Best luxury and boutique hotels, B&Bs in Ireland

Featured hotels with Special Offers

Rathmullan House - Spring & Autumn Special Offer

Rathmullan

Built for a bishop in about 1760, Rathmullan House has been a beacon of Donegal hospitality since the early ’60s.

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No. 1 Pery Square - Two Night 'Hike & Spa' Special Offer

Limerick

It’s hard to believe that this boutique hotel, in a Grade 1 listed town house, at the corner of one of Ireland’s most perfectly preserved Georgian terraces, was once a youth hostel.

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The Wilder Townhouse - 'Together Again' Package Special Offer

Dublin

Frankie and Josephine Whelehan have transformed a Victorian red brick property a short walk from St Stephen’s Green into a chic city-centre bolt-hole.

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More best luxury and boutique hotels in Ireland

Temple House, Ballymote

The anticipation builds as you follow a half-mile drive through sheep-grazed pastures to Roderick and Helena Perceval’s 18th-century classical mansion, remodelled in 1864.

Gregans Castle Hotel, Ballyvaughan

This ‘epitome of Irish country house hospitality’ overlooks Galway Bay, in the dramatic Burren landscape, said to have been the inspiration for Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

Enniscoe House, Ballina

‘More comfortable home than guest house’, this classic Georgian house stands in deep countryside at the foot of Nephin mountain.

Newport House, Newport

‘It was like going back into the past and being treated like guests in a private home’ for a reader this year after a stay at Kieran Thompson’s Georgian mansion overlooking the estuary and quay on Clew Bay.

Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry

Fifty-seven years after Myrtle Allen opened a restaurant in her home on her husband’s farm, her values are still articles of faith at this legendary country house hotel.

Ballyvolane House, Fermoy

A house-party atmosphere prevails at Jenny and Justin Green’s Italianate mansion set amid romantic gardens and parkland.

Mornington House, Multyfarnham

Home to the O’Hara family since 1858, this Irish country manor house with its gardens and wooded grounds lies just outside the village, in a landscape of rolling hills and ancient forests.

The Quay House, Clifden

There’s personality aplenty at this family-run B&B ‘stuffed with antiques and curios’ in a former Georgian harbourmaster’s house and three of its neighbours, overlooking Owenglin estuary.

Castle Leslie Estate, Glaslough

The claim that Clan Leslie ‘can trace its ancestry back to Attila the Hun’ might give you pause, but fear not: the warmest Irish welcome awaits at this baronial-style Victorian pile on a 1,000-acre estate with three lakes and an equestrian centre.

Sheedy’s, Lisdoonvarna

The small town ‘wraps itself around’ Martina and John Sheedy’s peachy yellow hotel, on a hilltop with ‘lovely’ views of Clare ‘to catch the heart off guard and blow it open’, as the poet Seamus Heaney puts it.

Viewmount House, Longford

This elegant 17th-century country house set among orchards and beautifully designed gardens ‘ticks every box’ for readers.

Lorum Old Rectory, Bagenalstown

If the locally made grandfather clock in the hall is the beating heart of this Victorian rectory-turned-B&B in the Barrow river valley, hostess Bobbie Smith is the life and soul.

Sea Mist House, Clifden

Just off the scenic Connemara Loop, this B&B has been in the same family for three generations, giving it a rich, lived-in patina and making guests feel it is ‘like staying with friends’.

Killiane Castle Country House and Farm, Drinagh

If murder holes in a 15th-century fortified tower hint at a want of hospitality, the welcome in the adjacent stone farmhouse could not be warmer.

Ard na Sidhe Country House Hotel, Killorglin

On the wooded shores of Lough Caragh, silent glades in the extensive gardens of this Irish sandstone-built manor house are ripe for discovery; hidden pathways open on to the water, and the mountains beyond.

Glenlohane, Kanturk

History is in the walls of this ivy-clad Georgian country house, which stands in lawns and parkland in the Blackwater valley, surrounded by the stately trees that have looked over it for centuries.

Frewin, Ramelton

From the stained-glass windows and airy, white-linened bedrooms to the bone china cups at tea, there’s an old-world charm at this creeper-covered former rectory, on the outskirts of a Georgian port town on the Wild Atlantic Way.

Ghan House, Carlingford

A tree’s length from the medieval town, the Carroll family’s listed Georgian house sits within castellated walled gardens, with views of the mountains that surround.

Knockeven House, Cobh

A gracious hostess in an elegant Victorian house, Pam Mulhaire welcomes B&B guests with hot drinks and home-baked scones.

Rosquil House, Kilkenny

Across the River Nore from the medieval town, Phil and Rhoda Nolan’s friendly B&B is well located for visiting Kilkenny’s castle and cathedral.

Schoolhouse Hotel, Dublin

In Ballsbridge, a tree-lined residential district within walking distance of the centre, this 19th-century schoolhouse by the Grand Canal is today a hotel with a restaurant and a ‘very jolly’ bar.

