37 Basic Welsh Phrases for Travel in Wales

Travelling to Wales for the first time and want to know a few handy phrases to get by? Or maybe you’ve travelled to Wales before and want to refresh your memory? Learning just a few simple sentences will make your trip worthwhile, as it shows that you respect the Welsh language as well as the culture. The locals will certainly appreciate this, even if it’s a few sentences here and there!

Let’s start with the three most basic Welsh greetings that will certainly come in handy during your stay: 

The above greetings can be used with workers within the hospitality industry such as waiters and hotel workers, or with people you may encounter along the way to your place of stay, for example taxi drivers or bus drivers. They can also be used with shopkeepers if you decide to visit some shops on your travels, or anyone who provides a service while you’re there.

When you want to say ‘goodbye’, use the formal greeting:

Or, if you want to use a more casual greeting to say ‘goodbye’, use:

If you’re a complete beginner, there will be a point in time where you will want to switch to English. Broken Welsh will only get you so far and the best way to politely ask if somebody speaks English in Welsh is:

Or, if you find yourself in a situation where the other person initiated the conversation, you can respond with:

Or, if you want to get straight to the point, you can tell the other person that you don’t understand them:

If you’re keen on building and improving your Welsh vocabulary (the best way to do this is with the locals!), you should have the following phrase to hand:

The other person should hopefully respond with:

Learning how to pronounce things in Welsh will take time. If you’re having trouble understanding, it’s important to know how to ask someone to write things down, especially if it’s important information such as an address or a telephone number.

Use the following question for this kind of scenario:

Or you can simply ask that person to note down the address or telephone number:

Being in a new country can be quite daunting at times, and this is even worse if you can’t get your bearings! For this kind of scenario, you should know how to say “Where is / are…?” 

The singular version of this question is as follows:

Once you know how to say this question, all you have to do is fill in the blank with the correct noun. For example:

• Toiledau cyhoeddus = public toilets 
• Amgueddfa = museum
• Safle bws = bus stop
• Archfarchnad = supermarket

Asking for the time is essential if you’ve forgotten your watch or phone. You definitely don’t want to forget about that booking you made for that exciting excursion or restaurant you had in mind! The best way to ask this in Welsh is:

The Welsh locals will certainly appreciate it if you’ve learnt your “pleases” and “thank yous”, and some people may even think that they make too much use out of them! In Welsh, there are two ways to say “please”. You can use:

In terms of “thank you”, you can say:

If someone thanks you, be ready to respond with the word ‘croeso’ which means ‘you’re welcome’.

If you decide to buy a typical Welsh souvenir, whether that being a nice slate plaque for the wall or a Welsh tapestry/blanket for the living room, it’s important to know how much money you need to put aside for it. The easiest way to inquire about the price of something is:

Or, if you want to take things to another level, you could ask:

In terms of the plural, for example, if you’re inquiring about multiple items, you will need to change the phrase to:

If you’re planning to use public transport to go from A to B, it would be useful to know their schedules:

Here’s a list of common public transport in Wales:

• Bws = Bus
• Trên = Train
• Tacsi = Taxi
• Bws moethus = Coach

You might want to know how long it will take to get to your destination, or at least an approx. time. For this, use one of the following but remember to mutate the place name that follows (if needed):

• i Fangor = to Bangor
• i Aberystwyth = to Aberystwyth
• i’r orsaf = to the station
• i’r amgueddfa = to the museum
• i ganol y ddinas = to the city centre
• i ganol y dref = to the town centre

It’s always useful to know how to say where you would like to go when you’re travelling. Having an opinion matters after all! You have plenty of choices in Wales whether that being on high ground, low ground, or near the coastline. 

In Welsh, you can use the following sentence:

Then just add where you would like to go, for example:

• …i’r traeth / the beach
• …fyny gopa’r Wyddfa / the summit of the Wyddfa
• …weld Llyn Tegid / see Llyn Tegid
• …ymweld â Chastell Caerdydd / visit Cardiff Castle.

Another verb that would be useful to know is ‘gallu’ – to be able to. Here are a few examples:

Although no one wants to end up lost in a new town or city, it’s still a possibility. Being the worst-case scenario, it’s important to know how to communicate with someone to say that you’re lost in the first place. The simplest way of doing this is to state the facts:

Whoever you encounter will hopefully assist at this stage! If you have someone else in your company, you will need to use the plural:

If you’ve lost one of your belongings, you can say:

Or, if you’ve been unlucky enough to lose any other item, replace with one of the following:

• Cês dillad / Fy nghês dillad = luggage / suitcase
• Cerdyn credyd / Fy ngherdyn credyd = credit card
• Sbectols / Fy sbectols = glasses
• Pasbort / Fy mhasbort = passport
• Ticed / Fy niced = ticket

As you can see above, you will need to mutate some of the nouns that follow ‘fy’ (my).

If you want somebody’s attention, and that person is busy occupied with something else, you can always use the following:

By all means, if you’ve found yourself in a pickle, or in real trouble, you can always call out for help as you would in English:

With all of these phrases under your belt, you’re sure to be well equipped and ready to go. Pob lwc and safe travels!