Portmeirion is unlike anywhere else in Wales, or indeed in Britain. Clough Williams-Ellis built his Italianate fantasy village on a private peninsula above the Dwyryd Estuary between 1925 and 1975, assembling architectural salvage — facades, colonnades, domes, campaniles — into a deliberate folly of extraordinary coherence. It is delightful, eccentric, and entirely serious in its claim to be taken seriously. This is Experience #33 of the Snowdonia 100.
Visiting Details
| Location | Near Porthmadog, on the A487 |
| Opening | Daily year-round; check website for seasonal times |
| Admission | Charge applies for day visitors; hotel guests enter free |
| Stay overnight | The Portmeirion Hotel and self-catering cottages — highly recommended |
| Filming | Location for The Prisoner (1967–68) |
The Architecture
Williams-Ellis believed that beautiful buildings could be placed in a beautiful landscape without destroying either. Portmeirion is his proof. The village is assembled from salvaged elements — the roof of a Bristol hotel here, an Ionic colonnade from a demolished English country house there — combined with new-built structures in Mediterranean styles that somehow cohere. The Campanile, the Piazza, the Battery Terrace with its estuary view: each element is composed, nothing accidental. The effect is theatrical and earnest in equal measure.
The Prisoner
The 1967–68 television series The Prisoner was filmed almost entirely at Portmeirion, and the village's surreal quality translates perfectly to screen. Fans of the series make pilgrimage to stand where Patrick McGoohan stood; non-fans find the architecture compelling on its own terms. The annual Prisoner fan convention, the "Six of One" gathering, has been held here since 1977.
Experience #33 of 100 — Places category.
Independently written — Snowdon.com