Portmeirion Village

Like others, we had high expectations to see something spectacular but sadly, the reality was quite different.

The multi-coloured buildings would have probably looked striking in their hay day but now it looks tired, tacky and garish. It would probably be marginally nicer in the summer.

There's a few shops and a small circular walk with some unusal trees to keep you entertained for a couple of hours (maybe).

Overall, we think the entry price could have at least been lowered for the time of year.. Its sadly, not worth the entry fee of £13 each and would recommend taking your own food and drink to avoid the similarly over-priced fodder inside.

Booked online as it was classed as essential, pick from 3 time slots. If you don't want to be stood in a dusty carpark in full sun for 45minutes then don't prebook at all, they just let you in to pay without queuing! 3 people checking off tickets when you finally got to the front for well over 500 people waiting and 1 of them was serving the non prebooked only! The ice cream shop closed at 12.30 just as everyone was wanting to purchase, only 1 restaurant offering an overpriced measly selection of food, overcrowded so no seating anywhere. There were other cafes and shops around but they were all closed! You can't go in any buildings as it is private rentals, no information boards up anywhere for interesting facts. It's pretty and different, but nowhere near worth the 15£ per adult they were charging, we spent less than an hour here, it took us longer to drive! If you cannot handle the prebooked ticket sales then reduce capacity!

Not worth visiting at the moment. We went to celebrate my husbands birthday as we have visited once before and have good memories of a lovely day. Much of it is closed at the moment though, there are no tours or land train and no indoor seating plus long queues for anything that is open. It is not clear from the website that there is nowhere to eat inside or that the hotel bar and restaurant would be closed to non-residents. It poured with rain the day we were there and while the village can not determine the weather there was hardly any shelter, and no rainy day guarantee on the tickets often found at other outdoor attractions. We found a soggy bench partly under cover and ended up getting an expensive takeaway for what it was but even that was a disaster as one of the items on our five person order was missed off so I had to walk back to the Town Hall cafe in the pouring rain while my own food went cold. So disappointing for what should have been a nice day celebrating a milestone birthday.

Whoever did the marketing for this place should get a bonus as they have certainly put a slick spin on what is basically a collection of pretty buildings in some nice gardens in order to overcharge on the entrance fee. The absolute cheek of this place is that after paying £15 you then have to pay £3.99 for a booklet to help put the place into context. I work have always wanted to visit and finally this year we decided to do it and built our holiday around a trip to Portmeirion. The buildings themselves did not disappoint, nor the stunning views of the estuary. However, the rest of the experience was pretty underwhelming. As mentioned before, you have to buy a guide book and so there is no interpretation as you walk around. We didn’t even realise you had to get a book until at the end when my husband spotted copies in the booth by the exit! So throughout the visit we were just looking at attractive buildings but without any idea of the reasons or ideas behind them. It’s such a rip off to charge people £15 and then make them spend more for a guide book! I dare say if the weather is good, then you can have a pleasant day wandering around but this is Wales, so that’s something like one week in the year! You cannot go into any of the buildings, other than the cafes and shops, as they are all holiday let’s or wedding venues. The rest of the time, once you have seen all there is to see and that takes about two hours, you’re sat under cover eating overpriced food. It’s such a shame because the trust that owns the place could actually make a better visitor attraction. You could have actor’s wandering around dressed as famous guests offering a little bit of chat and some facts about the place. It would be great to offer contemporary artists the chance to put together an exhibition in the woodlands. There’s a lot they could do to make more of the visit other than try to get you to spend money, which sadly seems the main point of this enterprise! If you go, try to pick a day without rain (tough, I know) and take your own picnic!

It’s a quiet, cute village but has its downsides.
Very expensive for what it is, buildings looked a bit tired, food expensive and had to wait a long time for it, too much traffic for the amount of people. Felt very unsafe and some staff were rude. Sadly didn’t enjoy my visit due to this and wouldn’t recommend.

A false sense of social distancing when walking in as it is done correctly at first but in the toilets, there is none. Should be one person in at a time due to the layout of the toilet. No one way systems on the paths when there should have been due to not being able to social distance by 2 metres.
I know they can only do so much but they could have at least put those in place to abide by the guidelines.

