Llangefni

Llangefni is Anglesey's county town — the administrative centre, market hub, and cultural heart of Ynys Môn — yet it remains almost entirely off the tourist trail. That is partly its charm. While the coast is choked with summer visitors, Llangefni carries on: weekly markets, local shops, the island's main hospital, and a community that is overwhelmingly Welsh-speaking in a way the coastal villages no longer quite are.

The town sits at the junction of the island's main roads, a few miles inland from the Menai Strait. The River Cefni runs through it, and Llyn Cefni — a reservoir about a mile east — offers walking and birdwatching, with a hide for watching the wildfowl that overwinter on the water. The Oriel Môn gallery and museum on the edge of town is the best place on the island to understand Anglesey's history, from the Druids to the drovers to the copper barons.

The Wednesday and Saturday markets are the best reason to visit. Local farmers sell directly, and the stalls reflect a genuinely rural economy: beef, lamb, eggs, honey, root vegetables, Welsh cakes still warm. It's a different Anglesey from the one on the postcards.

Llangefni makes a practical base for exploring central and inland Anglesey — Bryn Celli Ddu is about 8 miles south, the Coastal Path is accessible from several points, and Anglesey Circuit (Trac Môn) is just a few miles north of the town.