Bangor sits on the banks of the Menai Strait in Gwynedd, North Wales. Bangor is both a university town and is one of the smallest cities in the United Kingdom. It is situated in a region of outstanding natural beauty where the Snowdonia mountains reach the sea. The Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 14 miles (23 km) long separating Bangor and the mainland from the Isle of Anglesey.
The strait is bridged in two places - the main A5 road is carried over the strait by Thomas Telford's iron suspension bridge, opened in January 1826, and adjacent to this is Robert Stephenson's 1850 Britannia Tubular Bridge.