Conwy Castle was the most popular Cadw site in 2018.

Despite seeing a slight decrease in visitor numbers, dropping about 16,000 from 232,492 in 2017 to 216,025 it sill had more veiws then any other site in the area - the next best being Caernarfon Castle with 215,026 visitors. 

The slight decrease in numbers to the historic Conwy Castle came despite other Cadw sites in the area recording increases - Beaumaris Castle up from 94,556 to 104,902, Denbigh up 11,105 to 11,356 and Rhuddlan 23,912 to 24,590.

But a Cadw spokesperson said it was hard to draw conclusions in 2018 with so many different factors affecting the visitor numbers.

The spokesperson said: "It’s hard to draw conclusions that apply to all North Wales sites for 2018, as there are so many different factors at play.

"For example, only staffed sites are captured here (including non-paid visitors), those that had the dragons exhibits in 2017 have seen a drop, those near the beach have seen a drop due to the warm weather and some of them have altered their opening times so aren’t comparable.

"We also have extensive renovations ongoing at Conwy and a few other sites which may put people off.

"Likewise, some positive things have effected some of the sites, such as Beaumaris Castle which has benefitted from a rise in cruise ship passengers and we are in competition with the increasing number of world class attractions in North Wales."

Visitor admission income a result of less numbers through the door was also slightly down, decreasing from £1,285,712 in 2017 to £1,210,671.

Plas Mawr, based in the centre of Conwy, saw a spike in visitor numbers, jumping from 27,211 in 2017 to 32,014 in 2018 and bringing in an extra £4000 in admission income.

Overall Cadw sites in the area saw a slight decrease in visitor numbers dropping from 796,936 (2017) to 793,911. But there was an increase in visitor admission income, jumping from £3,494,766 to £3,501,612.