🛌 Collection of luxe lodges | 👙 First-class wellness spa and treatments | 🍼 Family-friendly | ❤️ Perfect for Romantic Weekends, Girls’ Weekends or Wellness Weekend | 🌳 Stunning setting overlooking estuary | 🛌 Sleeping 2 – 6 |📍Carmarthenshire, Wales
🥂 Tried & Tested by us
Why we love Dylan Coastal Resort for a weekend
No matter where you are – chilling in the hydrotherapy pool or lunching on the veranda – the same beauty that inspired Welsh poet Dylan Thomas fills your irises. Here, you get a front row seat to one of Wale’s greatest vistas. It’s hard to think of a better spot for a Welsh spa break. It’s even harder to leave.
The Dylan Coastal Resort sits at the apex where salt water meets sky in the village of Laugharne, West Wales. This £7.5 million state-of-the-art resort has been strategically built on the hillside overlooking the ebb and flow of the Taf Estuary, moments away from Dylan Thomas’ former home and the writing shed where he wrote some of his greatest work.
This lofty spot was once an old-time holiday park for caravans and a handful of chalets in Carmarthenshire. Now, though, a 50-strong collection of contemporary hilltop and cliff-front lodges stud the landscape in its place. And nestled at the foot of the resort, the jewel in the crown, is the stunning glass-fronted Milk Wood House where inside, free for guests to use, is the resort’s titanic spa.
The Spa
Milk Wood Spa at Dylan Coastal Resort has to be one of Wales’ best spas – if not one of the UK’s. This magnificent glass and slate two-storey building gazes out towards Llansteffan and the Gower Peninsula; the vista from here is close to sea level and, thanks to the infinity swimming pool, the waters of the Taf Estuary and the blue pool feel connected; almost as if one is pouring into the other. The visual affect is just stunning, so be prepared to spend a lot of time bobbing at the pool’s edge, watching the ever-shifting skies and landscape outside.
As well as the show-stopping swimming pool, the Dylan Resort Spa also boasts a tepidarium, mezzanine relaxation zone, techno gym equipment, sauna, herbal steam room, outside infinity hydrotherapy pool, and themed showers. The sauna and steam room both have glass fronts so you can keep your eyes on the incredible views from these spots, too.
The spa also offers a range of massages and treatments, including organic seaweed therapies. The therapists, like the entire team at the Dylan Coastal Resort, are wonderfully polite and friendly. The treatments take place in two elegant rooms, soothing and with no views to distract you. Afterwards, you can head back to the spa to chill out, climb the stairs to the Milk Wood Bar & Kitchen for a handmade wood-fried pizza (which we thoroughly recommend you do) or take a slow walk back to your lodge – with your sight’s firmly fixed on some hot tub time.
Or, if you prefer, you can simply take the Dylan Coastal Resort chauffeur service back to your lodge. Hey, you’re worth it.
The Lodges
With such a stunning backdrop, the luxury lodges at the Dylan Coastal Resort have a lot to live up to. But they do so, easily. Our lodge (one of the resort’s Milk Wood Lodges with a hot tub) was a huge light-filled ‘home away from home’, with every room decorated beautifully in a relaxing mix of coastal whites and blues and furnished luxuriously. It sleeps up to 6 in three gorgeous bedrooms, one with an en-suite, and all with smart TVs, fresh towels, oodles of storage space and fluffy robes hanging in the wardrobes.The main bathroom was crisp and clean, complete with a bath and a shower.
Beyond the bedrooms, sat a large open-plan lounge, kitchen and dining room. The entire space was a bright, uplifting one with estuary views spilling in through the floor-to-ceiling doors and windows, beckoning you outside onto the veranda from the moment you unlock the front door.
The kitchen was perfectly appointed with everything you could need for a self-catering 4-day weekend or longer holiday, including a wine fridge, breakfast bar, and USB ports. We were also welcomed with extra-special touches (available to add on to your stay): a luxury hamper of local food, a bouquet of flowers, and a bottle of champagne. If you need a fizzy top-up, or any other supplies, there is a shop in Laugharne and a supermarket only 10-minutes’ drive away.
After a hard day in the spa (ahem), the lounge was a relaxing, comfy space where a group of six can easily sprawl out and stream movies. The smart TV was cinematically big and the statement sofa was large enough to all curl up on. The dining table was perfectly sized too, with plenty of room for everyone to feast around.
Best of all, outside on the decking, there was a six-seater hot tub bubbling away. Even in the Welsh rain, we couldn’t resist slinking into it to listen to the sound of curlews on the estuary sandbanks and absorb the poetic beauty of the estuary. And we’re pretty sure Dylan Thomas would approve.
The Essentials
- You’ll find the Dylan Coastal Resort in the delightful village of Laugharne in West Wales
- It’s a quiet resort, perfect for couples, older visitors and groups of friends who want a chilled-out break
- Families are welcome although it’s not a typical family holiday park
- Check-in is contactless, so you don’t have to wait around when you arrive. Instead, you’re sent your lodge number and pin code for the key box, along with a resort map and further information, via email and SMS
- The Milk Wood Bar & Kitchen has three separate terraces, an open kitchen featuring a wood-fired pizza oven, and a menu which showcases ingredients sourced from local farms and fishermen
- You’re moments away from the Dylan Thomas Boathouse and Laugharne Castle as well as Brown’s Hotel, a historic spot where Dylan Thomas liked to drink
- Perfect base for exploring more of coastal Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, including Tenby, St. David’s and Saundersfoot
- The service and team at the resort are brilliant; nothing is ever too much trouble
- There are also two tennis courts and a playground for children on site
Eye Candy
