High speed thrills at Zip World

Three separate zip wire sites, each of which is home to an entirely unique experience, but the one thing they have in common is that they are all designed to get your adrenaline levels up! The three are as follows: Velocity, Titan and Caverns...

Nestled deep within the mountains of Gwynedd in North Wales, a short drive from the small town of Bethesda, and not too far from the coastal city of Bangor, you will find Penrhyn Quarry. Normally, a quarry would not be interesting enough to make a tourist attraction worth writing about – even a slate quarry that was once the largest in the world! – but luckily Penrhyn has a little something special.

Penrhyn Quarry is home to the rather marvellous Zip World. This isn’t a museum dedicated to Whitcomb L. Judson’s useful invention; instead, Zip World is a unique tourist attraction, full of thrilling experiences that are sure to get any visitor’s pulse racing – 3 amazing zip-lining experiences.

Velocity was the first to open, and is the one you’ll find just outside of Bethesda. It is home to a pair of zip lines; both happen to be the longest in all of Europe and the fastest in the entire world. You will reach speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, zooming across the quarry at more than 500 feet in the air. In between riding the two zip lines, you will also be treated to a tour of the historic quarry in an off-road vehicle.

Titan opened a year after Velocity, and is roughly a 45-minute journey away, found outside the famous Llechwedd Slate Caverns right by the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The people behind Zip World recommend visiting Velocity and Titan in the same day, saying that the drive between the two is “breath-taking” and “an experience in itself”. Titan is the largest zip zone in Europe, offering the first four-person zip line. There are three separate lines here, reaching 70 miles per hour, and all can be done in groups of four, adding to the “we’re all in this together” mentality!

Caverns opened in 2015, and is found at more or less the same place as Titan. This time, however, you’ll be travelling down into the caverns. It is the world’s largest underground zip line course, taking you through a part of the world that has been inaccessible to people for almost two centuries. There are no fewer than 15 zip lines here, alongside a bevy of obstacles such as tunnels, rope bridges, and climbing sections. It can be a bit of an ordeal getting around, but the experience is well worth the effort – it’s like nothing else on the planet.

If you feel as though flying through the air (whether above or below ground) is something you would like to experience, then it’s clear that North Wales is the perfect destination for you. We offer some lovely self-catered cottages in the area; click here to take a look.