Yes! You read it right! It’s indeed very weird and unique place not only in Wales but around the world. Did I say ‘Unique’? Well, let’s just say second unique.

What is all the fuss about this place? Know it yourself by accepting challenge to pronounce the following

“Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch“

How did you perform? Could you pronounce the whole thing in one go? No? Now you agree why it is weird. You may be thinking it is a sentence with all its words joined up taking away the empty spaces. No! It is just one word. Yet again, you read it right. It is ONE word. It is indeed the name of the place of a beautiful village and community located on the island of Anglesey in Wales. The name of the place is a jawbreaker in the true sense with 58 characters which makes it the longest single word place name in Europe and second longest in the world. First longest named place with 85 characters is in New Zealand.

When we drove through the village, it’s hard to miss the fact that most businesses are named after this place. May it be a car showroom or a convenience store or a saloon, or a restaurant or gas station, you will find that everyone around is proudly displaying the place name.

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Train Station Building

We asked one very elderly gentleman if he can help us on how to pronounce it properly. He warmly gave us back a loud chuckle and said “Well! I’ve been trying all my life. Good luck to you.” Our pack, especially kids were quite amused by this and spent quite some time having fun competitions among themselves to read and pronounce only to be mocked at by others in lighter vein breaking into loud giggles.

This is how you break it and pronounce it

“LLAN – FAIR – PWLL – GWYN – GYLL – GO – GER – YCH – WYRN – DROB – WLL – LLAN – TY – SILIO – GO – GO – GOCH”

Still can’t make it? Join the club with us 🙂

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Signboard at Train Station displaying the name and its pronunciation.

The weirdness of this place does not end here. Before I tell you why, please take a minute to answer my question. “How do you stop a train if you intend to board onto it?” I know what you are thinking. “You don’t really stop a train. Do you? Train is stopped at a station by the signal operated by the railway staff for a defined time and all passengers must then hurriedly get into it within set time” If you are thinking what I am thinking, then you may be right elsewhere in the world but not here at Llanfair (short and convenient form of the long name). Look at the pictures below to know yourself how that works in this weird place.

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Information board at the station informing that this train stops on request only.

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Information board at the station telling to signal clearly to the driver to stop the train.
So if you ever want to board the train in this station make sure you clearly give a signal to request to stop the train,🚉 a bright colored scarf may come in handy too.

Fun Facts About The Llanfair

  • Meaning of the word ‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch’ is “The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Saint Tysilio by the red cave”

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    Weavers shop that is displaying the name and its meaning in English.
  • Its name was invented that way to promote tourism.
  • Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records – 2002
  • The name was used in movies, bands, crossword puzzles TV channels and many more.
  • It is even included in the monopoly game for one of the train stations and the designers have to struggle to fit the entire name in the small square of the game board.
  • The Royal Couple Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Kate Middleton) made their first home soon after their wedding here in Anglesey.
  • Once in Channel 4 on TV, Welsh weatherman during a forecast, successfully pronounced the full name and instantly the video was a huge hit. It bagged 15+ million hits as of 2017 and still counting.

Read more about our Wales trip at Wonderful Wales