With one day in Llandudno, begin on the promenade. It is the town’s opening argument, and a strong one when the weather has manners.

Walk from the central bay towards the pier. The pier opened in 1877, stretches 700 metres into the bay and is Grade II* listed: take it to the end. The view back is the thing. The sugar is incidental.

Next, go up the Great Orme by tramway, cable car, car or foot. The Orme is what turns Llandudno from a pleasant resort into somewhere with a spine. At 207 metres, it gives views across the bay, Conwy estuary, Anglesey and on clear days the mountains of Eryri to the south-west.

The Great Orme Tramway, operating since 1902, is the only cable-hauled street tramway in Britain. It takes two stages to reach the summit, changing at Halfway. The journey gives the Orme ceremony without requiring the full walk.

If time allows, add the mines or a short walk away from the summit crowd. The Bronze Age copper mines are the largest known prehistoric copper mines in the world, worked from around 1700 BC. One should not travel up a great limestone headland and miss this.

Return for Mostyn Street, coffee, food or a little practical browsing. Look up at the buildings. Visitors miss a great deal because they insist on staring into windows full of things they do not need.

If the afternoon allows, walk towards West Shore. It faces the Conwy estuary and Anglesey. At lower tides, the beach extends broadly. In the evening, the light across the mountains is not incidental: it is the point.

One day is enough to understand Llandudno, but not enough to exhaust it. That is how a town keeps its dignity.

The Great Orme Mines and Tramway together make Llandudno a more substantial visit than any other combination available in the town. They give the day depth: the pier is the statement, the Orme is the argument, and the mines beneath it are the proof that this headland was important long before anyone thought of arranging a resort at its foot.

Leave West Shore as your final stop if weather and timing permit. The resort town behind you, the sea and mountains before you: this is Llandudno remembered well.