Parking is the first argument Llandudno has with a driver, and it is a needless one. The town sits on a flat neck of land two kilometres across, with the North Shore promenade on one side and West Shore on the other. Almost everything you came for is a walk from almost anywhere you leave the car.
This is a map of the parks, not a tariff sheet. Charges move. Conwy County Borough Council keeps the current list on its Llandudno car parks page. Read the board when you stop.
Do not drive the North Shore looking for a space after ten on a fine Saturday, in the school holidays, or over Easter. Park once, in a town park or at the Victoria Centre, and walk. The isthmus is level. The pier, Mostyn Street and West Shore are all inside twenty minutes of each other on foot. The summit car park is for the Great Orme, not for the pier.
The Parade is the on-street pay-and-display along the North Shore — hundreds of bays on the seaward side of the hotel crescent, from the pier towards Venue Cymru and Craig-y-Don. It is the obvious North Shore stop, which is why it is the wrong first choice on a busy Saturday. It fills from the Grand Hotel end outwards.
Conwy CBC charges on the Parade in the daytime for much of the year and treats overnight hours differently from the town parks; the windows sit on the council table and on the machines. Do not assume a space you found at dusk is free at nine the next morning. If you are staying in a seafront hotel, ask where residents put a car — several of the large houses have none.
These are the ones to use for a town day. All are Conwy CBC pay-and-display unless noted.
Victoria Centre, off Mostyn Street, is the shopping-centre multi-storey in the middle of the grid, a ten-minute walk from the pier. It is not on the council list; it is a private car park with its own rules and a time limit aimed at shoppers. Read the ticket. Good for Mostyn Street; a poor place to leave a car while you disappear up the Orme.
Town Hall, on Market Street, is a compact council park in the civic middle of town. York Road sits a street back from the front, west of Mostyn Street — a calmer walk to the promenade than the Parade itself. Maelgwyn Road is the larger of the two back-street council parks, a short walk from the western hotels; if the Parade is a queue, this is the one locals will send you to. Holy Trinity, on Trinity Square, is a small pay-and-display by the church: easy to miss, easy to fill, and not a plan for a full day.
Dale Road is the council park on the south-west side of town, towards the West Shore rather than the pier. It has a height barrier — the only one on the council’s Llandudno list — so it is the wrong choice for a high van. For a car it is a sensible all-day stop if West Shore is the point.
Venue Cymru, on Mostyn Broadway at the Craig-y-Don end of the promenade, is the biggest council park in town. Use it for a show, the eastern promenade, or overflow when the centre is full. Charge points are here; see the venue’s own page. The Parade beyond the theatre is now inside the controlled zone — do not assume the meters stop at the door.
Happy Valley is a small park — fifty bays — at the gardens above the pier, under the cable-car station. It is for Happy Valley, the eastern flank of the Orme and a short walk down to the pier. In season it goes early. It is not a town-centre overflow.
Great Orme Summit is a proper park at the top of the headland, for the country park and the limestone walks. A Marine Drive toll ticket currently covers parking up here — confirm on the council’s Marine Drive page. What it is not: a way of parking for the pier. The summit road and Marine Drive close in rockfall; have a town park as the fallback.
Across the isthmus, West Shore faces Conwy Bay. The West Shore Beach page notes free on-street parking along West Parade outside peak times. Treat that as a prompt to read the plates, not as a guarantee. If the signs say pay, pay. If they say residents, leave it. Dale Road, a few minutes inland, is the charged alternative.
Mostyn Broadway coach park, by Venue Cymru, is drop-off and collection, not an all-day dump. Builder Street, inland, is the long-stay coach park — fenced, with toilets and a wash. A ticket there is currently also valid at Morfa Bach in Conwy; keep it. Cars belong in Maelgwyn, York Road, Venue Cymru or Dale Road.
Llandudno station has an APCOA car park on Augusta Street. It is a private operator, not a council park, with its own app, tariffs and overnight rules. Useful if you are meeting a train; a roundabout way of parking for the pier.
Asda, on Conway Road, is a supermarket car park with the usual customer conditions and a time limit. It is a working shop, not an all-day tourist facility. Using it while you spend the afternoon on the Orme is how those conditions tighten.
The residential streets behind the hotels look promising on a map and are largely permit-controlled or restricted. Do not invent a free day on a Mostyn side-street terrace with a residents’ plate.
Dale Road has a height barrier; most of the other council parks on the Llandudno list do not, but bay lengths and overnight rules still make a motorhome an awkward guest. Conwy CBC publishes notes for motorhome parking and Blue Badge use. Overnight sleeping in a Conwy CBC town park is not what the bays are for.
Charge points exist at Venue Cymru, the station APCOA and on Mostyn Street. If you are arriving low, top up on the A55 or at Llandudno Junction rather than hunting a bay in town on a Saturday.
Llandudno is a planned Victorian town on flat ground. The walks guide is built on that fact. From Maelgwyn, York Road or the Victoria Centre you can do the pier, the promenade, Happy Valley, Mostyn Street and West Shore without moving the car.
Even for the Orme, the better move is often to park in town and go up by the tramway, the cable car, or on foot. Driving the summit road to save a walk is how you meet a closed gate on a cliff.
A pier and promenade day. Victoria Centre or York Road if you want the shops as well; Maelgwyn if you are coming from the west. Leave the Parade to people who have already given up. Walk the front. Details in the seafront piece.
A West Shore day. Dale Road, or West Parade if the signs on the day allow it. Do not park on the North Shore and drive round.
An Orme day. Happy Valley for the cable car and the gardens; the summit park only if the road is open and the headland is the whole day; otherwise park in town and ride or walk up. Marine Drive is a toll road with its own rules.
A Venue Cymru evening. The theatre’s own park. Arrive for the show, not at lunchtime hoping to hold a bay until curtain.
A wet day. Everyone comes into town. Victoria, Town Hall, York Road and Maelgwyn fill faster in rain, not slower. Dale Road and Venue Cymru are the overflow. The rain guide is the rest of that plan.
A Conwy day. Do not take a Llandudno park as a staging post and then drive into the castle car park. Train from Llandudno, changing at the Junction, or the coast bus. The castle piece is here.
Season decides how hard any of this is. Easter and August on the North Shore are the weeks when the Parade is a sport. September and a midweek morning in winter are not. The when to visit page is the calendar; this page is only the map.