Pen-y-Pass sits at 359 metres at the top of the Llanberis Pass, in the heart of Snowdonia, now called Eryri, where the road from Llanberis meets the road from Capel Curig and Beddgelert. It is a gap between mountains, with Yr Wyddfa, Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales at 1085 metres, rising to the south, and the jagged ridges of the Glyderau to the north. The place itself is little more than a large car park, a youth hostel and a cafe, but it is the starting point for two of the most popular routes up Snowdon, the Pyg Track and the Miners' Track, and on summer weekends it is very busy.
The Llanberis Pass counts as one of the most dramatic roads in Wales. From Pen-y-Pass the A4086 descends northwest through a narrow, steep-sided valley, littered with huge boulders that fell from the cliffs, past crags that are famous among climbers, down to the lakes and the village of Llanberis. The road is narrow, twisting and often busy, with walkers, climbers, cyclists and cars parked along the verges, so it is a road to enjoy slowly. The views are spectacular in every direction.
Down the hill from Pen-y-Pass, toward Capel Curig, stands an old hotel at Pen-y-Gwryd where the British team that made the first ascent of Everest in 1953 trained in these mountains. Llanberis, at the foot of the pass, is home to the Snowdon Mountain Railway, which climbs to the summit, and the enormous slate quarry of Dinorwig, now a museum, with a hydroelectric power station hidden inside the mountain.
The weather in Snowdonia is famously wet, and the clouds often hide the summit. But when the sky clears, the light on the mountains and the lakes is wonderful, and the colours of the rock, grass and water are vivid. In winter the pass can be icy, and the mountains are serious.
The car park at Pen-y-Pass is often full, and a park-and-ride system operates in busy periods. There is a cafe. For fuel and shops, Llanberis, about eight kilometres away, has some services, and Bangor and Caernarfon, on the coast, are the nearest towns of any size.