Parking
Dôl Idris Car Park; managed by the national park authority; parking charge. Follow the signed access from the car park to the Minffordd Path.
Overview
About Nant Cadair Bridge
An out-and-back walk from Dôl Idris Car Park to Pont Nant Cadair, the slate bridge over the Nant Cadair stream. The full mapped car-park-to-bridge experience is about 2.0 km / 1.3 miles return, allow roughly 1.25 hours, and expect a steep climb of around 200 m. Rated hard, about 7/10: short in distance but demanding underfoot.
Why go
- Waterfalls and a distinctive slate bridge
- Waymarked route from a known car park
Heads up
- Short route with a steep, step-heavy climb
- Wet rock and an exposed upper section
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Eryri Tour Guide
Your drive to Nant Cadair Bridge, 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
Dôl Idris and Cader Idris0:00 / 0:38
“You're coming up on Dôl Idris, the starting point for Cader Idris's steep Minffordd Path and a much gentler lakeside walk.”
Plays near this trailhead in the Parkwolf Eryri Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Ginger Beer Ruin
- The Cliff Wilson Made Taller
- The Mountain's Underwater Past
- Idris's Chair
- 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 Nant Cadair Bridge
Why our distance looks longerThe official trail headline is 1.2 km / 0.
The official trail headline is 1.2 km / 0.8 miles there and back with 190 m of climb and 45 minutes to 1 hour. That figure covers the waymarked climb itself and does not fully account for the footway/path access between the car park and the start of the Minffordd Path. Both numbers describe the same walk; ours simply measures from where you park.
The walk itselfFooting is rocky and often wet near the stream and falls, so stone and timber can be slick.
Footing is rocky and often wet near the stream and falls, so stone and timber can be slick. Boots with grip are worth having, and the steps make this unsuitable for wheels or buggies.
- Signed access through the parkland links the car park to the Minffordd Path, where orange waymarkers take over.
- The path enters ancient oak woodland and rises through the gorge on many flights of stone and timber steps, with a long sustained steep section.
- Cascading waterfalls sit close to the route, and a bench near the falls makes a natural pause and turning-point for anyone who has had enough of the steps.
- Above the trees the path breaks onto lower open mountain ground, rockier and more exposed, and ends at the slate bridge across the stream.
- Return is by the same route, and the descent of the steps needs as much care as the climb.
Landscape and wildlifeThe gorge cuts through hard volcanic rock later scoured and shaped by glaciers, which is why…
The gorge cuts through hard volcanic rock later scoured and shaped by glaciers, which is why the ground rises so abruptly out of the valley floor. The reserve is known for ravens and peregrine falcons over the crags, ring ouzels in summer, and purple saxifrage clinging to sheltered rocky ledges. None of these are guaranteed on a given visit, but the habitat is theirs.
Access and parkingStart at Dôl Idris Car Park, the eastern access for the reserve, at approximately 52.6869, -3.
Start at Dôl Idris Car Park, the eastern access for the reserve, at approximately 52.6869, -3.8778. Parking is managed by the national park authority and there is a parking charge, so bring a means of payment. The route begins beyond the visitor-centre area and the first section is easy to follow.
Want the bigger day outThis is a steep taster of the mountain rather than a summit walk.
This is a steep taster of the mountain rather than a summit walk. If you want the full ascent, the Minffordd Path continues from the same car park as a separate route of about 9 km / 6 miles round trip, typically around 5 hours, and needs proper hill preparation.
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.
