Fodor's Expert Review Castell Dinas Brân

This romantic hilltop ruin looks out over a breathtaking patchwork of green fields and mountains. The fortress was built in the 1260s on the site of an earlier castle, which was an Iron Age fort before that. Its heyday was incredibly short lived; by the end of the 13th century it had been captured and abandoned by English forces after which it gradually fell into ruin. The castle is located on top of a hill just north of Llangollen town center. There are no roads to the summit; the best walking path starts at Canal Bridge in Llangollen and zigzags up the side of the hill. The rather punishing hike is a little over a mile long.