The 10 Best Castle Hotels in Ireland

There’s nothing quite like sleeping inside a castle: the stone stair up to your room, a fire lit in the hall, a lake or a river below the window. Ireland has dozens of castle hotels, and the best of them rank among the finest hotels anywhere.

These are our ten, chosen for their history, their setting and the welcome inside. They’re spread around the whole island, so you’ll also find our route for linking them up.

Can you stay in a castle in Ireland?

Yes, and you don’t need a title to do it. Ireland’s castle hotels range from twelfth-century strongholds to Victorian rebuilds paid for by the Guinness fortune, and most are open to anyone for a night, for dinner or for a wedding. Some are five-star resorts with golf courses and spas; others are smaller and more personal. Almost all are out in the countryside, which is a large part of their charm, and a large part of why a driver helps.

The 10 best castle hotels in Ireland

Castle hotel	County	Nearest major airport
Ashford Castle	Mayo	Knock, about 1¼ hours
Dromoland Castle	Clare	Shannon, about 20 minutes
Ballynahinch Castle	Galway	Shannon, about 2 hours
Lough Eske Castle	Donegal	Belfast International, about 2¼ hours
Castle Leslie	Monaghan	Dublin, about 1¾ hours
Kilkea Castle	Kildare	Dublin, about an hour
Kinnitty Castle	Offaly	Shannon, about 1¾ hours
Waterford Castle	Waterford	Cork, about 2 hours
Clontarf Castle	Dublin	Dublin, about 20 minutes
Ballygally Castle	Antrim	Belfast, about 40 minutes

1. Ashford Castle, County Mayo

The Anglo-Norman de Burgo family built the first castle here in 1228. In 1852 Sir Benjamin Guinness bought the estate, and his son, Lord Ardilaun, rebuilt the west wing in the 1870s. Ashford opened as a hotel in 1939 and has belonged to Red Carnation Hotels since 2013. John Ford used the grounds as a backdrop for The Quiet Man in 1951, and guests over the years have included the future King George V, Grace Kelly and Ronald Reagan. Today you can take a hawk walk with Ireland’s School of Falconry, go out on Lough Corrib, and stroll into the village of Cong for a pint.

• Where: Cong, on the Mayo–Galway border, under an hour from Galway city and about an hour and ten minutes from Ireland West Airport Knock.
• Nearby: Cong Abbey and village, and Kylemore Abbey and the mountains of Connemara about an hour to the west.
• Best for: A once-in-a-lifetime stay, falconry and the lake.
• Website: ashfordcastle.com

2. Dromoland Castle, County Clare

Dromoland was the home of the O’Briens, Barons Inchiquin, direct descendants of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland in the eleventh century. The castle you see was built in 1835 to designs by the brothers James and George Richard Pain. American businessman Bernard McDonough bought the estate in 1962 and turned it into a luxury hotel, with its own golf course in the grounds. In 2004 it hosted the EU–US summit, and President George W. Bush stayed the night.

• Where: Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, about 20 minutes from Shannon Airport, which makes it an easy first or last night.
• Nearby: Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, the Burren, and the Cliffs of Moher, about an hour away.
• Best for: A first or last night near Shannon, and golf.
• Website: dromoland.ie

3. Ballynahinch Castle, County Galway

Ballynahinch was home to the Martins, one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway, among them Richard “Humanity Dick” Martin, the MP who helped found the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The house dates from the 1750s. In 1924 the cricketer and Indian prince Ranjitsinhji, Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, bought it for the salmon fishing, and he came back each year until his death in 1933. Today it’s a 450-acre estate with 48 bedrooms, a celebrated fishery, and walks along the river beneath the Twelve Bens.

• Where: Recess, Connemara, County Galway, about an hour from Galway city.
• Nearby: Roundstone, Clifden and the Sky Road, and Kylemore Abbey.
• Best for: Fishing, walking and the wilds of Connemara.
• Website: ballynahinch-castle.com

4. Lough Eske Castle, County Donegal

The O’Donnells ruled this corner of Donegal for centuries, and their castle still stands in Donegal town. The castle on the shore of Lough Eske was built in the 1860s for the Brooke family, gutted by fire in 1939, and later fell into ruin. A long restoration brought it back as a hotel in December 2007, with rooms in the castle itself and newer ones in the grounds. The Blue Stack Mountains rise behind it, and Donegal town is ten minutes away.

• Where: Near Donegal town, about two and a quarter hours from Belfast International Airport and three and a quarter from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: Donegal Castle, the sea cliffs of Slieve League about an hour west, and the beaches of the Wild Atlantic Way.
• Best for: Exploring Donegal and the north-west coast.
• Website: lougheskecastlehotel.com

5. Castle Leslie Estate, County Monaghan

The Leslies have held this estate since 1665, and the family still runs it. The castle was built in 1870 for Sir John Leslie, and over the years its visitors have included W. B. Yeats and Mick Jagger. In 2002 Paul McCartney married Heather Mills in the church on the estate. Today the 1,000-acre estate has rooms in the castle and at the Lodge, an equestrian centre, a spa and a cookery school, with the village of Glaslough at its gates.

