20 beautiful hotels in Ireland
Marlfield House - Two Night Break Special Offer
Gorey
In woodland and extensive formal gardens, the Bowe family’s ‘beautiful’ Regency-style mansion has been providing ‘prompt and attentive service’ for more than 35 years.
Rathmullan House - Wild Atlantic Way Special Offer
Rathmullan
On the shores of Lough Swilly, give in to the ‘old-fashioned demeanour’ of the Wheeler family’s hotel, as did guests this year, who found it – and its collection of lough-facing sitting rooms – ‘endearing’.
Temple House
Ballymote
History hangs about Roderick and Helena Perceval’s Georgian mansion, approached via a drive through sheep-grazed parkland.
Gregans Castle Hotel.
Ballyvaughan
In the otherworldly limestone landscape of the Burren, with distant views across valley and mountain to Galway Bay, husband-and-wife team Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray run their 18th-century manor house as an ‘absolutely top-rate hotel’.
Enniscoe House
Castlehill
From the Georgian steps of pale-pink Enniscoe House, take in the ‘enchanting view of Lough Conn shimmering through a break in the woods’.
Rosleague Manor
Letterfrack
‘Supremely comfortable in that unique Irish country house way’, this pink-washed Regency manor house on the shores of Ballinakill Bay continues to please, say Guide readers this year.
Currarevagh House
Oughterard
‘The wonderful views of Lough Corrib, combined with warm, easy-going hospitality, make this a place in which we could stay for ages.’
Coopershill
Riverstown
Peace and quiet surround the O’Hara family’s Georgian mansion, which stands in great expanses of woodland and pasture for sheep and red deer.
Hilton Park
Clones
At the end of a mile-long drive through ‘an estate of great tranquillity and beauty’ stands Fred and Joanna Madden’s Italianate mansion.
Ballymaloe House
Shanagarry
‘Excellent all round.’ It is more than 50 years since farmer’s wife Myrtle Allen launched the modest restaurant that would burgeon into hotel, shop, café, cookery school and event space.
Ballyvolane House
Castlelyons
Approached up a long drive, this ‘beautifully maintained’ 18th-century country house stands in extensive grounds – ‘a delight tn the eye’.
Mornington House
Multyfarnham
The O’Hara family seat since 1858, this 18th-century house in ‘rolling countryside’ is run with ‘indomitable spirit’ by Warwick and Anne O’Hara.
Inch House
Thurles
‘Warm and charming in its small-scale grandeur’, the Egan family’s Georgian mansion sits amid a cereals farm in Tipperary countryside.
The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge
Ballingarry
‘The Mustard Seed, with its great tradition of Irish hospitality, is in safe hands,’ says a Guide reader this year of a return visit to John Edward Joyce’s ‘lovely, charming’ restaurant-with-rooms.
Castle Leslie
Glaslough
‘Positively flourishing’, the Leslie family’s sprawling estate has remained in the hands of its founding family for nearly three and a half centuries.
Viewmount House
Longford
In ‘cleverly designed, well-maintained gardens’ on the outskirts of town, Beryl and James Kearney’s Georgian mansion has ‘uninterrupted views’ of the surrounding land, and a ‘cheerful ambience’ within.
Lorum Old Rectory
Bagenalstown
Built of granite cut from the surrounding Blackstairs mountains, Bobbie Smith’s 19th-century rectory is ‘cosy, comfortable and spotless’, report contented Guide readers this year.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
‘It is dramatically beautiful here, and totally tranquil.’
Newforge House
Magheralin
In a swaddle of green grounds unravelling towards the River Lagan, John and Louise Mathers are the ‘personable, totally customer-centred’ hosts of this ‘remarkable’ guest house.
Roundwood House
Mountrath
The vista stretches over open pastures from Paddy and Hannah Flynn’s Georgian mansion, standing in extensive grounds below the Slieve Bloom mountains.