Geograph - photograph every grid square

Surf Snowdonia, opened in August 2015, as a brand-new artificial wave facility at Dolgarrog in the Conwy Valley, North Wales. Privately funded, (with the aid of Welsh Government grants) it cost £12m to build, on the site of a former aluminium factory – though it has been decontaminated since, and approved by Welsh environmental regulators. It was the first in the world.
Surf Snowdonia used WaveGarden technology, pioneered by a group of surfer-engineers in San Sebastián, Spain, and which was to be rolled out globally (Spring 2016). The waves are created once a minute by a snow plough-like weight that moves underwater along a central pier.
The attraction is 300 metres (985ft ) long and 110 metres (360ft) wide (around the size of six football pitches) containing six million gallons of water with three wave heights offering waves that are up to six feet high if you were to ride the whole way of 150 metres. The pool is filled with rainwater collected from Snowdonia reservoirs including Llyn Cowlyd. This water passes through the adjacent hydro-power station, originally built to power the former aluminium plant, before being pumped from the tail-race into the surfing pool.
It had been beset with technological issues from day one and was eventually closed down in 2023. The company having previously been acquired and rebranded as Adventure Parc.
As at August 2025 it was hoped the Adrenalin Indoor centre might reopen.
There is no news of the surfing venture.
Meanwhile the adjoining hotel Hilton Garden Inn has been sold and reopened as IXORA Hotel and Spa.