Experience and access
Secure bike storage
(by arrangement)
Our awesome community
Spend time at and around the hostel with other adventurers
The fastest Wifi in North Wales
Connect to the world with satellite internet
Your recovery options
Connected
You can get trains to and from London, Liverpool and Manchester
Nature
Minutes away from Yr Wyddfa, Wales’ highest mountain
Experience
Be part of a warm, unique culture and some of the most beautiful sights in the country
What to do
The Waypoint Cafe & Bar
We love to walk, scramble, climb, boulder and everything else nature offers. But we also know the best way to start the day is with a great brew and end it with a good pint, so The Waypoint Cafe & Bar was born.
Speciality espresso
Wake up with an empowering coffee for both you and the growers.
Thoughtful tea
If tea is your thing, enjoy incredible brew which is never at the expense of our environment.
Local tipple
End the day with a locally sourced beer, spirit or wine. Try them all. We won’t judge.
Explore more food and drink
Parc Eryri
Eryri (eh-ruh-ree) is a mountainous region in North Wales, known in English as Snowdonia and home to twenty-eight of the thirty highest peaks in Wales. We are fortunate that each one of these twenty-eight mountains is reachable within half an hour from our very own Base Camp Snowdonia.
What’s in a name, what’s in a language?
Eryri is derived from the Welsh word eryr, which means ‘upland region or highland’; itself related to the Latin word oriri meaning ‘to rise’.
The Welsh language is an inherent part of the country’s cultural fabric, and its continued resilience remains hard-won against a campaign of active suppression that stretched into the early 1900s. Welsh was banned in schools across Wales for the length of the Industrial Revolution, with widespread incidence of children made to wear a “Welsh Not” – a wooden sign hung around the neck as a punishment for speaking Welsh.
It was not until 1993 that the Welsh language received official status; by then, less than 20% of the population of Wales as a whole comprised Welsh speakers, reaching as low as 7% in Cardiff. Even amongst the country’s regions, Eryri is unique because more than half its population are Welsh speakers today.
So why are we called “Base Camp Snowdonia?”
We are also known as Gwersyll Cyntaf Eryri, a Welsh eponym you can see on all our signage, which carries the same meaning as our English name. However, most directories and our mailing address use our English name – why?
With so many international guests at Base Camp, English is often used as the de facto language of in our hostel. We work hard to share the beauty, language and culture of North Wales with people from across the world, and achieving this goal requires a delicate balance between being accessible to as broad an audience as possible and while being true to our roots.
So, whether you refer to us as Base Camp Snowdonia or Gwersyll Cyntaf Eryri, we are flattered that you mention us. We welcome your thoughts, comments, and opinions, which you can share by reaching out to us or through our social media channels linked below.
Diolch am wrando.
We’re always looking for adventurers to join us at Base Camp Hostels on our journey. Check out our job openings!
Learn more about our vision, how we got to where we are and all the things we care about.
Have a question? Want to book your next escape? Or just want to say hello? We’d love to hear from you.