Rhyl Favorite Tips by scotlandscotour

Favorite thing: Rhyl is a place generally to avoid. It is worth seeing to be believed - and to experience part of British life not usually seen by visitors.

The beach is long and sandy - but few go there any more.

The town has declined further than most of Britain's victorian seaside resorts. Any slight pretence of style and quality left years ago and the town is suffering a disproportionate number of social problems.

So many former hotels and guest houses are now home to the 'unemployable' with behavioural and or drug problems. The area is poor, dirty, and an eye soar. Attempts by the local council to reinvigorate the tourism trade serve mearly to lure more "unemployed tourists" from the English cities of Liverpool, Manchester etc - and they spend so little to contribute nothing to the economy.

Plus points for Rhyl:
Sandy Beach (great if no wind)
Lots for Kids to do
Shops - the best between Chester and Llandudno (wow) - and serving the towns Location - inland to the "Vale of Cwyd".
Theatre and cinema
Suncentre swimming pool

See Rhyl Website

Nearby (3miles inland) the Excellent Rhuddlan Castle - well worth seeing. Rhyl is only 30 miles from the lovely town of Chester, and west is the Snowdonia National Park. Inland are many country lanes excellent for quiet cycling tours.

Great countryside and Welsh towns nearby like Rhuddlan, Ruthin, Denbigh and St. Asaph - so use Rhyl as a transport hub to access these.

Rhyl is on the main North Wales coastal route linking England with Dublin - Ireland - so has excellent rail and coach access.

Fondest memory: The old fashioned promenade and beach were havens from the tacky amusement arcades - like a down market Blackpool. BUT now that too has been ruined.

The local council's incompetence in redevelopment verges on suicide. They take the prize for white elephants and must surely be questioned for corruption. Can they really spend money so badly for so long?

Rhyl is safe and small - easy to walk around and fun if you like pubs and the life of bingo, burgers and gambling. Its a fun place if you go with the flow - but generally a place to pass through - it holds little interest.

Head to Prestatyn (4 miles east) for a quieter version - a town struggling since the Kwik Save Supermarket chain upped roots. Now quiet and parochial, Prestatyn at least has charm and a beautiful hillside. Prestatyn is one end of the Offa's Dyke Long Distance Footpath.

Warning Eyesoars - this whole coastline is littered with hidious caravan parks - white oblongs clustered like maggots on the wounded body of a beautiful coast. From Rhyl west towards Abergele is the worst 5 mile section. It's OK if you like living close to people and hate greenery, individuality and quality. Otherwise hope for global warming and sea rises!!! Come in Towyn, you time is hopefully up!

Off shore you will see one of Britain's main wind farms - so maybe Rhyl's watery grave can be delayed (I know stories of tree stumps far out to see in the sands - remnants of an old forest - which if true shows the encroachment of the sea, now stemmed by concrete barriers.)

The Irish sea is Radioactive, by the way, thanks to Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in Cumbria (England). Something to consider before you or your children build sand castles - ingesting particles of alpha emitting radionuclides. Umm. an area to research cancer?