Story and photos: Ilona Kauremszky
“Tone is everything,” shares acclaimed actress Dame Emma Thompson as she leans toward the sold-out audience when asked whether film adaptations are a good thing at this one-of-a-kind event set in the medieval Welsh village of Hay-on-Wye.
Only an hour earlier ticket holders were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a snaking queue more akin to a rock concert than a literary gathering. Still, hundreds of creative types from cinefiles to bookworms burrowed inside the big top tent aptly named, “The Global Stage” to hear the UK film royalty discuss the books that shaped her life.
Welcome to Hay Festival
Each spring, this charming town in northeast Wales where sheep outnumber residents (there’s barely 2,000) transforms into the epicentre of the literary world as global bibliophiles descend upon this Glastonbury for thinking people. (Glastonbury is the world’s largest green field music and performing arts festival held on a dairy farm in Somerset, England).
Revered as one of the world’s great literary festivals, the 11-day Hay Festival attracts more than 100,000 visitors against the backdrop of Wales’ Black Mountains on a sheep field.
Literary tourism is having a serious moment. According to Skyscanner’s latest travel trends, 48 percent of clients have booked a trip inspired by literature, with hotel bookings up 70 percent globally based on their library filter.
The timing, frankly, couldn’t be better for the Canadian travel trade.
As summer Europe bookings accelerate, and with FIFA fever supercharging Canada’s two host cities: Toronto and Vancouver, WestJet has launched its first nonstop Toronto-Cardiff service since 2008, giving clients easy access to Wales while simultaneously feeding Welsh football excitement with four flights weekly through September 11th.
In this “Land of Legends,” a nickname due to its rich Celtic folklore and Arthurian lore, Wales’ magical landscapes are instantly recognizable to generations raised on fantasy films and literary adaptations. In fact, the dramatic Welsh castles and rugged valleys have inspired countless film productions like Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire appearing in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fans will recall the famous setting was for the tear jerking scene when Dobby dies and Harry Potter buries his devoted elf friend in the garden behind Shell Cottage.
“Harry Potter is the gift that just keeps on giving,” explained Cathy Stapells, Director in Canada for VisitBritain, during a recent media tour alongside Rob Jones, Media Relations Executive at Visit Wales, who took Travel Courier through South, West and Mid-Wales last month, which coincided with WestJet’s inaugural flight.
With a red dragon emblazoned on its flag, a distinct language experiencing its own renaissance, more Blue Flag beaches per mile than anywhere else in the UK, and the highest concentration of castles in Europe, Wales offers an incredible destination for your clients’ next trip.
For Canadian travel advisors looking for a fresh European product with strong storytelling power, the country folds together literary legends, knockout coastal scenery, cinematic castles, compelling culinary experiences and manageable driving distances into one highly sellable package. Add WestJet’s new seasonal direct Toronto-Cardiff service and suddenly Wales becomes far more accessible for escorted programs, customized FITs and culturally driven small-group touring.
You land at the compact Cardiff Airport, a stress-free arrival experience conveniently located close to downtown, where clients will immediately turn their heads as the Welsh capital catches them pleasantly off guard.
Glass-fronted buildings shimmer across Cardiff Bay while the copper-toned Wales Millennium Centre glows like a beacon beside the waterfront. The slate-and-glass Senedd anchors modern Welsh politics, and looming nearby sits Principality Stadium, a muscular giant with its retractable roof ready to unleash rugby mania, rock concerts and enough adrenaline to power half the country.
One afternoon, we toured the local sites with Chris Jones from Loving Welsh Food who led our small group on a Welsh culinary journey. Ideal for team building, at Castle Arcade, we inhaled buttery Welsh cakes (more please) hot off the griddle, sampled Welsh cider and cheeses with the award-winning cheesemonger T? Caws on a 5-stop taste sampler that brilliantly ended with Wrexham Lager, Britain’s oldest lager brewery co-owned by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, who’s no stranger there. He co-owns the country’s oldest football club, Wrexham AFC, too. These contrasts make Cardiff a strong opener for travel itineraries.
Travel advisors can package the city as a stylish pre- or post-touring stay with guided castle visits, culinary tours, and museum experiences. National museums across Wales have free admission like the National Museum Cardiff. It holds one of Europe’s best Impressionist collections. Not bad for a capital city many Canadians still mistakenly overlook.
Then it’s time for castle country. In Wales, more than 600 castles are scattered across the landscape, each seemingly perched atop a cliff, guarding a valley or emerging theatrically through fog and rain showers.
And yes, it rains here. Quite gloriously sometimes, but on my visit in May it was gloriously sunny with blue skies.
Caerphilly Castle appears first on the itinerary, and frankly, it’s enormous. Wrapped by vast water defenses and hulking stone walls, this 13th-century fortress remains one of the largest medieval fortifications in Britain. Famous for its leaning tower — Wales’ answer to Pisa—this Norman castle has fewer tourists and better stories. Literary-minded travellers love the atmosphere here.
Advisors can easily combine Caerphilly with local food experiences, Welsh cheese tastings and heritage touring from Cardiff, making it an excellent full-day inclusion.
Further west, the road bends toward one of Wales’ great scene stealers: Carreg Cennen Castle.
Perched high atop a jagged limestone crag in Carmarthenshire, the ruined castle looks as though it was built specifically for fantasy film directors. The wind whips. Sheep graze lazily below. Clouds race overhead. And then the view opens wide across rolling green hills that seem to stretch forever. Even English Romantic painter J.M.W. Turner couldn’t resist painting it.
For advisors and tour operators, Carreg Cennen works beautifully for photography tours, literary itineraries and active cultural programs.
