Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0Tywyn is on the coast
The sea makes up 45% of the area within 5 km. Snowdonia National Park reaches the edge of Tywyn. Footpaths add up to 26 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.9 for every square kilometre. Tywyn grades A− for the outdoors: #5 of 13 in Gwynedd. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Tywyn?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Tywyn’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by protected countryside on the doorstep.
Tywyn grades A− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Tywyn, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
100
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Graded, never part of the overall grade (like History and Civic life). It measures what is mapped: OS Open Greenspace leaves out woodland and open-access land that isn’t a park, and OpenStreetMap’s rural paths are more complete in some places than others.
Tywyn is 7th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 3,000 to 3,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against towns its size, Tywyn stands out most for park space per resident: only 15 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 41 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whyteleafe Surrey | A+ | 16.3 | 100% | 4.9 | 15% |
| 2 | Theale Berkshire | A+ | 5 | 100% | 3.8 | 39% |
| 3 | Horton Heath Hampshire | A+ | 10 | 100% | 3.3 | 13% |
| 4 | Bignall End Staffordshire | A | 9.1 | 100% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 5 | Llangollen Clwyd | A | 3.5 | 91% | 2.5 | 76% |
| 6 | Moira Leicestershire | A | 15.5 | 86% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 7 | Tywyn Gwynedd | A− | 2.4 | 79% | 1.9 | 51% |
| 8 | Gamesley Derbyshire | A− | 0.8 | 100% | 5 | 32% |
| 9 | Netherton (Kirklees) West Yorkshire | A− | 2 | 88% | 5.5 | 6% |
| 10 | Oughtibridge South Yorkshire | A− | 2.2 | 76% | 6 | 19% |
| 11 | Bream Gloucestershire | A− | 2.2 | 82% | 4.7 | 10% |
| 12 | Wootton Isle of Wight | B+ | 3.7 | 67% | 1.7 | 20% |
| 13 | North Petherton Somerset | B+ | 3.8 | 91% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 14 | Amlwch Gwynedd | B+ | 1.6 | 87% | 2.1 | 14% |
| 15 | Porthleven Cornwall | B+ | 1.6 | 78% | 2.5 | 19% |
| 16 | Drayton Oxfordshire | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 3 | 3% |
| 17 | Markyate Hertfordshire | B+ | 1.4 | 100% | 2.2 | 53% |
| 18 | Wheatley Hill County Durham | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 19 | Newton and Blackwell Derbyshire | B | 2.6 | 91% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 20 | Honeybourne Worcestershire | B | 2.9 | 80% | 2.6 | 14% |
| 21 | Upper Beeding West Sussex | B | 0.6 | 83% | 3.9 | 62% |
| 22 | Fleur-de-lis and Pengam Gwent | B | 6 | 54% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Ringmer East Sussex | B− | 1.9 | 91% | 1.8 | 37% |
| 24 | Newbold Verdon Leicestershire | B− | 2.3 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 25 | Askam in Furness Cumbria | B− | 1.7 | 90% | 2 | 0% |
| 26 | Harwell Oxfordshire | B− | 1.4 | 85% | 2.3 | 42% |
| 27 | Healing Lincolnshire | B− | 2 | 78% | 1.3 | 1% |
| 28 | Crumbles East Sussex | B− | 0.3 | 44% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 29 | Lambourn Berkshire | C+ | 1.2 | 61% | 3 | 100% |
| 30 | Etwall Derbyshire | C+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 31 | Milborne Port Somerset | C+ | 1.6 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 32 | Dymchurch Kent | C+ | 1.6 | 58% | 1 | 13% |
| 33 | Thaxted Essex | C | 0.8 | 91% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 34 | Swillington West Yorkshire | C | 2.2 | 68% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 35 | West Bergholt Essex | C | 1.5 | 82% | 1.8 | 9% |
| 36 | Swanmore Hampshire | C | 1.4 | 69% | 1.9 | 54% |
| 37 | Sutton Courtenay Oxfordshire | C | 1.2 | 23% | 4 | 6% |
| 38 | West Chiltington West Sussex | C | 1.5 | 18% | 2.7 | 38% |
| 39 | Bottesford Leicestershire | C | 3.9 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 40 | Haddenham Cambridgeshire | C | 2.2 | 86% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 41 | Teynham Kent | C | 0.8 | 55% | 1.8 | 13% |
| 42 | Ogmore Vale Mid Glamorgan | C | 4.3 | 79% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 43 | Cullingworth West Yorkshire | C− | 1.1 | 72% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 44 | Hadlow Kent | C− | 1.7 | 61% | 2 | 11% |
| 45 | Charvil Berkshire | C− | 0.7 | 68% | 2.7 | 6% |
| 46 | Claydon Suffolk | C− | 2.8 | 72% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 47 | Farnsfield Nottinghamshire | C− | 2 | 63% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Lostwithiel Cornwall | C− | 1.6 | 67% | 1.5 | 11% |
| 49 | West Auckland County Durham | C− | 1.1 | 91% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 50 | Purton Wiltshire | C− | 0.8 | 60% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 51 | South Petherton Somerset | C− | 1.1 | 61% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 52 | Rendlesham Suffolk | C− | 0.8 | 52% | 1.6 | 59% |
