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The good, the bed and the breakfast MALCOLM ROGERS visits
Ireland’s swishest hotels.
The g Hotel, Galway
 The g
could be just about as much fun someone could possibly have with hotel
design.
The place is modelled from the outside like a hat — the full monty,
with feather-and-lace concoctions.
But then it’s the brainchild of “the world’s most famous
milliner'”Philip Treacy and you would expect nothing any less flamboyant
from a top hatter.
Each individual bedroom at the g makes a vast style statement and comes
with all the trimmings: Flat-screen telly, designer bed linen, decadent
bathroom and a list of DVDs available at the hotel library.
Voted by Conde Nast Traveller as one of the top hotels in the world, the
g is just minutes from Eyre Square.
The restaurant, Riva at the g, offers an Irish-Italian fusion with velvet
seating and bay views.
All you’re short of is a Puccini aria. The décor is the
very opposite of minimalist. Maximalist, if such a term exists.
In the black marble lobby of the hotel stands an illuminated aquarium
complete with sea horses and gaudy tropical fish.
A nice touch awaits in the main lounge — 300 mirror ball lamps designed
by Tom Dixon glitter in proud gaudiness.
However, there in the corner is an Italian fireplace in whose grate burns,
yes, a turf fire.
Turf from the bogs of Connemara, delivered daily.
Should you require some pampering this is the place.
The ESPA spa is a black marble temple of Zen-like tranquillity.
This is one of Ireland’s most idyllic places to while away a summer’s
day.
The g Hotel, Wellpark, Dublin Road, Galway
Double rooms from €470
00 353 91 865 200
www.theghotel.ie
The Dylan, Dublin
Formerly the Old Royal Hospital, latterly the rather down-at-heel Hibernian
Hotel, the Dylan is now a sophisticated 44 bedroom boutique hotel.
But don’t get put off by the stylishness of the surroundings.
The staff are friendly, the atmosphere is relaxed and you could easily
imagine just spending the whole weekend in the hotel — alternating
between the well-considered Still Restaurant on site and the Dylan ultra-modern
bar.
Double rooms from €210 per night.
The Dylan, Eastmoreland Place, Dublin
00 353 1660 3000
www.dylan.ie
The Capella Castlemartyr, Co. Cork
This former 17th century manor house is set on its own 220 acres within
whose boundaries lie an 800-year-old castle built in 1210 by the Knights
Templar and once owned by Walter Raleigh.
The grounds also feature an 18-hole golf course, a swan lake, an ancient
chapel, Mitchell’s Wood and the tomb of the fourth Earl of Shannon.
Refurbished at a cost of e80million, the opulent Capella Castlemartyr
boasts that guests can avail of any service they desire “so long
as it’s legal and moral”.
Personal assistants liaise with guests in advance to ensure they experience
the full decadence of the Capella — the kind of service one might
rightfully expect if you’re forking out e2,750 per night for the
presidential suite.
It comes, incidentally, with two bedrooms, a dining room, living room
and library.
There are 11 top-class suites in the beautifully restored 17th century
Manor House, once a private residence before being taken over by the Carmelite
Order and run as a boys’ boarding school.
Should you be in a room without a private sauna, head for the discreet
glass and wood building beyond the verdant lawns which houses the 24,000-sq-ft
Auriga spa.
If you’re not independently wealthy or wantonly extravagant, there
are 93 rooms priced at around the e425 per night and bear the same stamp
of understated elegance.
Those nearest to the spa have a small garden to the rear, while hidden
in the bedside locker are touch panels that control the lighting and the
curtains.
The Manor House is the centre of the resort, the site of three restaurants
(featuring local cuisine cooked to gourmet standard), a private guests’
lounge and the Knights’ Bar.
The latter features bar, fireplace, grand piano and striking original
rococo ceiling, fully restored.
The 18th century English travel writer and chronicler Arthur Young described
this as “the best room in Ireland”.
