National parks of Wales in the context of Pembrokeshire Coast

Snowdonia, or Eryri (Welsh: [ɛrəri] ), is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The lower Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.

The national park has an area of 823 square miles (2,130 km) (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia, and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.

The national parks of the United Kingdom (Welsh: parciau cenedlaethol; Scottish Gaelic: pàircean nàiseanta) are 15 areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape across the country. Despite their name, they are quite different from national parks in many other countries, which are usually owned and managed by governments as protected community resources, and which do not usually include permanent human communities. In the United Kingdom, an area designated as a national park may include substantial settlements and human land uses that are often integral parts of the landscape. Land within national parks remains largely in private ownership. These parks are therefore not "national parks" according to the internationally accepted standard of the IUCN but they are areas of outstanding landscape where planning controls are significantly more restrictive than elsewhere.

Within the United Kingdom there are fifteen national parks of which ten are in England, three in Wales, two in Scotland, and none in Northern Ireland.

The Cambrian Mountains (Welsh: Mynyddoedd Cambria, in a narrower sense: Elenydd) are a series of mountain ranges in Wales.The term Cambrian Mountains used to apply to most of the upland of Wales, and comes from the country's Latin name Cambria. Since the 1950s, its application has become increasingly localised to the geographically homogeneous Mid Wales uplands, known in Welsh as Elenydd, which extend from Plynlimon (Pumlumon) to Radnor Forest in the east and Mynydd Mallaen to the south. This barren and sparsely populated 'wilderness' has been referred to as the Desert of Wales. The area includes the sources of the River Severn and River Wye and was unsuccessfully proposed as a national park in the 1960s and 1970s. The highest point of the range is Plynlimon, at 2,467 feet (752 m).

The wider, more historic, use of the term also includes Snowdonia in North Wales, and the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains in South Wales. They range in height up to 3,559 feet (1,085 m) in Snowdonia.

The national parks of the United Kingdom (Welsh: parciau cenedlaethol; Scottish Gaelic: pàircean nàiseanta) are 15 areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape across the country. Despite their name, they are quite different from national parks in many other countries, which are usually owned and managed by governments as protected community resources, and which do not usually include permanent human communities. In the United Kingdom, an area designated as a national park may include substantial settlements and human land uses that are often integral parts of the landscape. Land within national parks remains largely in private ownership. For example, nearly one-fifth of South Downs National Park's area (70,699 acres) is owned by eight members of the gentry (two dukes, three viscounts, one baron, and two baronets). These parks are therefore not "national parks" according to the internationally accepted standard of the IUCN but they are areas of outstanding landscape where planning controls are significantly more restrictive than elsewhere.

Within the United Kingdom there are fifteen national parks of which ten are in England, three in Wales, two in Scotland, and none in Northern Ireland.

Wales, a country that is part of the United Kingdom, contains protected areas under various designations. The largest designation by land area is Wales's three national parks, followed by the five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (sometimes collectively the "Designated Landscapes of Wales").

Among these protected areas is Snowdonia (Eryri), Wales's first and the UK's third designated national park, and the Gower AONB covering parts of the Gower Peninsula being both Wales's and the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), as well as smaller designations.