Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fairbourne has a lovely long beach but little else to recommend it, except for the steam-
hauled
Fairbourne Miniature Railway
( 01341-250362;
www.fairbournerailway.com
; Beach Rd; adult/child £9/
1; Easter-Oct)
, Wales' only seaside narrow-gauge railway. It was built in 1895 to move
materials for the construction of the village. The line heads north along the coast for 2.5
miles to Penrhyn Point, where there are ferries across the mouth of the Mawddach to Bar-
mouth, timed to meet the trains.
There's a restaurant at Penrhyn Point, while Fairbourne station has a cafe and a model
railway.
Eating
INDIAN
£
Indiana Cuisine
( 01341-250891;
www.indianacuisine.co.uk
; 3 Beach Rd; mains £5-10; 6.30-10pm Mon, Wed & Thu,
noon-3pm & 6.30-10pm Fri-Sun; )
Right opposite the train station, this pink-hued restaurant is
suprising on a number of fronts: it has nothing to do with the midwest of the USA; it
serves authentic Indian cuisine; it's run by a former Bollywood actor and his wife; and,
well, it's in Fairbourne. And perhaps most surprising of all, it's very good.
Getting There & Away
Fairbourne is on the Cambrian Coast Line, with direct trains to Machynlleth (£7.80, 55
minutes), Tywyn (£3.80, 17 minutes), Barmouth (£2.50, 11 minutes), Porthmadog (£7.70,
1¼ hours) and Pwllheli (£11, 1¾ hours).
Bus 28 from Dolgellau (route 28; 25 minutes) to Tywyn (28; 29 minutes) stops here.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Barmouth (Abermaw)
POP 2530
Despite a Blue Flag beach and the beautiful Mawddach Estuary on its doorstep, the sea-
side resort of Barmouth has a faded feel to it. In summer it becomes a typical seaside re-
sort - all chip shops and dodgem cars - catering to the trainloads arriving in their thou-
sands from England's West Midlands. Outside of the brash neon of high summer it's con-
siderably mellower, but it still has its rough edges.