Then the landscape softens. Laugharne arrives gently beside its estuary waters. This is Dylan Thomas country. Not packaged, overproduced literary tourism, but a deeply atmospheric place where his presence still lingers naturally through the town.
The Dylan Thomas Boathouse sits above the estuary exactly where the poet left it. His writing shed still peers across the water. Thomas spent his final four years living on the coast when he died unexpectedly at the age of 39 while touring in New York City. His desk remains positioned toward the view. “This beautiful view is absolutely gorgeous, because this is supposed to be the inspiration, alongside Swansea and other locations, for Under Milk Wood, which of course, is supposed to be his most famous,” says Mark Damon Chutter, Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society, seated in the parlour of this modest dwelling.
For literary travel, Dylan Thomas Boathouse manager Toby Nottage confirms this location as one of the top literary shrines. “Laugharne is an incredible spot within Wales. It’s very special with incredible history,” he says over tea and Welsh cakes.
Nearby, The Grove of Narberth offers one of Pembrokeshire’s loveliest overnight experiences. Hidden behind mature gardens and country lanes, the luxury 35-room country house hotel is the flagship property of The Seren Collection, and part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) portfolio. Find polished comfort with relaxed Welsh warmth. Think plush interiors without stuffiness, gardens that invite a lingering glass of wine and menus proudly showcasing Welsh produce.
“Dylan Thomas was from Laugharne, which is about 30 minutes away, and some of the Harry Potter films were filmed on the coastline here,” elaborates Karen Weisheit, General Manager, about the property’s proximity to literary and film locations ideal for small group travel. She and her staff are ready to welcome Canadian guests with the new WestJet service.
Then comes Tenby — colourful, cheerful, deliciously nostalgic. A riot of pastel-coloured buildings adds to the magic of place. Roald Dahl once remarked, “An Easter holiday is hardly an Easter holiday without Tenby,” and after one stroll through town, you understand completely.
The medieval walled seaside town spills down toward the harbour framed by enormous sandy beaches. Ice cream melts faster than tourists can eat it, and kids build sandcastles on beaches scientifically declared among the best sandcastle-making beaches in Wales.
Travel advisors should consider overnight stays here rather than rushed stopovers. Tenby appeals across generations: couples, families, literary travellers and soft adventurers all find something to love.
Britain’s smallest city somehow carries one of its largest spiritual reputations.
Tucked discreetly into a hollow within Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, St Davids Cathedral hides itself from view. Vikings attacked here repeatedly over the centuries, yet the cathedral endured, continuing to attract pilgrims from across Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Two pilgrimages to St Davids were once considered equal to one pilgrimage to Rome. That’s serious medieval bragging rights.
Today, tiny streets fill with independent galleries, tea rooms, artists’ studios and outdoor outfitters catering to walkers tackling the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, part of the 870-mile Wales Coast Path route. Wales is the only country in the world with a continuous, waymarked footpath spanning its entire coastline.
Clients staying at Twr Y Felin Hotel find themselves perfectly positioned for culture and coastal exploration. The former windmill property blends contemporary luxury with an impressive art collection spread throughout the hotel. After long coastal walks, returning here feels wonderfully refined. “We have companies we are able to partner guests with,” says Robin, front desk agent about the private tours available.
The literary thread continues north to Aberystwyth. Part university town, part seaside resort and part cultural powerhouse, Aberystwyth is home to the National Library of Wales.
As one of Britain’s legal deposit libraries, the institution receives copies of every publication produced in the UK. Inside rests one of Wales’ greatest literary treasures: the Black Book of Carmarthen, the oldest surviving manuscript written entirely in Welsh.
Guided group tours work exceptionally well here for educational travel, alumni associations and literary organizations seeking substance beyond sightseeing. The building itself radiates Edwardian grandeur with sweeping staircases and reading rooms carrying the unmistakable scent of old books and scholarship.
Finally, the road swings into Bannau Brycheiniog National Park — still fondly called the Brecon Beacons by many locals — before arriving at Hay-on-Wye. Hay consumes books. Former shops sell books. Alleyways overflow with books. Honesty bookshops line the streets where customers simply leave coins in boxes. It feels gloriously eccentric.
Book lovers, prepare yourselves. Next year, the Hay Festival is set to celebrate 40 years. And during the festival, which has free admission, its onsite bookshop morphs into Europe’s biggest bookseller, selling roughly 55,000 books in 11 days. Gareth Howell-Jones, Hay Festival bookshop manager, shares how this annual event becomes an ecosystem of ideas that often blends literature with cinema. “There’s the recent film of Wuthering Heights. It sent a whole generation of people that hadn’t done it before to read that,” he says about the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel.
For travel advisors, Hay Festival presents an enormous opportunity. Literary tourism continues growing globally as clients increasingly seek intellectually engaging experiences over traditional sightseeing.
Wales delivers that beautifully because the country doesn’t separate literature from landscape. And at Hay-on-Wye amid hundreds of years-old oak trees where the green hills of the Black Mountains and lush farmland are its backdrop, bookworms unite.
After all, in Wales, stories live inside the castles, along the coastlines, within cathedral walls and across the mountains.
USEFUL LINKS
For more travel information and travel trade itineraries on Wales, advisors can visit traveltrade.visitwales.com.
For WestJet promotional tools, bookings, and training materials go directly to the WestJet Vacations Agent Portal: agents.westjetvacations.com/en/login.
For more travel information on the UK, visit www.visitbritain.org/travel-trade.
All Canadian passengers require an ETA pass (electronic travel authorization) in order to enter Wales and other areas of the UK. The ETA costs £20. For registration visit www.gov.uk/eta
