Wales is quietly building a serious case for your next trip, and 2027 could be the year it finally gets the attention its tourism board thinks it deserves. Speaking to Euronews Travel at World Travel Market in London, Visit Wales senior tourism marketing manager Clare Dwight made the pitch: three national parks, a bilingual culture that makes it feel genuinely distinct, and enough outdoor activity to keep both adrenaline junkies and slow travellers happy.

The headline event is the Tour de France. A stage of the 2027 Grand Départ will run from Welshpool to Cardiff on 4 July, and Wales is leaning into it hard, naming 2027 an official "Year of Cycling". A first-of-its-kind interactive mapping tool will highlight attractions, detours and stops along the country's cycling routes. And you don't need pro legs to join in — alongside the famous Tour-style climbs, there are flat, easy off-road routes that are explicitly family-friendly. The 21km Tywi Valley Path in Carmarthenshire is a good example: gentle, scenic and doable at a relaxed pace.

Cycling isn't the only draw. Royal Porthcawl Golf Club will host the Senior Open, the professional men's golf tournament for players over 50, while Cardiff becomes the first UK city to host the EuroGames, Europe's largest LGBTQ+ multi-sport event.

Then there's Wrexham. Since actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the town's football club in 2021, three successive promotions and the hit documentary "Welcome to Wrexham" have turned this border city into an unlikely pilgrimage site for football fans. The Football Museum of Wales and Wrexham Museum opened there in September, mixing historic memorabilia and interactive displays with the city's industrial and cultural story.

Beyond the big events, Dwight's pitch is that Wales works in any season: daffodils in spring, bluebell woods in summer, autumn colour, then Christmas fairs and cosy pub fires in winter. Castles and museums run all year, and the food alone — Welsh rarebit, Cawl stew, Welsh cakes — is reason enough to linger. The bilingual signage and everyday use of Welsh give even a short visit a strong sense of being somewhere different, without needing to cross a border.

For travellers, the practical takeaway is simple: if you want the big events, aim for summer 2027 and book early, especially around the Tour stage. If you'd rather avoid crowds, the rest of the year offers the same castles, trails and coastline with far fewer people — and Wales is compact enough that Cardiff, the national parks and Wrexham are all easily combinable in one trip.