Blaenau Ffestiniog is not the pretty postcard version of Snowdonia. It is starker and stranger: a slate town set among grey quarry tips, high hills, and roads that seem to climb straight into the mountains.
That industrial landscape is the point. Blaenau was once a slate capital, and the scars of that trade are everywhere. The Ffestiniog Railway still runs down to Porthmadog, now carrying visitors instead of slate, while Llechwedd has turned old caverns and quarry space into underground tours and zip lines.
The town works best for travellers who like landscapes with grit. It has easy rail links to the coast and the Conwy Valley, and almost every road out leads quickly into open Snowdonia country.