• Where: Glaslough, County Monaghan, about an hour and three-quarters from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: The cathedral city of Armagh, about half an hour away, and the lakes and drumlin hills of Monaghan.
• Best for: Riding, and a castle still lived in by its family.
• Website: castleleslie.com

6. Kilkea Castle, County Kildare

Kilkea dates back to 1180, when Walter de Riddlesford raised a fortification on the site. It passed by marriage to the FitzGeralds, Earls of Kildare, and stayed in the family for more than 700 years. Legend says the “Wizard Earl”, Gerald, the 11th Earl of Kildare, rides out every seventh year on a white horse with silver shoes. Kilkea first became a hotel in 1966, and after a long restoration it’s now a 180-acre resort with its own golf course.

• Where: Near Castledermot, County Kildare, about an hour from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: The high crosses at Castledermot, the city of Kilkenny, the Irish National Stud and Kildare Village.
• Best for: A medieval castle within an hour of Dublin.
• Website: kilkeacastle.ie

7. Kinnitty Castle, County Offaly

Kinnitty is the quiet one on our list, in the green heart of the Midlands. William O’Carroll built a castle here in 1630, and the Bernard family, who renamed it Castle Bernard, later had the architect James Pain extend it. It was burned by the IRA in 1922 and restored in 1928, served as a forestry college from 1955 to 1985, and has been a hotel since the 1990s. Its Gothic towers stand at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, with some of the quietest walking in Ireland on the doorstep.

• Where: Kinnitty, County Offaly, about two hours from Dublin Airport and an hour and three-quarters from Shannon.
• Nearby: Birr Castle and its gardens, the monastic site at Clonmacnoise, and the Slieve Bloom Way.
• Best for: Peace, quiet and the Slieve Bloom Mountains.
• Website: kinnittycastlehotel.com

8. Waterford Castle, County Waterford

Few hotels have an arrival like this one: the castle’s own car ferry carries you across to a 310-acre private island in the River Suir. A branch of the FitzGerald family owned the island for hundreds of years, and the castle grew from a sixteenth-century tower house. It has been a hotel since the 1980s, with an 18-hole golf course on the island and woodland walks along the shore.

• Where: The Island, Ballinakill, a few minutes from Waterford city and a little over two hours from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: Waterford city and the House of Waterford Crystal, the Waterford Greenway and the Copper Coast.
• Best for: An island to yourself, and golf.
• Website: waterfordcastleresort.com

9. Clontarf Castle, Dublin

Dublin’s own castle hotel. The first castle here was built in 1172, by Hugh de Lacy or his tenant Adam de Phepoe, and in the Middle Ages it belonged to the Knights Templar. The Vernon family held it for some 300 years and rebuilt it in 1837 to designs by William Vitruvius Morrison. It reopened as a four-star hotel in 1997, and its Fahrenheit restaurant sits within the original castle walls. The name carries history of its own: in 1014 the High King Brian Boru won the Battle of Clontarf, and was killed on the day of his victory.

• Where: Clontarf, Dublin 3, about 15 minutes from the city centre and 20 from Dublin Airport.
• Nearby: St Anne’s Park, Dollymount Strand on Bull Island, and Malahide Castle and Howth.
• Best for: A castle stay in Dublin itself.
• Website: clontarfcastle.ie

10. Ballygally Castle, County Antrim

James Shaw, a Scot, built Ballygally in 1625, and with its steep roofs and corner turrets it still looks as if it belongs in the Highlands. It’s Northern Ireland’s only seventeenth-century castle still lived in, and has been a hotel since the 1950s, today part of Hastings Hotels. It looks out over Ballygally Bay at the start of the Causeway Coastal Route, and it’s said to be one of the most haunted places in Ulster.

• Where: Ballygally, County Antrim, about 40 minutes from either Belfast airport.
• Nearby: The Gobbins cliff path, Carrickfergus Castle, the Glens of Antrim and, further up the coast, the Giant’s Causeway.
• Best for: The Causeway Coast, and a good ghost story.
• Website: ballygallycastlehotel.com

Not castles, but worth knowing

Two of Ireland’s grandest country-house hotels turn up on many castle lists. Adare Manor in County Limerick is a nineteenth-century mansion, and the venue for the 2027 Ryder Cup. Ballyfin Demesne in County Laois is a Regency mansion. Neither is a castle, and both are worth the detour.

Castle hotels near Dublin

Flying into Dublin and want a castle for your first or last night?

• Clontarf Castle, in the city, 20 minutes from the airport.
• Kilkea Castle, about an hour away in County Kildare.
• Castle Leslie, about an hour and three-quarters north in County Monaghan.

Kinnitty is about two hours west, and Cabra Castle in County Cavan is another castle hotel within reach of the capital.

A castle road trip around Ireland

Our ten make a fine loop of the island over ten to twelve nights. Start at Clontarf in Dublin, then head to Kilkea and on to Waterford Castle in the south-east. Cross to Dromoland for Clare and the Cliffs of Moher, and work north through Connemara to Ballynahinch and Ashford. From there it’s on to Lough Eske in Donegal, then along the Antrim coast to Ballygally, and back south by way of Castle Leslie. Kinnitty fits neatly in the middle on the way across.

Driving it yourself means long days on narrow country roads, on the left, with a castle to find in the dark at the end of each one. With a private driver, you watch the country go by, linger where you like and arrive as a guest should. We collect from Dublin, Shannon, Cork, Knock and Belfast, plan the route around your bookings, and carry the luggage from door to door.

Most of these castles also host weddings, and we drive wedding parties too. Take a look at our multi-day tours with a private driver, or tell us which castles you have in mind and we’ll plan the driving between them.