Wales

Clwyd is home to Wrexham Glyndwr University.

This preserved county has a string of charming seaside resorts, including Rhyl, Llandudno, and Colwyn Bay.

Things get more green and hilly as you head inland – the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley are a designated Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty – while Clwyd’s position means there’s no shortage of castles and history to explore.

Dyfed is home to Aberystwyth University and the University of Wales Trinity St David.

Dyfed is a preserved county made up of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire, which includes Britain’s smallest city of St Davids.

You can easily fill your camera roll in Dyfed, particularly in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, with its epic 186-mile coastal trail along the cliff tops, overlooking the Irish Sea.

Gwynedd is home to Bangor University. The county has the highest proportion of Welsh speakers. In fact, it’s here that you’ll find the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – or ‘Llanfairpwll’, if you haven’t got the lung capacity to say the full thing.

Meanwhile, Snowdonia National Park has plenty of nature to get stuck into, even if you don’t fancy the challenge of Wales’ highest peak, Mount Snowdon.

Mid Glamorgan is home to the University of South Wales, in Pontypridd.

Mid Glamorgan is one of the three preserved counties that make up Glamorgan, or ‘Glamorganshire’: an area with a proud industrial heritage, in the south of Wales.

The administrative county of Mid Glamorgan was replaced by the county boroughs of Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil, and part of Caerphilly, in the 1990s.

South Glamorgan is home to Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of South Wales, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

A preserved county, South Glamorgan covers the capital, Cardiff – equal parts history and cosmopolitan city life – plus the rural Vale of Glamorgan.

Wales’ most southerly region, its wild coastline includes seaside town Barry, made famous in Gavin & Stacey.

West Glamorgan is home to Swansea University.

West Glamorgan is a preserved county, with highlights including waterfront city Swansea – made famous by poet Dylan Thomas – and the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Gower Peninsula.

Stretching 19 miles, the Peninsula is a geological Celebrations box of (many) golden beaches, limestone cliffs, moors, villages, Iron Age forts, castles, caves, and more.