Doubles from €425.
Capella Castlemartyr, Castlemartyr, Co. Cork
00 353 21-464 4050
capellacastlemartyr.com
The Twelve, Bearna, Co. Galway
The Twelve is a down-to-earth family-orientated hotel with a bustling
atmosphere, named after the Twelve Pins (or Bens) of Connemara.
The word eclectic barely does the décor of the public areas of
the hotel justice, although the private rooms are elegantly understated.
Downstairs the bar and restaurant are comfortable rather than opulent.
The surrounding countryside is ideal for those pursuits Connemara is famous
for — fishing, hill-walking or mountaineering And the hotel for
those equally famous indoor pursuits — drinking, craic and conversation.
Double rooms from €120 per night
The Twelve Bearna Village, Galway
00 353 91 597000
www.thetwelvehotel.ie
Bellinter House, Co. Meath
 Rural, relaxing
and contemporarily eclectic Bellinter House offers opulence on a grand
scale.
The listed 18th century Palladian-style Georgian mansion, built in 1750,
boasts ancient wooden staircase, oak doors and well-stocked library.
But it also features glass-and-chrome coffee tables, 1950s leather armchairs
and two paper-and-wire wall lights playfully shaped into antelope and
bison trophy heads.
The vaulted cellar restaurant is equally boutique bling style, a sister
to Bourke’s Eden brasserie in Dublin.
Local produce is to the fore — and as you’re surrounded by
the rich pastureland of the Royal County, you can be sure the beef and
lamb are as succulent as you can get.
Although golf, fishing, horse-riding and cycling are available locally,
Bellinter is primarily a spa hotel.
Take a massage, then relax in the pool — and the long windows mean
this is a pool with a view, across the rich lands of Meath.
Double rooms from €225 per night.
Bellinter House Navan Co. Meath
00 353 469 030 900
www.bellinterhouse.com
The Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, Co. Down
Set against the dramatic Mourne Mountains which dominate Newcastle, the
Slieve Donard is closely associated with the neighbouring course, the
Royal County Down, one of the world’s top links courses.
The 126 rooms are comfortable rather than luxurious, in contrast to the
grandness of the public areas, with their chandeliers, giant paintings,
black-and-white photographs and memorabilia from more than 100 years worth
of previous golfing visitors.
The rich and famous have been visiting since the hotel opened in 1897.
On the ground floor the giant Chaplin Bar (he stayed here in 1920) serves
snacks throughout the day; the library, the drawing room and the Oak Restaurant
all look out towards the bay.
The restaurant is so opulent that it looks like a film set — maybe
the setting for an Agatha Christie mystery.
Just being in Newcastle is a form of therapy: The people are friendly,
the pace of life still slow and everywhere amazing views of mountains,
sea and forests.
But just in case that’s not enough, the Slieve Donard features the
Elysium health club, with gym, steam room, Jacuzzi and beauty salon.
Doubles from €200.
Slieve Donard, Downs Road, Newcastle, Co. Down
028 4372 3681
www.hastingshotels.com
Farnham Estate, Co. Cavan
A 90-minute drive from Dublin will bring you to the drumlins of Ulster.
A further adventurous ride along misty boreens and through quaint hamlets
will eventually bring you to the Farnham Estate Radisson SAS in the heart
of Cavan.
The hotel is set in ancient woodland — five separate nature trails
are laid out through the land.
The building itself dates back to 1664 (an inauspicious time in Irish
history but we’ll let that pass).
Today the spectacular drawing rooms, The Boudoir, Peacock Room and Music
Room have been restored to their original majesty, with a bit of a modern
day twist.
Formerly a cowshed, the spa is the centrepiece of the hotel — the
signature treatment is the Farnham Estate Cure, involving a private steam
bath and moor mud wrap, followed by a dip in the indoor/outdoor pool.
Double rooms from €130.
Farnham Estate, Cavan
00 353 494 377700
www.farnhamestate.com
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