Our Review Of The Hilton Snowdonia (Hilton Garden Inn Snowdonia)

With international travel still requiring multiple tests for travel, we decided to stick to the UK for our first break since COVID began. Our search took us to the newly opened Hilton Snowdonia, part of the Adventure Parc Snowdonia complex. We paid a little over £305 for a 3-night long weekend break. Our Diamond status with Hilton means breakfast was included for free.

Location

The hotel is about a 20 min taxi ride from Llandudno Junction station which in turn is a 3-hour direct train from London Euston. We choose one of the taxi services close to the station, Castle Cabs, and it cost us £20. You can use public transport but as you might know, if you’ve been to the area before, they aren’t frequent or reliable (every 1 – 2 hours.) If you do decide to get the bus it will drop you by the Post Office pretty much opposite the Hilton Snowdonia.

The hotel as we mentioned earlier is part of the Adventure Parc Snowdonia complex which features the world-first inland surf lagoon: head-high waves powering down a 300-metre lagoon. As well as the obvious surfing and lessons you can take part in stand up paddleboarding & open water swimming on the lagoon. The complex also features a variety of other adventures including climbing, zip-lining & indoor caving. You can read more about the adventures on offer here – https://www.adventureparcsnowdonia.com/. The hotel also has a spa attached to it called the Wave Garden Spa (more on that later in our review) you can take a look at the website for it here – https://wavegardenspa.com/

Outside of the complex, you are limited to things to do or see unless you are driving willing to spend money on taxis. Opposite the hotel is a small takeaway called FussPot food that does a variety of food (including Gluten-Free & Vegan,) a 20-minute walk away there is a Pub called Y Bedol which again has a huge selection of food (including Gluten-Free & Vegan) an extra 10 minutes from Y Bedol (turning left up the lane) is a pub called Ye Olde Bull Inn which has good views over the countryside. Outside of this Betws-y-coed & Conwy are about a 20 min drive in either direction. If you are planning on doing Velocity 2 at Zip World or Climbing Snowdon these are both about a 40-minute drive each way.

Travelling around Snowdonia

As we travelled via train to Snowdonia we utilised taxis to transport ourselves around to Zip World, Snowdonia & Betws-y-coed. Taxi firms can get very busy and as Snowdonia is very rural we would recommend pre-planning your trips as early in advance as you can. There are no Ubers here! We arranged an email schedule with PR Taxis and had a great experience from start to finish. Friendly service, fair price and ran like clockwork.

Hilton Snowdonia

As you can probably tell the Hotel is still very shiny and new having only been open a few months! As you enter the check-in area is directly in front of you. To the left, you have a bar/event space as you move past this you’ll find a small shop and lifts. On the right, you have the restaurant, Zephyr’s Bar & Grill where breakfast is also served. If you pass all the way through the restaurant on the far end there is also access to the Wave Garden Spa.

The Room

Before arrival, we were upgraded to a King room with a lagoon view & sofa bed from a basic Queen. Next time we would pay to secure a better room due to the extra space and the view of the lagoon. It’s very relaxing watching the lagoon in the morning with a cup of tea! As soon as you walk into the room you’ll notice the layout is perhaps a little different from what you are used to. The bathroom/room are in a weird sort of hybrid with each other! Directly in front of you is a wardrobe, to the left is a sink/mirror on the same wall as the door and then two separate doors. Behind the first door is a toilet and behind the second door is a rainforest and normal shower combo. There is a sliding door that separates the bed/desk/chair and the ”bathroom’ side of the room. This however only goes to the wardrobe which is open/accessible from both sides, fine for partners but a little strange otherwise.

On the other half of the room, you have the king bed on the left and TV opposite at the end of the room you have a sofa bed on the left side and a chair/desk with Smeg fridge & kettle on the right. You also have lovely large windows with a view over the lagoon.

The Bathroom

As mentioned above the bathroom is a sort of hybrid mixed with the room. Despite being a little odd to start having a separate toilet and mirror area it is useful when two people are getting ready. The mirror & lighting is very good & there were also Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries provided. The shower was great, almost operating as a mini wetroom with a rainforest/regular combo shower.

Breakfast

As a diamond member, we was offered complimentary breakfast in the Restaurant which operates a buffet service. In the restaurant, you’ll find a mixture of juices, pastries, bread, continental meats, fruit, yogurts, cereal and cooked options such as bacon, sausages and eggs etc. Whilst not as expansive as higher-end Hiltons there is still a good selection. You can also request items a la carte options (no specific menu) from the chef, for example, an omelette or something prepared for an allergy e.g. Gluten Free toast. A particular favourite was the Welsh lemon yoghurts! You can also take breakfast outside which was lovely when the weather is good.

Other Facilities

The hotel also has a small gym and a coin-operated washer/dryer room if needed.

The Wave Garden Spa

We booked Your Thermal Journey at the Wave Garden Spa which gives you access to the facilities for a set amount of time which includes indoor and outdoor hydrotherapy pools, steam room, Himalayan salt sauna and barrel sauna. We were running a little late for our booked time & check-in was a little messy as they couldn’t find us initially and then couldn’t find our payment. We were allowed in whilst they sorted out between themselves 🙂

You are given a robe and a towel and shown to the changing rooms where you can get changed. These are quite small and if there are multiple people in them they could get very crowded! There are also shower facilities here for you to use. Once you are ready you exit the changing rooms and turn left into the actual spa…

Indoors the first thing you see is the indoor hydrotherapy pool, around here are various beds/chairs, tables and drinking water. To the left further into the spa is a foot spa, to the right, there is a small corridor with a couple of showers a steam room and a sauna with views over the lagoon.

Towards the back past the foot spas is the door to the garden of the spa. Here you will find a barrel sauna, a relaxation/yoga area, an outdoor shower, more beds and the all-important hot tub with views over the lagoon!

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience here and it was made even better by how quiet the spa was. As we visited on the weekend (peak) we paid £25 each for 2 hours access. If you visit off-peak you’ll pay just £20.

Find out more about the spa and the treatments on offer here – https://wavegardenspa.com/

Extending our stay at the Hilton Snowdonia…

Yep… we liked it that much we wanted to extend our stay! On the day before we left, we enquired about extending our stay (the website showed sold out) a very helpful lady at reception was able to come back to us 10 minutes later letting us know not only could they extend for us in the same room but they’d honour the nightly rate we’d originally booked at. Overall a fantastic experience and we were very happy.

Hilton Snowdonia Conclusion

We have had a great stay at the Hilton Snowdonia, it was a fantastic experience for our first trip since COVID began. The service was great, the hard product is good (despite the bathroom setup being a little odd) and it’s a fabulous place to relax, particularly in the spa. We originally paid a little over £305 for our 3-night stay. Redemptions are currently priced at 40,000 points a night & cash rates start from as little as £96 a night. For more details and booking click here. – https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/vlymsgi-hilton-garden-inn-snowdonia/