| 53 | Navenby Lincolnshire | D | 1.2 | 81% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 54 | Tarporley Cheshire | D | 1 | 69% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 55 | Gobowen Shropshire | D | 1.2 | 50% | 1.2 | 2% |
| 56 | Skellingthorpe Lincolnshire | D | 1.2 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 57 | Queniborough Leicestershire | D | 1.4 | 48% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 58 | Kirton in Lindsey Lincolnshire | D− | 1.7 | 57% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Boroughbridge North Yorkshire | D− | 0.4 | 60% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 60 | Donington Lincolnshire | D− | 0.8 | 54% | 0.8 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Tywyn’s built-up area.
8 in 10 Tywyn residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
About 700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 4 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 784 residents.
National Parks and National Landscapes around Tywyn
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the built-up area; circle size shows each one’s area. National Landscapes were called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty until 2023.
Snowdonia
51% of the land within 5 km of Tywyn is National Park or National Landscape, more than 91% of UK towns. Snowdonia National Park covers 2,140 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Tywyn
26 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Tywyn and the kilometre around it, 1.9 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
The regional route here is the Wales Coast Path (Meirionnydd).
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
The best walking months in Tywyn: May to September
The town’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 105 | 93 | 78 | 69 | 78 | 93 | 87 | 100 | 99 | 148 | 131 | 132 |
April is the driest month (69 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 148 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 14 nights a year. The climate in Tywyn →
The coast and beaches near Tywyn
45% of the area within 5 km of Tywyn is sea. 6 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 1 with a name.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by the Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales; check it before swimming.
4 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK town its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 3
Picnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 4
Plus 4 playgrounds without a name on the map.
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tywyn | A− | 2.4 | 79% | 51% |
| Borth 7.0 mi | B | 3.1 | 74% | 0% |
| Barmouth 9.8 mi | B− | 0.5 | 60% | 53% |
| Bow Street 9.9 mi | C | 3.1 | 33% | 0% |
| Machynlleth 10.4 mi | C+ | 2.6 | 45% | 29% |
| Penrhyn-coch 10.8 mi | D | 0.7 | 100% | 0% |
| Aberystwyth 11.7 mi | B− | 1.8 | 51% | 0% |
Tywyn grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Tywyn
Is Tywyn near a National Park?
It covers 2,140 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What are the best walks near Tywyn?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Wales Coast Path (Meirionnydd).
How many people in Tywyn live near a park?
79% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical UK town is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Tywyn?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Tywyn good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.9 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 28% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 57% (2.4 ha per 1,000 residents).
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Landscape within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Tywyn’s overall grade.
Where Tywyn’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks and green space: Ordnance Survey OS Open Greenspace (parks and gardens, playing fields, play spaces, and their access points). Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- National Parks and National Landscapes: Natural England and Natural Resources Wales boundaries, areas and designation dates, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik, 16 October 2026.
- Historic parks, listed buildings and monuments: Historic England, National Heritage List for England, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Rain and temperature: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages for the town; daylight calculated from its latitude.
- The sea: ONS Countries (December 2024) boundaries clipped to mean high water. Residents near a park: ONS Census 2021 output areas.
- Grade: TownRatings’ Outdoors Grade, ranked against UK towns only.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.