A Welsh village is hoping to woo cash rich Chinese tourists by building a £50 million purpose built holiday resort, where signs will be in Mandarin and staff will be familiar with Chinese customs.

Coastal Wales might be wet, but it’s also wonderful. Your guide to the award winning region, starts here…

Forget for a minute that Wales actually lost in the semi-final against France yesterday. In another way they have won given the coverage they have received over the last month or so and in the after match reports.
How?

On Friday I visited the new Turner Contemporary Art Gallery in Margate. It has recently opened at a cost of over £17 million. In Llanfrynach, in Powys, their new gallery opened in a £1 old red phone box. Two extremes, but should I compare one with the other?

Tomorrow is the start of one of the biggest tourist attractions in wales,- the fish week in Pembrokeshire. Over the coming days there will be 250 events throughout the county making it one of the most successful that a single county has ever tried to organise.

Around 1.4 million visitors come to Wrexham each year to enjoy the town and the surrounding attractions.
Why?
One reason they might come this year is because it is the Wrexham Year of Culture and has a whole year of events planned. Included in that is the fact that this year in August the National Eisteddfod [...]

In Cardiff Bay, not far from the Millennium Centre is what you might consider an oddity, a church. What’s so strange about that you might say, Wales is full of churches and chapels. The difference is that this is a Norwegian church which tells a story about Cardiff that many people don’t know. And today, Norway’s national day, it re-opens after seven months spent on refurbishment.

[ May 7, 2011; ]
four different walks all startnig at the Leisure Centre in Bala, Mid Wales
see website for times

For seven years, the Cross Foxes near Dolgellau had been derelict. Maybe even the foxes shunned the place as well regardless of their temper. (sorry, couldn’t resist the bad puns) But Dewi and Nicol Gwynne saw something in the building and decided it was for them. Two years later they opened; two months after that and they achieved the highest accolade restaurant and accommodation can achieve. 5 stars.

Unless you know of Gregynog, chances are you’ll never just happen across it because it is tucked away in mid Wales. Yet the Gregynog estate, all 750 acres of it, has been described by CADW as one of the one of the most important gardens in Wales. Now as Gregynog prepares for the spring, it is a useful time to remind people that it exists – or introduce it to a wider public.

The county is on a bit of a roll at the moment. Last year it was named by National Geographic Magazine as having the second best coastline. Not in Wales, not in Britain, not even in Europe. No, the magazine said in the whole world. Which must have buoyed the 570 members that make up a group called Pembrokeshire Tourism. Especially since the county had done so well in the National Tourism Awards as well.

[ April 10, 2011; 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. ]
Bute Park, Cardiff Castle, Cardiff
Members: In advance £7, on the day £10
Non members: In advance £8; on the day £10

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month the future looks red hot for Virgin’s cabin crew but gap years could be on their last leg…

Next Tuesday is the day when Welsh across the world will celebrate their Welshness maybe not with the same marketing skills that has seen St Patrick’s Day take over the world on the 17th of the month but with the same fervour at least. David has been a saint, as recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, for 991 years and March 1st seems to be the date when he died 1,422 years ago

In the US holidays of a week are common. Here the week or fortnight is more like the norm. In winter some seniors go away for a couple of months. But how do you fancy a year long holiday? All in the one place.
One of Sydney’s Sunday newspapers, The Sun-Herald, has reported today that a couple, Chris and Sally Allison, from the Sydney suburb of Mosman liked the place so much that they have booked accommodation for a whole year at a B&B in Rhyl in North Wales.

One of the earliest of gardening events on the calendar happens this weekend in the west Wales town of Landysul. Having attracted so many people from quite a distance, Llanysul will probably become a firm early season fixture for people anxious to get out and do something in their gardens but handicapped by the weather we have had.

Last year, severe weather took its toll on the coastal area around Colwyn Bay in North Wales. This popular holiday seaside destination needs to shore up its coastal protection so it has announced a £8 million improvement project to safeguard homes and the prom. New defences will also provide a breakwater and a new beach for visitors and residents alike to enjoy. Apparently, the old coastal defences are over 100 years old so some improvements are justified. This week, the plans will be available for the public to see, consider and comment on.

As I said yesterday, one of the interesting features of the Visit Britain report is the amount of money that is spent in different places. The figures will be an estimate of course, but they are as good a guide as we are likely to get. And what they show is intriguing. Take London for example. You would expect an overseas visitor to pay more there because it is a more expensive place. Hotels, public transport and restaurant bills will all be more expensive but the difference on how much is spent there compared to elsewhere in our countries is quite wide.

That, according to Visit Britain, is what is attracting people to that part of the country. This is one of many results to be found in a report snappily titled, “Activities Undertaken by Visitors from Overseas in Different Parts of Britain.” But there is a lot on this report to digest, not just the interesting bits that say why visitors go to different regions of our countries. Just as interesting is how much they spend in those regions and the disparities that arise.

We’ve teamed up with Alastair Sawday to bring you Britain’s best boozers

CD Traveller has teamed up with Alastair Sawday to pick the pubs that offer not only flavoursome beer but fine – locally sourced –food, handsome accommodation and the warmest of welcomes. Is there a better way to while away an afternoon?

Planning a week-end away in Wales but not sure where to stay? CD Traveller has done the hard work for you. We’ve selected five chic retreats from Alastair Sawday’s new book Special Places to Stay Wales.

Alastair Sawday has a knack for picking out stylish, well-run places – the sort the CD Traveller team would choose for a short break ourselves. To give you a flavour, we’ve picked five of our favourites from Sawday’s new book Special Places to Stay Wales.

Each country asks visitors from time-to-time whether they would revisit their country. Today, customer satisfaction specialists say that there are only a few questions that matter. They are whether you would revisit and would you recommend to your friends and relatives. (The reason for asking whether you would recommend to friends is that you are felt to be more likely only to recommend it to people you know if you were really happy to do so.)
So in the latest survey by Visit Wales, 70% of people said they would revisit and 86% said that they would recommend. These are high figures so, naturally, Alan Ffred Jones, the Assembly minister responsible for tourism and Visit Wales are rather pleased.

You all know that brown signs are there to make it easier for the visitor to find and thus, visit tourism sites and attractions. Getting them can prove a lengthy process in some cases and it isn’t cheap. Two stories have surfaced in the last couple of months about the slipshod way the system appears to be working – or not working in Wales.

Last year, for mother’s day, I treated my mum to a weekend away. She cashed it in June. Poppy, my Cockapoo puppy of just 6 months, came along for the ride.

This is the first holiday I booked with my dog, and so we started slowly. There are many websites around for dog-friendly holidays, holiday cottages, B&Bs etc. What the accommodations don’t tell you is that there is often a restriction on the Number – or type – of dog(s) that you are permitted to take with you.

Disregarding the little event in Paris last night, Welshman will be out to enjoy themselves tomorrow as a variety of events and processions occur. Or will they?St David’s Day has never been a public holiday and has never had the appeal that the Irish allot to St Patrick who may well have been a Welshman. [...]