The Quay Hotel and Spa is no beauty — but purpose-built hotels rarely are. However, what it might lack in the looks department is more than made up for by its location in a plum, waterfront spot of Deganwy Marina overlooking the picturesque Conwy estuary in north Wales. The spa, integrated into the 80-room main hotel building, reopened in the spring after a much-needed refurbishment to justify having “spa” in the hotel’s name. It now offers a decent array of wellness and pampering facilities for hotel guests and a growing number of local members. A few tweaks here and there are still in the offing to fine tune treatment times and introduce exercise classes.
Spa facilities and treatments
Score 7/10
Set on two levels and easily accessed from the hotel’s main reception, the spa’s ground floor is dedicated to “wet” facilities — a large pool with an adjoining vitality pool, three types of sauna (traditional, infrared and Himalayan salt), a steam room and foot-bath zone where guests can sit and natter while their feet are pummelled with massage jets. Upstairs are the eight treatment rooms (four are doubles), the spa café and relaxation room. Don’t expect much daylight as the spa is almost entirely artificially lit — pinks, purples and blues on the ground floor, more soothing yellows and ambers in the treatment area. The spa uses the exceptional, delicately scented products from the award-winning brand Oskia, appropriately manufactured in Wales. Try the 80-minute Luxury Face and Body Fusion or the 60-minute Bespoke Warm Oil Massage. Cancer sufferers can enjoy soft-touch facials, but doctors’ notes are required.
Guests wanting to use the spa facilities between 9am and 5.15pm must pay £25pp for a two-hour slot or book a special spa package allowing morning, afternoon or whole day access. Details of new yoga, aqua aerobics and other mobility classes are due to be revealed soon. Meanwhile, the one caveat is that treatments can only be booked until 4pm. Hopefully, as the nights draw in, plans will be made to extend this.
• Other spa breaks around the UK
• Discover our travel guide to Wales
Rooms and suites
Score 7/10
This is a hotel of two halves: one half has the views, the other doesn’t, so be sure to book a room overlooking the estuary. Look right and the estuary ebbs and flows to the Irish Sea; look left and a little way upstream you will see the magnificent hulk of Conwy Castle. Directly opposite, green, craggy hills rise towards the distant higher peaks of Eryri (Snowdonia). There’s therapy to be had from the view alone. Some rooms are more recently decorated than others, with tired wallpaper being replaced with fresh, pale blue paint and easy-on-the-eye artwork of local scenes. Rooms 274 and 276 are the pick; not necessarily the biggest, but the best appointed.
Food and drink
Score 7/10
Chance upon a dry day — not always easy in north Wales — and there’s nowhere better for a bite to eat, a cuppa or an early evening drink than on the terrace, which is also a cracking spot to catch the sunset. The Cove Bar, offering drinks and a lighter menu (sandwiches, fish tacos, burgers and risotto, for example) morphs into Ebb & Flow, the hotel’s main restaurant, both light and bright spaces sharing a common design theme in ship’s rope and rigging. The menu is British with the occasional Asian or Moroccan twist and, where and when possible, food is sourced locally. Time your stay when there’s an “r” in the month and you’ll find the famously plump and delicious Conwy mussels on the menu. And don’t miss the ice cream from Parisella’s, Conwy’s celebrated ice-cream parlour.
What else is there?
Score 8/10
Aside from a well-equipped gym, separated from the spa by a corridor, the Quay Hotel and Spa’s other offerings are alfresco. A walking and cycling path right on the doorstep goes one way round the estuary’s headland towards Llandudno and Great Orme Head, and the other to Conwy, home to one of Edward I’s mightiest Welsh castles and the picturesque synonymous village encircled by its walls. Squeeze into Great Britain’s smallest house, if you can. The hotel is popular with golfers (as there are three golf courses within easy striking distance) and hikers, who take to the mountains of Eryri National Park.
Price B&B doubles from £129, 60-minute treatments from £90, half-day spa pass from £59
Restaurant Mains from £26
Family-friendly Y (swimming times for children, 10am-noon, 3pm-5pm)
Dog-friendly Y
Accessible Y
Pamela Goodman was a guest of the Quay Hotel and Spa (quayhotel.co.uk)
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