Welcome to Elenydd, a sweeping highland wilderness often called Wales’s “empty quarter.” Often described as remote, enigmatic and still largely unknown, this is a landscape that has attracted travellers and writers, from the 19th century and and beyond, with descriptions including “one of the most untamed and desolate” corners of the country,.More than a century on, visitors will find that Elenydd has changed remarkably little. The scattered farmsteads once clinging to the margins have long been abandoned, and with them went much of the human footprint. What remains is a powerful sense of timelessness: rolling plateaus dressed in purple moor grass and heather; shadowed oak woods thick with ferns; lively, boulder-strewn rivers carving their way through the hills. As writer Ken Jones put it in Stallion’s Crag (2003), this is “a vast sheepwalk, roadless, ruined and depopulated—a tumbled world of mist and bog, of looming and elusive shapes.”
Elenydd is not just a destination—it’s an experience of raw, unfiltered landscape. For travellers seeking solitude, mystery and the feeling of stepping into an older Wales, few places offer such an extraordinary sense of escape.
Things to Do
- Hiking, mountain biking, and wild swimming in the Cambrian Mountains
- Visit Devil’s Bridge Falls
- Explore towns like Aberystwyth
Find the Best Places to Stay
From charming B&Bs to stylish boutique hotels, this area offers a range of accommodations for all tastes and budgets.
Y Talbot, Tregaron
Brief hotel description, location or type. Ideal for couples or families.
Tŷn Cornel
Tŷn Cornel is a remote hostel and the nearest located accommodation Elenydd