Inexpensive Castle stay in southern or central Ireland

"Inexpensive" is not what I'd typically classify a castle stay in Ireland as. But what may be considered inexpensive to you might be different since you didn't give an idea of how much money you are willing to spend for the night. Just to give you an idea, Clontarf Castle is about 5 miles from Dublin Airport and a couple miles from the center of Dublin (accessible by DART). It's one of the cheaper castle hotels and runs about 200 Euro per night for a standard double room for 2 (prices go up from there for larger hotel rooms or suites). You should also note that while the outside may look castle like, the inside, especially the inside of the bedrooms, looks fairly unremarkable with lots of drywall, recessed lighting and furniture that looks similar to what you might find at an Accor brand hotel. In some of the common areas you may see some restored architectural touches here and there, but even still, a lot of it's been a gut renovation to bring everything up to code. If you are looking for a bedroom with a fireplace and exposed stone walls and four poster beds, those are the super premium luxury castle hotels. Sometimes deals can be found online for castle stays, but often there is a minimum of 2-3 nights or it's a package deal so you are paying not only for the hotel room, but also for meals at the hotel which you may not want.

Thanks for the information! I had found rooms at the Ballyseede for about 129 E per night (traveling in December to pick our daughter up from University of Limerick), but it's a couple of hours out of the way. Point well taken about the inside looking like a hotel... something to keep in mind when weighing the cost of the "experience". Thought maybe we could find a castle stay somewhere between Dublin and Limerick that might be reasonably priced since it's out of the mainstream of Dublin. Greatly appreciate the tip!

If this helps........We paid $775 last month for two nights in a superior riverview room and one night's dinner for two at Ballynahinch Castle in Connemara, County Galway. It was lovely, beautiful grounds, not at all stuffy, and although it is actually Victorian, it looked castlelike. I think the price was pretty reasonable for a "castle hotel." This location is north of the area you specified, but it gives you some idea of prices.

Cynthia is right that Ballynahinch is lovely, but it's definitely not near where you are wanting to go. If the castle you found has rooms for 129 Euro that's a great price as you can see that even the "special discounted rates" online at places like Ballynahinch or Ashford Castle are anywhere from 300 to 550 Euro for the standard double room. But have you seen some photos of what the bedroom & common areas at Ballyseede look like (i.e., TripAdvisor ones taken by actual guests and not some professional photographer)? Just make sure it meets your castle experience criteria because if it doesn't, you may as well just drive up to the front, take a few photos and drive on to the nearest B&B. Another way to get the castle "experience" without spending the money for an overnight is just to stop in and walk the grounds and maybe have lunch in one of the restaurants. We ate lunch at Ballynahinch and then walked the common areas of the hotel and walked around the gardens taking some photos of the flowers and exterior.

Dromoland Castle is about 10/15 miles from Limerick (in County Clare), a bit of luxury and normally priced accordingly, but hotel prices have taken a hammering in Ireland so you might be able to get a deal with a bit of haggling, worth the effort anyway. Of course you don't say what you're idea of 'inexpensive' is? Enjoy!

We found Kinnitty Castle Hotel, which is kinda in the middle, about an hour (I think) out of Dublin. We researched every castle and found this one to be semi-affordable and not the "spa" kinda place (cheaper than Ashford, Ballynahinch, etc). We have walked in others on our last trip, but fell in love with Kinnitty because it still seemed like an old castle rather than a more modern spa-hotel. Hope you find the right one for you!