With its craggy sculptures of stone and ruined castles rising above the valley mist, otherworldly Wales is where legend and history merge. Armed with hiking boots or a bicycle, lose yourself in the region’s timeless scenery laced with waterfalls, lakes and jagged peaks, winding roads and sandy beaches. Tour villages with tongue-twisting names and gorge yourself castles and ruins, or join the adrenaline junkies searching for the ultimate thrill.

Spring (March to May), when the countryside is in bloom and Wales is at driest

Touring the castles at Conway, Caernarfon and Harlech Riding the electric railway at Aberystwyth Visiting the Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno Taking the steam train up to the summit café on Mt Snowdon’s peak Hiking, biking, mountaineering, canoeing or caving the Brecon Beacons National Park Trawling through Hay-on-Wye’s record-breaking number of secondhand bookshops Strolling along the cliff-top Pembrokeshire Coast Path from St David’s to Cardigan past tiny fishing villages, secluded coves and plenty of pubs

Read Dannie Abse’s Journals from the Antheap, a humorous account of his trips through Wales or the novel Worlk, Sex and Rugby by Lewis Davies

Listen to Generation Terroists by the Manic Street Preachers, or some ighter music by a Welsh make choir

Watch Solomon and Gaenor or Hedd Wynn

Eat bara brith (rich, fruited tea-loaf) or cawl (a meat-and-vegetable broth)

Drink Brains (beer)

Lechyd da! (good health!)

The coal mines of the South: rugby that once worth singing for; male voice choirs; castles everywhere; mountains and rain; the Welsh dragon; leeks; Tom Jones; Catherine Zeta- Jones

The most famous of Welsh gastronomic specialities is laver bread, which is not bread at all but boiled seaweed mixed with oatmeal and served with bacon and toast for breakfast; vegetarians should head straight for the famous Glamorgan sausage, made from a hesdy mixture of cheese. Breadcrumbs, herbs and chopped leek

Party with the best of them on Wales’ fabulous festival circuit. Experience the ancient and the avant-garde at an eisteddfod, take a dip in the murky waters at the World Bog Snorkelling Championships in Llanertyd Wells, immerse yourself in literary longings at the Hay Festival of Literature, experience the passion in the terrace at the Six Nations Rugby Championship in Cardiff and smoking sounds at the Brecon Jazz Festival.