Best romantic hotels in Ireland

Congenial hosts welcome you to this B&B in a Victorian rectory abounding in original features, tradition and charm, where breakfast is taken communally in a dining room overlooking wooded grounds.

There are wonderful views from this pink-washed manor house in gardens edged by Ballinakill Bay, with interiors full of antiques and curios, imaginative menus and personable third-generation owners.

The sea is a powerful presence at this former coastguard’s HQ overlooking Bunatrahir Bay, with fascinating architectural features, of cosy public rooms, blazing fires, an ocean-view sunlounge, antique furniture and contemporary Irish cuisine.

It may not be a castle but this rambling 18th-century manor house, wrapped in gardens and with views over the otherworldly karst landscape of the Burren, has its own romantic charm.

With breakfast served until noon, afternoon tea by the drawing room fire, shooting, fishing and communal dining, a house-party atmosphere prevails at this Georgian country house.

Simon and Christina O’Hara welcome guests to their Georgian ancestral home on a wooded estate with deer park, where guests sit down to a three-course dinner and awake to an Aga-cooked breakfast.

Every painting, sculpture and piece of furniture feels cherished and chosen at John Edward Joyce’s Victorian country mansion in landscaped gardens.

A private drive loops through native woodland and pastures to this classical mansion overlooking a ruined Knights Templar castle and teeming fishing lake in W B Yeats country.

Gorgeous interiors and a friendly, informal ambience are a winning combination at Susan Stuart’s beautiful B&B, where every bedroom has a sea view, and breakfast is quite special.

There are panoramic views of the island and Galway Bay from the very spacious, stripped-down-chic suites at this remote, sustainably run island retreat with Michelin-green-starred restaurant.

Set on a 300-acre working farm, this legendary Irish country-house hotel has grown from being a restaurant with rooms that is passionate about locally sourced food into a thriving business, with cookery school, café and arts venue.

Guests are welcomed with tea or coffee and home-baked biscuits at the Mernagh family’s farmhouse B&B beside a 15th-century fortified tower house.

There is a sense of fun at this modern hotel in tiered gardens, with plushly furnished public spaces, brightly decorated bedrooms, an all-day menu of modern Irish dishes, a rooftop bar reached by a glass bridge, spa treatments and cinema screenings.