The Great Orme Tramway (Welsh: Tramffordd y Gogarth) is a cable-hauled 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tramway that climbs the Great Orme headland above Llandudno on the North Wales coast. Opened in two stages — the lower section on 31 July 1902 and the upper on 8 July 1903, under the authority of the Great Orme Tramways Act 1898 — it is Great Britain's only remaining cable-operated street tramway and one of only a handful surviving anywhere in the world. It is owned and operated by Conwy County Borough Council.

The line runs for about a mile (1.5 km) from Victoria Station on Church Walks to the Summit Station, just below the 679 ft (207 m) summit of the Great Orme. It is built as two physically separate funicular sections, and passengers change cars at the Halfway Station, where the winding gear and control room sit. The lower section is an unusual street-running funicular laid in grooved rail within the public road, with gradients as steep as 1 in 3.8 (about 26%), while the gentler upper section (maximum 1 in 10) runs on its own right of way across open hillside.

The tramway still operates with its four original 1902 bogie passenger cars — numbers 4 to 7, named St Tudno, St Silio, St Seiriol and St Trillo after local Welsh saints. The cars are permanently fixed to the haulage cable in the funicular manner and are controlled by winchmen in the Halfway power house, each car assisted by an on-board attendant.

The classic shot is a tramcar climbing Old Road with Llandudno Bay and the pier falling away behind it — best framed from near Victoria Station looking up the street, or from the pavement alongside the lower section's passing loop where the grooved rail and cable slot are visible. The interlaced (gauntlet) track above the lower passing loop is an unusual detail worth capturing.

On the upper section the open hillside lets you photograph the cars against the sweep of the Orme and the coastline, with the passing loop a good spot to catch both cars meeting. From the Summit Station, clear-day panoramas reach across the Irish Sea toward Anglesey, Puffin Island and the Snowdonia mountains. The cars are open-sided, so keep hands and equipment inside while the tram is moving.

For railway enthusiasts the Great Orme Tramway is a living Edwardian survivor: Britain's last cable-hauled street tramway, worked since 1902 by the same four bogie cars (St Tudno, St Silio, St Seiriol and St Trillo). The street-running lower section, with its grooved rail and below-road cable conduit, is more closely related to Lisbon's Glória, Bica and Lavra funiculars than to San Francisco's grip cable cars, because the cars are permanently fixed to the cable and stop and start with it rather than gripping a continuously moving rope.

The Halfway Station, rebuilt in 2001 with around £2 million of Heritage Lottery Fund and European Union support together with owner funding, lets visitors watch the winding system in action through a glazed viewing area into the engine room and explore an exhibition on the line's history. The original coke-fired steam winding gave way to electric motors in 1957, but the operating method — two cars per section balanced on a common cable and passing at a loop midway — is unchanged from the Victorian design.

The climb also delivers one of the best transport-and-view combinations in North Wales: on a clear day the summit looks out toward the Isle of Man, Blackpool and the Lake District, while the open-sided, windowless cars put you in direct contact with the gradient and the seaside townscape falling away below.

The journey starts at Victoria Station on Church Walks, a short walk uphill from Llandudno's promenade and pier. You board one of the open, windowless tramcars and climb steeply up Old Road, a public street where the tram has priority at the Black Gate crossing. At the Halfway Station everyone changes trams; this is the moment to look through the internal glazing at the winding drums and control room and to take in the history exhibition.

The second car carries you to the Summit Station beside the Great Orme Country Park Visitor Centre and the Summit Complex, where there is a café, a children's playground and walks across the headland. Trams run roughly every 20 minutes, so queues build at busy times in July and August; arriving earlier in the day, or in the quieter shoulder months, means shorter waits and lower fares.

Because the cars have no windows, dress for the wind and weather even on warm days. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome (assistance dogs travel free), and the round trip with time at the summit typically fills a half-day.