If I could give 0 out of 5 stars I would. Without a doubt, Portmeirion has got to be one of the most overrated, overpriced, and disappointing attractions I have ever visited in my travels. £12 per person to walk through what looks like a budget version of Italy at Disneyworld's Epcot is absolutely atrocious. Honestly, Portmeirion makes Disney's version of Italy look like the real thing. As an Italian myself, I was downright offended at the idea that someone would describe this as "Italian style architecture." Portmeirion looks like what someone who has been told about Italy but never actually seen it would design. At least Disneyworld has entertainment! All Portmeirion had to offer was a few cheap-looking buildings, a gift shop filled with random stuff you could have bought anywhere else in Wales, and some ridiculously overpriced takeaway food. The walks were absolutely not worth paying for - you can get just as good if not better anywhere else in Wales for free! 

Besides the entirely unappealing shop, the cafes, and the mediocre " art gallery," a visit to Portmeirion is comprised of staring at the outside of buildings that are for residents only (why anyone would choose to live or stay here is entirely beyond my comprehension). I genuinely cannot fathom why people enjoy it here or recommend it to others, as I feel completely ripped off by this useless tourist trap. Who enjoys paying a ridiculous fee to enter the world's smallest theme park with not a single attraction? Walking through just about any other part of Wales would be a better use of time. The money from ticket sales apparently goes towards preserving this "historic" place, which the map claims was meant to show how the countryside could be developed without losing its charm. But it's truly not worth being preserved or celebrated, as I feel it detracts from the Welsh scenery much more so than it adds and I am frustrated to think that I contributed to it. Absolutely nothing interesting about it, zero soul or character.  A hollow and depressing waste of what could be a beautiful space.  Life is too short to accept wasting my time here, and I will certainly be encouraging others to avoid it

I genuinely don’t know what to write about this place - I want to be balanced but it was just really odd which would be ok but I am not sure it was trying to be odd - but maybe it was?

So here is the balanced bit. We had a lovely meal in the castle restaurant and that qualified for a free trip to see the village otherwise for the 6 of us it would have been nearly £80. My wife was a fan of the prisoner so we were keen to go.

The staff on the door were so positive and friendly we were looking forward to looking around. When we got in though it was just a slightly strange village. The location was amazing - right on the estuary with lovely views. But we have found many similar views else where in this area. The houses were brightly coloured and various designs and there were a number of shops. To be honest similar shops are In Porthmadog so not sure that is the draw. The gardens were the bit we had looked forward to but they were a little rundown.

The whole place was packed with people that seemed happy so I think it may just not be our thing.

We stayed for 45mins and to be honest I wanted to leave before that.

We visited in low season (late Feb), but because the sun was shining it really did feel like we were visitng a Mediterranean village. So pretty and the views of the coast were breathtaking, well worth a wander down to the hotel and harbour.

The man at the ticket office (£16 for two adults) gave us a map and information booklet and told us there was a video to watch which introduced the founder of Portmeirion and his vision, he apologied it was a little dated, but personally I thought it was fine!

Because it was low season it was very quiet, with only a few others milling around.

We felt we'd seen everything within about an hour or two (including a coffee stop) so the ticket price felt a little pricey, but I'm really glad we visited.

Where to start! Undeniably Portmeirion is unique and a place where you have to visit at least once. I’m a big fan of architecture and historic building and albeit Portmeirion is in essence ‘fake’ you cannot be not drawn to it’s undeniable char. Be aware before you set off that it will be busy not just busy but very busy and in these social distancing controlled times Portmeirion do not help with this at all….. Entrance is obviously expensive as these type of places tend to exploit tourists to the their hearts or back pocket’s I should say content.
 
We didn’t eat as the queues were horrifically long so we can’t comment on food. Toilets were immaculately kept as were the site itself. The guide map is not the bets and signage could be improved across the village drastically. The nature walks were better signposted! The views are incredible across the bay and I would be lying if I said our trip was not enjoyable. The nature walks especially were a highlight as was the fountain. My advice is try and visit at the end of the season when crowds have died down a tad.

Its in a very pretty location with great coastal views and the little town is unique & pretty but it’s not very big at all and it’s quite expensive for £15pp to just walk around, was a little bored once we took a few photos and the novelty wears off quickly as it’s very crowded. Just wish it had a few more shops and cafe’s to make it a bit more enjoyable.
The Caffi Glas which seems to be one of the main places inside to sit & get food is very average and we had to wait over 35 mins to get a very average tasting spag bog although the staff are very friendly. On a separate note, Caffi Glas’s toilets are disgusting and we felt quite gross using them. They need to clean them more regularly especially during covid times.