Blue Quay Rooms, Clifden

In a colourful coastal town between the mountains and the sea, Paddy and Julia Foyle’s good-value B&B above the harbour is in a jauntily refurbished building, minutes from the town centre.

Lough Bawn House, Collinstown

Four generations of Verity Butterfield’s family have lived in this ‘impressive’ Georgian house, with ‘divine’ views down rolling meadow to a spring-fed lough.

Montenotte Hotel, Cork

In an elevated position, this large, modern hotel perches above tiered gardens, taking in an impressive panorama over the city and harbour.

Wild Honey Inn, Lisdoonvarna

Discerning diners make a beeline for chef/patron Aidan McGrath’s 19th-century pub-with-rooms (the first in Ireland to win a Michelin star), which he runs with his partner, Kate, in a spa town on the edge of the Burren.

The Moorings, Portmagee

On the waterfront of the working fishing village, this brightly painted Irish tavern and family-run guest house is full of all the nooks, crannies and maritime memorabilia a guest hopes to find.

Giles Norman Townhouse, Kinsale

Ready for its close-up, this Georgian town house in the centre of the historic harbour town has been stylishly renovated to include urbane, understated guestrooms close to the quays.

Marlfield House, Gorey

Built for the Earls of Courtown, this Regency-style, 19th-century dower house has been run as an ‘absolutely lovely’ hotel by the Bowe family for more than 40 years.

Rosleague Manor, Letterfrack

‘We returned after five years, and everything lived up to our recollection,’ says one trusted reviewer of this salmon-pink Georgian manor house overlooking Ballinakill Bay in wild Connemara.

Roundwood House, Mountrath

There’s plenty of personality alongside the period furniture at this 18th-century Irish country house in parkland at the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains: a library in the double-height stables is dedicated to the history of the evolution of civilisation, and dinner is served with a serenade from the ‘singing chef’.

Currarevagh House, Oughterard

A house-party atmosphere prevails at this country house in 180 acres of grounds on Lough Corrib, built in 1842 and run as a sporting lodge by owner Henry Hodgson’s great grandfather from 1890.

Coopershill, Riverstown

You get Irish country house living at its best at Simon and Christina O’Hara’s Georgian ancestral home, where fallow deer roam the 500-acre estate, with its woodland walks and a river for fishing.

Hilton Park, Clones

The ancestral domain of the Madden family for almost three centuries, this grand Italianate mansion stands in pleasure grounds on an accredited wildlife estate.

The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge, Ballingarry

This ‘splendid’ heritage hideaway in Ballingarry, where staff ‘fall over each other to be helpful’, is popular with Guide readers.

Moy House, Lahinch

What appears on approach to be a white-painted bungalow with a belvedere turns out to be a Georgian country house hotel on a hillside overlooking Lahinch Bay.

Stella Maris, Ballycastle

A sea view was a prerequisite when the British Admiralty built this Victorian coastguard’s HQ, complete with gun turrets, overlooking Bunatrahir Bay on the rugged coast of County Mayo.

Brook Lane Hotel, Kenmare

‘A genuine sense of hospitality’ – and an interesting collection of local art – fill Una and Dermot Brennan’s ‘attractively priced’ hotel, in a pretty town between the Ring of Beara and the Ring of Kerry.

Hunter’s, Rathnew

In ‘lovely’ grounds by the River Vartry, this rambling, ‘extremely comfy’ property enveloped in olde-worlde charm is a ‘special’ place, says a Guide reader this year.

Ariel House, Dublin

Within easy reach of the centre, Jennie McKeown’s ‘warmly welcoming’ guest house occupies three connected Victorian town houses in the Ballsbridge neighbourhood.

Lough Inagh Lodge, Recess

In the embrace of mountains, this Victorian fishing lodge stands in ‘a spectacular position’ before a panorama of Lough Inagh.

How to decide where to stay in Ireland

Beautiful hotels, historic hotels, hotels for salmon and trout fishing, hotels for golf, and hotels for walking are all easily at hand.

But above all it is the charm of the natives that is reflected in some of the Good Hotel Guide's favourite hotels where the warmth of the welcome remains truly Irish. In many of the smaller places, you will be received as a friend and given an unforgettable insight into the gentle Irish way of life.

Our directory presents some of the Guide's selected Hotels in Ireland. Here are some of the popular cities and areas in Ireland:

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Best luxury and boutique hotels in Ireland

Featured hotels with Special Offers

Best luxury and boutique hotels in Ireland

Rathmullan House - Spring & Autumn Special Offer

Rathmullan

No. 1 Pery Square - Two Night 'Hike & Spa' Special Offer

Limerick

The Wilder Townhouse - 'Together Again' Package Special Offer

Dublin

More best luxury and boutique hotels in Ireland

Best luxury and boutique hotels in Ireland

Similar hotels

How to decide where to stay in Ireland

JOIN THE GHG

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