Living in Caernarfon

Visitors see the castle and the walls. People who live here know Caernarfon as a working town: the home of Gwynedd Council, a busy Saturday on the Maes, the Galeri on the waterfront and a community where Welsh is the everyday language of the street. If you are thinking of moving here, this is the place to start.

A Welsh-speaking town (Tref Gymraeg)

Caernarfon is one of the strongest Welsh-speaking communities anywhere. In the 2021 Census, 81.5% of people in the Caernarfon area could speak Welsh, the highest of any area in Gwynedd (the county as a whole was 64.4%). You will hear it in the shops, the pubs, the school gates and the council chamber, and locals, known as Cofis, have their own distinctive dialect.

You do not need Welsh to live here, and nearly everyone speaks English too, but having a go is noticed and appreciated. Start with our top 100 Welsh phrases, and look at the free and low-cost courses from Learn Welsh (Dysgu Cymraeg).

Schools (Ysgolion)

Primary education in Gwynedd is through the medium of Welsh, with English taught as a subject. Primary schools in town include Ysgol y Gelli, Ysgol yr Hendre, Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla and Ysgol Santes Helen, with village schools at Bontnewydd, Llanwnda (Felinwnda), Llandwrog, Rhosgadfan, Rhostryfan and more.

Most of the town goes on to Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen, the bilingual secondary school on Bethel Road. Families towards Llanrug, Bethel, Waunfawr and Llanberis are usually in the catchment of Ysgol Brynrefail in Llanrug. Ysgol Pendalar is the area's special school.

Moving here with children who don't speak Welsh? Gwynedd runs language centres that give newcomer pupils an intensive Welsh course before they settle into their local school. Caernarfon's is on the Maesincla school site. See Gwynedd's language centres and the council's school admissions pages.

Neighbourhoods and villages (Ardaloedd)

The town council divides Caernarfon into four wards: Peblig, Seiont, Menai and Cadnant. In practice people talk about the old town inside and around the walls, the terraces climbing up from the Maes and Twtil, and the larger estates and newer housing at places like Maesincla and Hendre.

Many people who work in Caernarfon live in the villages around it, all with Caernarfon postcodes: Bontnewydd and Caeathro just outside town, Llanrug, Bethel and Waunfawr towards the mountains, and Groeslon, Penygroes and Llandwrog to the south. Y Felinheli, on the Menai Strait, is a popular choice between Caernarfon and Bangor. See our towns and villages around Caernarfon and the Caernarfon postcodes guide.

Work and getting about (Gwaith a theithio)

Gwynedd Council has its headquarters in town, and public services, health, education, tourism and the creative sector around Galeri and the Welsh-language media are big employers. Bangor, about 9 miles away, adds the university, Ysbyty Gwynedd and the mainline railway station.

Caernarfon itself has no mainline station, so commuters rely on the car or the bus. The A487 runs to Bangor and the A55 in around 15 to 20 minutes, the Arriva 5C bus runs frequently to Bangor, and TrawsCymru T2 heads south to Porthmadog and Aberystwyth. Our getting here and parking guide has the details.

Everyday life (Bywyd bob dydd)

The town centre has supermarkets on the edge of town, independent shops, cafés and pubs in the centre, a weekly market on the Maes, and a strong calendar of events, from the Christmas lights switch-on to the Gŵyl Fwyd Caernarfon food festival (back on 8 May 2027 after a year off). Galeri on Victoria Dock has a theatre, cinema and gallery. See where to eat and drink and what's on.

For getting outdoors you have the Menai Strait on the doorstep, the traffic-free Lôn Las Menai and Lôn Eifion cycle paths, Dinas Dinlle beach a short drive away and Eryri beyond. Byw'n Iach Arfon on Bethel Road is the local leisure centre and pool.

The honest downsides (Yr ochr arall)

• No train station: the nearest mainline station is in Bangor.
• Hospital: the nearest A&E is Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, and there is no minor injury unit in town.
• Seasonal traffic: summer weekends bring busy roads and full car parks around the castle.
• Housing pressure: holiday lets and second homes are a long-running local issue, and Gwynedd charges a council tax premium on second homes.
• Weather: it is a west-facing coastal town, so expect wind and rain off the Strait.

Most people who live here would say the community, the language and the setting more than make up for it.

Next steps

Local information: councils, bins, health Caernarfon postcodes

Sources: Cyngor Gwynedd (Census 2021 Welsh language results, schools and language centres), Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen and Caernarfon Royal Town Council, checked October 2026.