughly 2 m wide, with gradients no steeper than about 10%. The payoff is the riverside picnic site, where the Afon Eden rushes over rocks. That is the spot to stop, not somewhere to hurry past.
The way backFrom there the trail climbs back up to the forest road and heads toward the visitor centre…
From there the trail climbs back up to the forest road and heads toward the visitor centre through young oak, rowan, birch and beech. The gradient stays within about 16%, and this short uphill return is the only meaningful effort on the walk. Official sources give slightly different figures for total ascent, so treat the climb as gentle rather than a number.
Access and surfacesNo steps or stiles anywhere on the route.
No steps or stiles anywhere on the route. It is rated suitable for pushchairs and off-road mobility scooters, and there are benches at least every 150 m, which makes the uphill section manageable in stages.
PracticalsPark at the Coed y Brenin Visitor Centre car park, signed from the A470, LL40 2HZ.
Park at the Coed y Brenin Visitor Centre car park, signed from the A470, LL40 2HZ. Follow the signs to the visitor centre and do not take the no-through road. Overnight parking is not allowed. There are toilets at the visitor centre.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Eryri
77 sightingsGrey HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
17 sightingsTawny OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
32 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
21 sightingsGreat Spotted WoodpeckerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
18 sightingsEuropean RabbitMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
161 sightingsViviparous LizardMost seen around 10 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Eryri. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
