These are the hotels we stayed at on our recent trip to Ireland. Most were booked as part of the CIE Tour that we took & included breakfast & dinner as part of the tour. I'm also including the other restaurants we ate at along the way. We loved the food in Ireland. So hearty & filling. Add a half pint of Guinness for me & a pint of Smithwicks for my husband, and we were happy campers!
Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, Dublin - We stayed here two nights, one prior to the tour starting and one with the tour. Very nice hotel, staff very friendly & helpful. They let us leave our luggage early & told us where the bus stop was into city centre. That was the only negative of this hotel, it wasn't very central, although it was a quick bus ride to all the action. Two euros each way. It was close to the canal, which we walked to a couple of times. Our room was very nice, spacious & quite comfortable. Breakfast was the full Irish, filling and good. I enjoyed the coffee in the restaurant which was where breakfast was the two mornings we were here.
Our first night we had dinner at O'Neills Victorian Pub, about a half mile walk away. We had fish & chips, which were just ok. We shared a bowl of soup with soda bread and the fish dinner, which was a bit soggy and not the best fish & chips we had. Our second night we had a late dinner at Oliver St John Gogarty's Pub in Temple Bar. We shared a Guinness casserole and it was delicious. We both agree it was the best thing we ate on our vacation. Huge chunks of meat & vegetables along with two large pieces of soda bread. Yum.
Dooley's Hotel, Waterford - Very nice hotel, our room was spacious, comfy and had a view of the river. Dinner here was amazing. Beautifully presented & tasted good too. Liver pate, chicken wrapped in bacon with col-cannon, raspberry meringue dessert for me. Salad served in a shaped filo dish, sea bass with lentils, lemon dessert for my husband.
We stayed at the International Hotel, Killarney for two nights. Its a very pretty hotel, great location, city center. Our room was spacious, with a king bed, small table with chairs and a very spacious bathroom. Dinner there both nights was very good & the service was great too. I would definitely stay there again.
Our next hotel was the Ardulaun Hotel, Galway. Another nice room, this time with a comfy chair and ottoman, plus a desk. Dinner there was very good, again but by that time we are tiring of the 3 course meals (starter, main & dessert every night) and really just wanted some pub grub. Oh well. Just a couple more nights of 'suffering'. LOL
Everglades Hotel, Derry - I really liked our room at this hotel. This was a more modern hotel than the last two we stayed in. We enjoyed another great meal in their restaurant and slept well in the king bed with soft squishy pillows, just the way I like them.
Our last hotel on the tour was the Croke Park Hotel in Dublin. It was a long way from city center but it was by far the nicest hotel of the tour. Very spacious rooms, extremely comfy bed, the biggest bathroom of any of the hotels we stayed at too. About 20 of us CIE peeps kinda took over the bar & had our own farewell party there. It was fun.
After the tour ended, we spent another night at the Jury's Inn Christchurch. Great location, basic but comfortable and clean room. I would definitely stay there again, mostly due to the fantastic location. We could walk pretty much anywhere we wanted to from there.