Best Irish Castles You Can Stay In

Ireland is famous for all sorts of things and some of my favourite are the company, the craic and the castles. There is a bounty of reasons why we all love a good castle - they are aesthetically pleasing, bursting with history they feed into our imagination and given the opportunity to rest a weary head in one, you know you will feel like royalty. Luckily for visitors to Ireland, there are a whole host of castles not just perfect for day drips but places you can spend overnights too. Here are some of favourite places to bring my smartest frock and play princess across Ireland.

Ashford Castle

One of National Geographic’s Unique Lodges of the World, there is no escaping how special this place is. The choice destination of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s honeymoon, when it comes to spoiling their guests, Ashford Castle are absolute pros.

With a peerless Lough Corrib setting and innate grandeur, centuries-old Ashford Castle has long been known as one of Ireland’s best hotels. Extensive renovations have imbued the property with sufficient modern comforts to ensure it can stake a claim as one of the most characterful and successful hotels in Europe. It showcases the best of traditional Irish craftsmanship and interior design, from a gleaming bar counter made of moss-green Connemara marble to glittering Waterford and Donegal crystal chandeliers, and is bedecked in antiques and artworks. That all-encompassing grandeur is balanced by a warm welcome that ensures guests feel at home rather than in a museum.

Combining elegant à la carte dishes and a generous buffet replete with freshly baked ham, rock scones and other distinctly Irish components, Ashford’s hotel breakfast is among the best I’ve ever had. Traditional afternoon tea with lake views is served in the Connaught Room; the Drawing Room offers light lunches, while formal dining – expect delicately balanced, French-inflected Irish dishes served by tuxedoed waiters – is on offer at the George V Dining Room.

Bed and Breakfast Rate per Night: from €350

Ballynahinch Castle Hotel

Welcoming visitors to Connemara for over 250 years, Ballynahinch Castle, now a world-renowned hotel and sporting estate, which offers you an unrivalled experience of true Irish hospitality. Authentic and professional, your hosts will help you make the most of your visit. Ballynahinch trademarks an unfussy combination of comfort, luxury, and warm service. This is an unpretentious place to stay and in easy reach of some of County Galway’s highlights.

Ballynahinch Castle is set amid hundreds of acres of grounds and surrounded by the wild beauty of Connemara's craggy mountains. The original 18th-century building has been much adapted over the years, but its key qualities – tranquillity, space, relaxed comfort and natural beauty – remain splendidly intact.

A consistently award winning hotel (Top 5 Hotels in Ireland by Condé Nast Readers in 2019 Top 10 Resort Hotels in the UK & Ireland by Travel & Leisure 2019 & 2018, Best Destination Hotel 2019 & 2018, Hospitality Ireland Awards) it is a must visit, if only for a drink in the Fisherman’s Bar.

Top tip: do the clay-pigeon shooting with the excellent Shane who knows his stuff. The hotel supplies all necessary equipment. The restored wall garden, with warm stone walls and bountiful harvests, is a new and wonderful attraction: garden tours and talks are available.

Bed and Breakfast Rate per Night: from €200

Bellingham Castle

Set on 17 acres, overlooking its own river and weir, at the gateway to the Cooley Mountains in the lovely northeast of Ireland. Better still, Bellingham Castle is an elegant and spacious 17th Century Irish castle in Ireland’s North East, less than an hour from both Dublin and Belfast. Set on the banks of the River Glyde, it includes a weir and man-made river island with footbridges, mature trees and formal gardens. It is no wonder the venue is so favoured for exclusive use events and weddings.

Bed and Breakfast Rate per Night: Enquire Direct with Hotel

Lough Eske Castle, Donegal

The hotel and its grounds lie on the shores of beautiful Lough Eske, surrounded by some of Donegal's most rugged landscapes. Lough Eske has been garlanded with praise – and no wonder: this five-star hotel offers marvellous service, hospitality and a splendid setting.

This secluded hotel is surrounded by 40 acres of mature woodland and gardens. The waters of the lake gleam to the north, and the dramatic scenery of Donegal stretches away on all sides. Pretty Donegal Town (home of Donegal tweed) is a 10-minute drive, and the rearing sea cliffs of Slieve League are a further 30 minutes west by car.

Try the excellent Spa Solis, which looks out onto the hotel gardens: it's modern and sleek, with indoor and outdoor relaxation areas, infinity pool and eight treatment rooms. Outside, the hotel can arrange surfing on the nearby coast, plus horse riding, hill-walking – and golf at a range of exceptional Donegal courses, among many other activities (you can even try fish-smoking, and tweed-weaving). Fishing is the great thing here and the lake is just on your doorstep.

Bed and Breakfast Rate per Night: from €295

Dromoland Castle, Clare
This historic castle hotel has been upgraded for today’s traveler without losing the charm that’s helped make it such an iconic place to stay, particularly among American visitors. You’ll feel like you’re traveling back in time as you make the drive from the estate gates down a winding lane, past forest thickets and a vast lake, to catch the first glimpse of stone towers and turrets. While the estate has been the ancestral home of the royal-blooded O’Brien family since the 16th century, the current castle dates back to the early 1800s, and has been restored and expanded several times after; it’s been a hotel since the ‘60s.

Today, the 97 guest rooms are set on various levels of the maze-like main building (snag one on the upper floors for original architectural touches like arched windows, carved ceiling, or a spiral staircase), as well as in the 18th-century Queen Anne Court building and Moriarty Wing extension, both connected to the main house by interior hallways.

Dining options range from fine dining and white glove service in the elegant, chandelier-lit Earl of Thomond restaurant, to light bites around the fireplace in The Gallery, and the famous, multi-tiered Afternoon Tea, served daily in various locations. Come evening, there are mixologist-crafted delights, plenty of local spirits and beers, and live music in the octagonal-shaped Cocktail Bar, which was once the study of the Lord of the manor. You can also enjoy casual, international fare—including excellent burgers and fish-and-chips—in the Fig Tree Restaurant, just a short walk away at the Golf and Country Club.

Bed and Breakfast Rate per Night: from €400

Kilkea Castle

Located just an hour’s drive from Dublin, Kilkea Castle is the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland. Originally built in 1180 by Hugh de Lacy, the Earl of Ulster and chief governor of Ireland, for Sir Walter de Riddlesford, a Norman knight, the castle was the seat of the Fitzgeralds, the Earls of Kildare, for almost 800 years.

Today, as you edge to the end of the beech-lined avenue that leads to the main entrance, the castle looms over you in an almost intimidating manner. Inside, £30 million worth of redevelopment and redesign greets you. The sheer attention to detail in every corner of the castle is almost overwhelming at times. The castle is set on 180 acres of its own gorgeous woodland, gardens and golf course in Castledermot in County Kildare along Ireland’s Ancient East.

Bed and Breakfast Rate per Night: from €200