boutiquetourswales

16/03/2025

Stunning Harlech Castle

Built in the 13th century as part of King Edward 1st conquest of Wales, Harlech castle has an enviable record for its strength in surviving sieges!

Firstly surviving a siege of Prince Madog ap Llywelyn who was revolting against the English occupation of Wales between 1294 and 1295.

Secondly, during the 15th century Wars of the Roses, Harlech was held by the Lancastrians forces for seven years, before the Yorkist troops forced its surrender in 1468, a siege memorialised in the song “Men of Harlech”.

Following the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the castle was again held by forces loyal to King Charles 1st, holding out until 1647 when it became the last fortification to surrender to Cromwell’s Parliamentary armies.
The strength of the castle is on its position perched high up on a rock and relieved from the ocean that use to come right up to the base of the castle.

If you love castles, then Wales has more castles per square mile than almost any other country in the world. Come and join us on a fantastic day tour of the collection of four Unesco medieval castles at Conwy, Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Harlech.

14/03/2025

Croeso (Welcome) to the Snowdonia National Park (Parc Eryri). This iconic location is part of our two centre tour of the National Park and our Taste of Wales Tour. Come and join us and discover so much more of beautiful Wales with one of the best rated private tour and destination experiences in Britain. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

01/03/2025

09/02/2025

It’s been a beautiful week in Wales touring with our international visitors from Australia. They squeezed in a 3 day visit and tour between England and Ireland and the best part is they want to come back and see so much more of our beautiful country.

19/12/2024

Wishing all our international visitors a very Happy Christmas.

We loved touring you around our beautiful country. We hope one day that you will consider returning and we can show you so much more of beautiful and historic Wales.

With our very best wishes from John
Boutique Tours of North Wales

01/12/2024

We have just received news of yet another award for our consistent delivery in the quality of our private tour experiences here in Wales and have been awarded the title:
Best Private Tour Experiences - Wales

in the third annual Best of British Getaways 2024 Awards by SME News

The awards recognise the finest in travel, hospitality, and tourism across the UK along with the dedication, creativity and experience in providing unique and unforgettable tour experiences.

Thank you to all our guests who supported us in our nomination. It was our great pleasure to be of service to you and we look forward to all the referrals that you make in recommending our great private tour experience here in Wales

30/11/2024

On tour with our tour guests from New York and Boston visiting the UNESCO medieval castle at Caernarfon, which was built in the 13th century. Caernarfon is where King Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales back in 1969.

02/11/2024

One reason that makes our private tour services stand out from the others is the amazing and authentic reviews that we constantly receive rating the consistent delivery of our tour experience as above and beyond the guests expectation!

Recently, Ken and Theresa Roberts from Calgary, Canada visited North Wales and booked our very specialist Ancestral Tour Research and Private Tour services for their visit to North Wales.

In our research we managed to find the past homes and workplaces where their ancestors lived and during their visit, we gave them that very unique experience of connecting them to places where they worshipped, schools they attended and churches where they worshipped. We even found gravestones of the extended family, who were spread across several locations in the North Wales area, plus we provided them with unique souvenir family documents and maps to take away from their pilgrimage as memoirs to their great ancestral connections here in North Wales

Here is their review of their Private Ancestral Tour experience with us that they featured on Tripadvsior titled: An Experience of Many Lifetimes

Connecting with John and to have him guide us through North Wales area and offer us experiences that a typical tour would never offer, was one of the best decisions we have made.

John provided us with two amazing and unforgettable days in North Wales. Based on John’s research of my family tree and local knowledge, we visited the home of my paternal great grandfather and burial sites going back to my fourth great grandfather. It was an unreal experience to finally walk the lands of my ancestors and enter pubs and churches that they would have frequented.

But to truly make the experience one of a kind, John added in many more hidden gems that we would never have found on our own. John took us to unique places for coffee and lunch, where we were successfully encouraged to experience some of the tasty local dishes and spirits.

We ended the tour on the shores of Llyn Tegid, toasting the success of our visit back in time to a land that I now feel more connected to.

30/10/2024

Today saw tie last cruise ship visit of another sell out season of tours at the port of Holyhead Our inter visitors from Canada were suitably impressed with Wales and they all want to return after a “Wow” tour .
We are already taking bookings for the 2025 season of cruise ship visits, so if you aspire to take one of the best rated tours of the whole cruise, make sure you book early before some of your fellow cruise passengers beat you to our availability! See you next year.

18/10/2024

North Wales is always the most popular area of Wales that our international visitors say is their favourite part of the country. Make sure you don’t miss out!

08/10/2024

Introducing our new Liverpool in a Nutshell Tour featuring ‘In the footsteps of the Beatles,’ with the highlights of Liverpool, featuring Liverpool FC Football (Soccer) Stadium Tour, with visits to traditional pubs of Liverpool.

06/10/2024

On tour with our American visitors with an Ancestral discovery day during their four day tour of North Wales. Our visitors got to discover remote locations of farm houses where their ancestors lived and we found the extended family graves in several churchyard locations.
If you are looking to find out about your past family connections, then get in touch to arrange your very own and exclusive ancestral tour. https://www.boutiquetours.wales/ancestral-genealogy-tours-north-wales/

02/10/2024

You know when you’ve reached the heights of being a legendary tour guide! People start writing poetry about you!

This was composed by our international visitors from Texas and Minnesota in the USA, who arrived yesterday aboard Regent Seven Seas Splendor at Holyhead, for one of the best rated private tour experiences during their whole cruise around the British Isles:

Through North Wales’ hills, so lush and green,
The Davis’s, Retherford’s, and Llewellyn’s are seen.
With John as their guide, they wander with cheer,
Through valleys and castles, so ancient and dear.

The countryside whispers of legends untold,
As they walk where the mountains and rivers unfold.
Laughter and stories fill every lane,
With friends and with John, they embrace the terrain.

Diolch

12/09/2024

All aboard for our 5 to 6 day Great Little Steam Train Tour of Wales. Come and join us for a quality destination experience touring. We link you up to the operating schedules of all the leading railways featuring Snowdon Mountain Railway, Ffestiniog Railway, Welsh Highland Railway, Talyllyn Railway,
Llanberis Lakeside Railway, Vale of Rheidol Railway, Bala Railway, Llangollen Railway, Corris Railway, Fishbourne Railway and the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway.

25/08/2024

On tour today with international cruise passengers, cruising aboard the Regal Princess. They joined us at Holyhead for our spectacular North Wales in Nutshell Tour, which they rated as the best tour of the whole cruise!

23/08/2024

NEW - “A Tale of Two Cities” Football (Soccer) Stadium Tours with visits to the Premiership Grounds of Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United. Our tour Director was a youngster on the books of both Manchester teams and leads a fascinating insight into the history of each club and treading in the footsteps of legends.

16/08/2024

During our private driver guided tour of Wales, we like to introduce our international visitors to a “real taste of Wales”. Our Canadian visitors enjoyed a superb board of Welsh Cheeses and locally produced Welsh wine during a visit to a lovely boutique Welsh Vineyard.

15/08/2024

Today we toured our international visitors from Canada across the rooftop of Wales with our unique tour capturing the stunning scenic landscapes of our beautiful country. Our overnight stop was right on the edge of a stunning glacial lake in the Snowdonia National Park. Our famous and legendary professional and reliable private tour service is regularly rated as one of the best private tour experiences in Europe by our customers. Care to join us on a journey of Discovery across Wales. Contact us now to discuss your tour dates.