Parking
Cwm Idwal Visitor Centre beside the Eryri National Park Ogwen Centre car park on the A5 at Nant Ffrancon; the visitor centre is adjacent to the parking bays.
Overview
About Cwm Idwal Walk
- Type: circular lake walk with a short out-and-back access connector from the visitor centre
- Distance: 3 miles / 4.8 km for the complete outing, counting the loop plus the walked-out and walked-back connector; the mapped corridor once around the lake measures about 2.92 miles
- Time: allow around 3 hours
- Grade: moderate to moderately strenuous, with short steep pulls
Why go
- Dramatic glacial lake and cliffs
- Rich geology and rare upland flora
- Memorable full circuit
Heads up
- Rough, steep sections beyond the easy approach
- Cattle and lead rules on the approach
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 Cwm Idwal Walk, 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 trailhead
Cwm Idwal and Ogwen0:00 / 0:33
“You're approaching the Ogwen start for Cwm Idwal, where a path climbs into an ice-carved bowl around Llyn Idwal. The full three-mile lake circuit takes around three hours.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Eryri Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Llyn Ogwen
- Tryfan Above Llyn Ogwen
- The Lily on the Cliffs
- The Road Beneath the Road
- 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 Cwm Idwal Walk
Walking it in orderFrom the visitor centre you take steps and a gate, cross the oak bridge, then follow a…
From the visitor centre you take steps and a gate, cross the oak bridge, then follow a south-easterly mountain path to a junction and pick up the formal stone-surfaced path to Llyn Idwal. Go clockwise along the eastern shore, past the Dwrn Idwal boulders and a gated wall, then over moraine and rougher ground with streams below the Idwal Slabs. The path runs up beneath the Twll Du / Devil's Kitchen headwall, drops through boulder field and heather, crosses a footbridge over Afon Clyd, then passes through the wall to the shingle beach on the north-west shore. Round the east side to the slate bridge over Afon Idwal and retrace the connector to the start.
Footing and difficultyThe first stretch is easy going on made path, and that is the part most people picture.
The first stretch is easy going on made path, and that is the part most people picture. The far side of the lake is genuine mountain ground: uneven stone, stream-crossing steps, loose boulder and steep short climbs. Boots with grip and ankle support make the moraine and heather sections much easier. Keep to the path throughout, both to protect thin upland soils and because the ground either side is rougher than it looks.
Landscape, geology and plantsThis is an ice-carved bowl inside Cwm Idwal National Nature Reserve, ringed by cliffs and…
This is an ice-carved bowl inside Cwm Idwal National Nature Reserve, ringed by cliffs and exposed rock. The glacial moraines underfoot were left roughly 10,000 years ago, and the Idwal Slabs above the south-east shore are a long-standing mountaineering training ground. The Devil's Kitchen headwall is the high point of the circuit visually as well as physically. The reserve holds rare and fragile upland plant life, which is another reason to stay on the line of the path.
Access, parking, dogs and facilitiesStart from the Cwm Idwal Visitor Centre, beside the Eryri National Park / Ogwen Centre car park
- Start from the Cwm Idwal Visitor Centre, beside the Eryri National Park / Ogwen Centre car park
- Toilets are at the visitor centre
- Dogs are welcome but must be on a lead at all times
Permanent hazardsGrazing cattle may be on the approach.
- Grazing cattle may be on the approach. Do not approach them, and check the QR code at the start of the walk for current herd location
- Streams, wet rock and rough ground across the western half of the loop
- Some exposure on the higher path around the bowl, and steep drops off the line in places
- Mountain weather closes in fast in an enclosed cwm, so carry layers and waterproofs
For experienced hill-walkers onlyA high-level variant toward the Idwal Slabs branches off the standard circuit.
A high-level variant toward the Idwal Slabs branches off the standard circuit. It is scrambly, serious ground suited to competent hill-walkers with the right kit and navigation skills, and it should not be treated as the normal way round the lake.
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.
