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Surrounded by sea on three sides, Wales' border with England (to the east) still runs roughly along Offa's Dyke, the giant earthwork constructed in the 8th century. Wales has two major mountain systems: the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons in the south, and the mountains of Snowdonia in the northwest. These glaciated mountain areas are deeply cut by narrow river valleys. Rolling moorlands stretch from Denbigh in the north to the Glamorgan valleys in the south, ending on the west coast in spectacular cliffs. The population is concentrated in the southeast, along the coast between Cardiff and Swansea and in the valleys that run north into the Beacons.
Much of Wales was once covered by forest, mainly sessile oak, but very little remains. Most has been cleared for agriculture or chopped down for shipbuilding, charcoal building and mine construction. Overgrazing and the introduction of wild rhododendron bushes has made it hard for any native forest to reseed. Native ash are much more common than oaks, growing along rivers, and in their shade you'll find primoses, violets and orchids. Wild cherry trees and field maples are also common. Fragile Arctic plants like the unique Snowdon lily grow among the country's mountains.
Seabirds love Wales' lengthy coastline - the country has 30% of the world's manx shearwaters and Grassholm has one of the world's largest gannet colonies. Inland you'll find the only red kites left in Britain, as well as the greater horseshoe bat, confined to Wales and fragments of England. Red squirrels are holding out in parts of the country and there's a colony of grey seals breeding on the west coast.
It's probably fair to say that Wales suffers from an excess of rainfall, with water falling from the sky all year round. Westerly and south-westerly winds can also make life pretty miserable. That said, the closeness of the mountains to the coast means that you can encounter very different climatic conditions withing short distances. Temperatures in Cardiff get up to 20°C (68°F) at the height of summer (August), but rarely drop below freezing even in the depths of winter (January).
The international airport at Cardiff is mainly used for holiday charter flights, although there are some scheduled flights to Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast, Brussels, the Channel Islands, Dublin, Edinbugh, Glasgow, the Isle of Man, Manchester and Paris. Long-distance buses are the cheapest method of getting to Wales, with several services running between English and Welsh cities. A train will take less than two hours to get you from London to Cardiff, and won't burn too big a hole in your pocket. Most of Wales' big cities are linked to England by rail. The Channel Tunnel means you can travel by train from Cardiff to Continental Europe, via London of course. It takes about three hours to drive from London to Cardiff, and the motorways make most drives into Wales quick and easy. Ferries link Ireland to Holyhead, Pembroke, Fishguard and Swansea.
Distances are small, but with the exception of links around the coast, public transport users have to fall back on infrequent and complicated bus timetables. There are no internal flights. Wales has some fantastic train lines, particularly along the Cambrian coast and down the Conwy valley. The country's two main motorways are top-class, but elsewhere the roads are slow, though still good.