The Ogwen Valley is my absolute favourite spot in Snowdonia. Weekends and Bank Holidays aside, I always find it considerably quieter than Snowdon. And in fact, on the last few hikes I’ve take in the Ogwen Valley I’ve met just a handful of people on the whole route.
So you get to enjoy the same incredible views you get from the more popular peaks of North Wales but with far fewer humans. And when I’m solo hiking in particular, I really do prioritise peace.
I’ve hiked in the Ogwen Valley at sunrise, at sunset and in the middle of the day. I’ve hiked in glorious sunshine and unpleasant rain. But I always enjoy my days there.
Here are, in my opinion, 6 of the most wonderful hiking routes that the Ogwen Valley has to offer.
Hiking in the Ogwen Valley – My Favourite Routes in Summary
| Route | Hike Type | Distance (Approx) | Elevation (Approx) | Difficulty |
| Tryfan North Ridge | Mountain scramble | 7km | 600m | Difficult |
| Y Garn Via Devil’s Kitchen | Mountain hike with some very light touch scrambling | 9.7km | 750m | Moderate |
| Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach | Mountain hike with down scrambling | 9km | 770m | Difficult |
| Pen Yr Ole Wen East Ridge | Mountain hike with some scrambling | 8.5km | 665m | Moderate |
| Llyn Ogwen Circular | Lakeside hike | 5km | 100m | Easy |
I’ve already documented some of these routes on this hiking blog. So where I have done the write up already, I’ll link you through for more detail. But let me pop you some information and hiking routes for the 5 Ogwen Valley hikes above here too!
Ogwen Valley Parking and Other Information
Public Transport to Ogwen Valley
If you don’t drive or if you’re planning to visit at peak busy times and don’t want to worry about parking, the Ogwen Valley is accessible by bur from nearby towns.
T10 TrawsCymru Bus Service
The TrawsCymru T10 service runs between Bangor, Bethesda and Betws y Coed and stops at Ogwen Valley. You can find the timetable here.
Bws Ogwen Electric Bus Service
Bws Ogwen is a small 9 seater electric bus service that runs from the nearby village of Bethesda to Ogwen Valley and the timetable is here.
Ok, so let’s jump into the hikes!
Tryfan North Ridge
Tryfan’s North Ridge is an exceptional scrambling route.
I’d say it’s not really beginner friendly though and for those new to scrambling, maybe cutting your teeth on Pen Yr Ole Wen or even nearby Moel Siabod could be a good start.
But look at this mountain:
It is just gorgeous up there. Route finding can be a tad tricky with call outs recently owing to people mis-navigating and ending up in the tricky Y Gully by mistake. So do route find carefully on this one.
Here’s the route I took and the post I wrote about it.
Tryfan North Ridge Scrambling and Hiking Route
Tryfan’s North Ridge route offers up some absolutely spectacular scrambling and incredible views. So I was delighted to stick the out of office on and head over there for a hiking morning on a sunny May Friday. Here’s how it went!
Y Garn Via Devil’s Kitchen
Oh what a beauty this one is. I did this in winter at the start of 2024 and Y Garn is just a beautiful summit to hike. I went up via Devil’s Kitchen and back down the path off the other side to complete a circular.
Some people go the other direction. But personally I was pleased to be going up Devil’s Kitchen.
There’s a “scrambly” section through Devil’s Kitchen but it’s by no means a graded scramble. In straightforward weather, it’s just hands on rocks while you walk in a couple of places. Bear in mind it could be much more complex than that in bad weather.
The views from Devil’s Kitchen over Llyn Idwal and towards Pen Yr Ole Wen are magic:
This is a much more straightforward hiking route than neighbouring Tryfan and you also get to enjoy views of both Tryfan and Pen Yr Ole Wen (both magnificent mountains to look at from afar) on descent.
Here’s the route I took and my write up.
Y Garn Via Devil’s Kitchen – Route and Review
I took a February midweek hike up Y Garn via Devil’s Kitchen (Snowdonia). The weather played ball, the views were amazing and it was a fantastic hike. Here’s the route, some photos, a review and some practical information.
Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach
I hiked this circular route in 2023 (but have yet to write it up – oops).
There are routes from Pen Y Pass up to these summits, but I personally took the route from the Ogwen Valley visitor centre.
This route also takes in Devil’s Kitchen (and was my first visit to Devil’s Kitchen). But where you’d head off right for Y Garn when you “escape” the Devil’s Kitchen, you head left instead.
If I were to this again, I’d do it in the opposite direction because I think descending via Devil’s kitchen would be easier than descending this route. You can take the Miner’s Track (not to be mistaken with the Miner’s Track to Snowdon) but I only figured that out after the scramble down. Not a route for beginners.
Pen Yr Ole Wen East Ridge
It was on my hike to Y Garn (which was my second visit to Devil’s Kitchen and in better weather than I’d had the first time) that I was looking over at Pen Yr Ole Wen thinking “I’d really like to check the view out from up there.” So I did.
I had a short day for this hike, with a school run to get back for, so I took the quickest route I could find which was an out and back up the East Ridge. It involves a short scramble (which you have to scramble down too if you’re coming back the same way you went up) but nowhere near as complex as the scrambling on the Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr route or the Tryfan route.
As well as an easy to follow route, you get these amazing views back over to Tryfan almost the whole way too! Here’s my route and write up.
Pen Yr Ole Wen Via the East Ridge – Another Ogwen Valley Delight
Pen Yr Ole Wen looked absolutely magnificent from Devil’s Kitchen when I hiked up there earlier in the year. So I knew then that my next trip to Snowdonia’s Ogwen Valley simply had to be up to Pen Yr Ole Wen’s summit. I took that hike up via the East Ridge in early May 2024. Here’s the route, some photos and how it all went.
Llyn Ogwen Circular
So, having been and hiked mountains a few times here, I recently went back with a friend who is recovering from an injury with lower level hikes with less elevation gain.
This was my opportunity (the only time I’ve not been solo at Ogwen as well) to actually get a short hike around Llyn Ogwen itself in.
It was spectacular.
We took this route:
It was a straightforward circular, relatively flat, with wonderful views. Sometimes mountains look better from afar than they do when you’re on them, so I enjoyed looking at the surrounding peaks.
You could extend this route to also walk around Llyn Idwal (the lake up at Devil’s Kitchen).
This would be very much suitable for beginners.
Ogwen Valley Hiking
For me, on a quiet day, there’s nowhere other than parts of Scotland that offer such impeccable views and rugged looking rocky mountains.
And it takes me 2 hours to get to the Ogwen valley and 4 to 8 to get my favourite hiking parts of Scotland. So this is a regular day hike spot for me. And if it isn’t on your list yet, then it should be. Enjoy.
