Llandudno (/lænˈdɪdnoʊ/[citation needed], Welsh: [ɬanˈdɨdnɔ] ⓘ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea.

In the 2021 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigside, Glanwydden, Penrhynside, and Bryn Pydew – had a population of 19,700 (rounded to the nearest 100).

[2] Llandudno is a major seaside resort in Wales, and as early as 1861 was being called 'the Queen of the Welsh Watering Places'[3] (a phrase later also used in connection with Tenby[4] and Aberystwyth;[5] the word 'resort' came a little later).

The manor comprised three townships, Y Gogarth in the south-west, Y Cyngreawdr in the north (with the parish church of St Tudno) and Yr Wyddfid in the south-east.

The ancient parishes of Llandudno, Llanrhos and Llangystennin were in the medieval commote of Creuddyn in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, which was made part of the new county of Caernarfonshire under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.

The sheer limestone cliffs provide ideal nesting conditions for a wide variety of sea birds, including cormorants, shags, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, kittiwakes, fulmars and numerous gulls.

In 1848, Owen Williams, an architect and surveyor from Liverpool, presented Lord Mostyn with plans to develop the marshlands behind Llandudno Bay as a holiday resort.

The influence of the Mostyn Estate and its agents over the years was paramount in the development of Llandudno, especially after the appointment of George Felton as surveyor and architect in 1857.

Llandudno was specifically built as a mid-Victorian era holiday destination and the branch line opened in 1858, with an intermediate station at Deganwy.

The town is served by Arriva Buses Wales, with services to Rhyl, Bangor, Caernarfon and the Great Orme summit.

[14] The Happy Valley, a former quarry, was the gift of Lord Mostyn to the town in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

The area was landscaped and developed as gardens, two miniature golf courses, a putting green, a popular open-air theatre and extensive lawns.

[17] The first route round the perimeter of the Great Orme was a footpath constructed in 1858 by Reginald Cust, a trustee of the Mostyn Estate.

Continuing on the Marine Drive the Great Orme Lighthouse (now a small hotel) is passed, and, shortly afterwards on the right, the Rest and Be Thankful Cafe and information centre.

Below the Marine Drive at its western end is the site of the wartime Coast Artillery School (1940–1945), now a scheduled ancient monument.

[22] Every year in May bank holiday weekend, Llandudno has a three-day Victorian Carnival[23] and Mostyn Street becomes a funfair.

Llandudno's active volunteer crews are called out more than ever with the rapidly increasing numbers of small pleasure craft sailing in coastal waters.

The ancient parish church dedicated to Saint Tudno stands in a hollow near the northern point of the Great Orme and two miles (3 km) from the present town.

It was established as an oratory by Tudno, a 6th-century monk, but the present church dates from the 12th century and it is still used on summer Sunday mornings.

Llandudno is home to a Jewish centre in Church Walks, which serves local and visiting Jews – one of few in North Wales.

[26] Gloddaeth Rovers dated back to 1878 and played for a decade; they were then replaced by Llandudno Swifts as the town's main club.

After the war, the people of Llandudno (including returning survivors from the 38th Welsh Division) contributed generously to the fund for the reconstruction of the village of Mametz.

Matthew Arnold gives a vivid and lengthy description of 1860s Llandudno – and of the ancient tales of Taliesin and Maelgwn Gwynedd that are associated with the local landscape – in the first sections of the preface[41] to On the Study of Celtic Literature (1867).

Elisabeth of Wied, the Queen Consort of Romania and also known as writer Carmen Sylva, stayed in Llandudno for five weeks in 1890.

Other famous people with links to Llandudno include the Victorian statesman John Bright and multi-capped Welsh international footballers Neville Southall, Neil Eardley, Chris Maxwell and Joey Jones.

LLAWN is a mini festival that rediscovers and celebrates Llandudno's past in rather a unique way; via art, architecture, artefact, sound, performance, and participation.

The festival takes place over three days of the weekend in late September, originally conceived as a way to promote what those in the hospitality sector refer to as the ‘shoulder season’, which means a lull in the tourist calendar.