The 12 Best Castle Hotels in Ireland

In Ireland, “Castle” in the name doesn't always mean a castle. Gregans Castle Hotel, for example, is a manor house from 1750, and at Castlemartyr Resort it was a castle that gave the village of Castlemartyr its name; its ruins still stand on the grounds next to the manor house. Broadly, the twelve houses in this selection fall into three groups: medieval castles, later castles and manor houses that noble and merchant families built as country seats.Gregans Castle Hotel · Co. ClareMedieval castles: Kilkea Castle Castledermot was built in 1180 for the Norman knight Walter de Riddlesford and from 1273 belonged to the FitzGeralds for more than seven centuries. After a five-year restoration the castle has welcomed guests again since 2017/2018, and at Restaurant 1180 you dine within the old walls. Ashford Castle dates back to 1228. In 1852 it passed to Sir Benjamin Guinness, and from 1875 the family enlarged it in Victorian style; it has been a hotel since 1939. During the restoration that began in 2013, all 820 windows were replaced and the lead roof renewed.Dromoland Castle · Newmarket EDCastles and ancestral seats: Dromoland Castle is the ancestral seat of the O'Briens. The present castle was built by the architects James and George Richard Pain in the early 19th century, and it has been a hotel since 1963. The octagonal Cocktail Bar beneath the round tower was once the library and study of Lord Inchiquin. Ballynahinch Castle Connemara was the principal seat of the Martin family; in 1924 the cricketer-prince Ranjitsinhji bought the estate and landscaped its gardens and fisheries. The castle has been a hotel since 1946.

18th-century manor houses: Carton House A Fairmont Hotel was the seat of the FitzGeralds, Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster, for more than 700 years. Richard Cassels designed the present Palladian house in 1739, and Richard Morrison enlarged it from 1815. At Mount Juliet Estate, Somerset Hamilton Butler, later the first Earl of Carrick, built the Georgian Manor House above the River Nore for his wife Juliet in 1757. A EUR 8 million restoration in 2026 increased the number of suites in the Manor from 8 to 24.

19th-century manor houses: Adare Manor was the seat of the Earls of Dunraven. From 1832 the 2nd Earl and Lady Caroline transformed Adare House into a neo-Gothic manor, completed in the 1860s; its limestone facade counts 365 windows and 52 chimneys. Works in 2016 and 2017 restored the facade, the roofs and the stained glass of the Gallery. At The K Club, Bordeaux wine merchant Hugh Barton began Straffan House in 1832, modeled on a French chateau.

Country houses with a story: Ballymaloe House Hotel Shanagarry grew up around a 15th-century FitzGerald castle. Myrtle and Ivan Allen bought the estate as a farm in 1947/48, and in 1964 Myrtle Allen opened her restaurant here. At The Lodge at Ashford Castle you stay in the white-washed house built in 1865 for the manager of the Ashford estate.