Rhyl Accommodation

More About Rhyl

Start on the front. There is a large indoor waterpark on West Parade called SC2, with flumes, soft play and an assault course alongside the pools. The Marine Lake and its miniature railway sit just behind it. When the tide is out the sand goes a very long way, which is half the appeal and the one thing to keep an eye on.

Half an hour inland the country turns to farmland and hills, with the Clwydian range along the skyline and the marble church at Bodelwyddan on the way. Prestatyn is along the sand to the east and Llandudno about twenty minutes west. The station sits on the main coast line, so Chester is roughly half an hour by train.

Rhyl was the first town on this coast to set up as a seaside resort, back in the 1820s. It grew piecemeal, built by its own traders rather than one landed family. That is why it never had the planned look of Llandudno, and why it always drew a broader, mixed crowd.

The beach is the reason to come: three miles of flat sand, lifeguarded by the RNLI through the summer. Prices sit below Llandudno and Colwyn Bay to the west, and dogs are welcome along much of the front.

The Rhyl Miniature Railway, round the Marine Lake, has run since 1 May 1911. It is the oldest of its kind in Britain, still pulling the steam engines built for it locally in the 1920s. Beside it the SC2 waterpark reopened on 5 July 2025, after December 2023 storms tore its roof off, and now runs pre-booked timed sessions through Denbighshire Leisure.

The Sky Tower still stands over the front, a landmark now rather than a ride. Walk west from it and the promenade runs four miles to Prestatyn, flat sand and sea wall with the Vale of Clwyd inland.