A short visitor's guide to Trearddur Bay, Anglesey: things to do, places to eat and drink, and what's on through the year.
The big draw is the beach itself. Traeth Trearddur is a wide, sandy crescent ringed by low cliffs and rock pools, with a slipway, a sailing club and lifeguard cover in summer; on a clear afternoon you can wade out a long way before it gets deep, which is why families keep coming back. It is the obvious place to base a day, and it pulls in by far the most visitor reviews of anything on this coast.
Step away from the main beach and the headlands open up. Porth Castell sits a short walk south of the village, a smaller cove with shingle, grass banks and easy parking on Trearddur Road; Porth Diana North Wales Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve on Ravenspoint Road is a rocky, heather-topped reserve loved by walkers for its sea pinks, choughs and clear water in the inlets below. A little further round Holy Island, Porth y Post and tiny Porth Isallt Bach are the kind of half-hidden coves you reach off Lon Isallt with a pair of trainers and a flask. If you fancy something older than the cottages, the Holyhead road passes Trefignath Chambered Tomb, a 5,000-year-old Neolithic burial chamber sitting quietly between the road and the railway, free to visit and worth twenty minutes of anyone's time.
For a village this size, Trearddur Bay punches above its weight on places to drink. The big one is Seacroft, the bar and grill on Ravenspoint Road that everybody seems to end up at: a relaxed, slightly rambling pub with a beer garden, kids' menu, dog bowls outside and rooms upstairs if visiting friends need a bed. With well over 1,500 reviews, it sets the tone for the whole bay, friendly rather than fussy, and you'll usually get a table mid-week without booking. After a wet walk it is genuinely hard to beat.
Closer to the slipway, The Inn at the Bay on Lon Isallt is the locals' choice for a pint with a sea view; the windows look straight out at the boats and on a still summer evening you can sit outside and watch the swimmers come in. Up the hill on Ravenspoint Road, Bert's Family Pub at Gwynfair Caravan Park is the easygoing, child-friendly option: bright, casual and useful when the weather turns and the kids are climbing the walls. Most of these places are happy to have well-behaved dogs in the bar, which matters here, given how many guests bring one along (the dog-friendly holiday cottages in Trearddur Bay listings show why).
Eating out in Trearddur Bay is mostly clustered along Lon St Ffraid and the back lane behind the beach, which makes it easy to wander down from a cottage and choose at the door. The headline act is Ocean's Edge Restaurant on Lon Isallt, a 700-plus review favourite that mixes a proper restaurant menu with a sea-facing bar; book a window table at sunset and it is the closest the village gets to fine dining. After a long day on the sand, Scarlett's Fish & Chips does the job it should, generous portions, walk away with paper parcels, eat them on a bench looking at the bay.
If you want something other than chips, The Stores is the local Italian and deli, turning out artisanal pizzas and fresh pasta from the heart of the village; The Driftwood Bar & Restaurant at The Beach Motel is the highest-rated place in town for sit-down food (4.8 stars), informal, family-friendly, and the kind of menu where everyone in the group finds something. For a curry night in, Little Indian Chef quietly delivers the spice fix; for a slightly smarter occasion, the Bay Restaurant at The Trearddur Bay Hotel does a more classic, locally sourced menu in the village's grand old hotel. If a special meal calls for a soak afterwards, the hot tub holiday cottages in Trearddur Bay listings are worth a look.