Bed and Breakfasts in Ireland

If you are ever in the Irish countryside, one of the greatest parts of the experience are the welcoming Bed and Breakfasts along the way. With the exception of Dublin and Galway, we stayed in B&Bs the duration of our trip, and we were glad we did!

The breakfasts were superb at each and every one, and I have a new favorite meal: Irish porridge!

I'll touch on each one we stayed at and what we tried each morning, but unfortunately, I didn't do a great job of getting pictures, so those will be sparse.

1) Launard House (Kilkenny, Ireland)

This was our first experience with a full irish breakfast, and it was the first day that we learned that in Ireland, you really don't need to eat much for lunch. We were horribly skeptical about what Irish black and white pudding was, especially after the description, but it tastes a log like sausage in the US.

2) Danabel B&B (Kinsale, Ireland)

Danabel was such a delightful place to stay! The breakfast was, again, top-notch, and filled us all the way to Killarney where we stopped to split a bowl of soup and a sandwich.

3) Crystal Springs B&B (Killarney, Ireland)

Crystal Springs was tied for our absolute favorite B&B of our trip! It was SO welcoming, the hostess was SO very sweet and helpful, and the breakfast was delicious as well!

4) Tailor House (Castleisland, Ireland)

Tailor House just absolutely felt like home to us. Well, apart from the bold color scheme lol The hostess was absolutely incredible, SO very welcoming, and just being around her and her husband was enjoyable. The breakfast was equally as incredible. Apart from the part where the small town of Castleisland in itself really isn't much to write home about, we would VERY highly recommend this B&B to anyone and everyone!

5) Bunratty Heights B&B (Bunratty, Ireland)

Bunratty Heights was our least favorite B&B of the trip. The accommodations were just not that great, although the breakfast was still pretty good. In fact, we didn't ever have a bad breakfast at any of the places we stayed. The ambiance here was just alright, though.

Bistro (Spiddal, Ireland)

On our way out to explore Connemara, northwest of Galway, we stopped for lunch at this little bistro, just outside Spiddal, and tried to see what we could of the scenery. It was a really cozy atmosphere, and as usual, we split a bowl of soup and a sandwich to hold us over to supper.

Both were good, but as was also the norm in Ireland, the service was pretty slow. You have to learn to adhere to their laid-back vibe and just go with it. In Ireland, there is really no such thing as a "quick bite". A "quick" meal there is an hour.

Knappogue Castle Medieval Banquet (Clare Co., Ireland)

One thing we absolutely wanted to experience while in Ireland was a good medieval banquet in a castle. We initially wanted to go to the one in Bunratty (since that was where we were staying), but beware - those book up FAST! The Bunratty Castle banquet was already full when we went to make reservations, so we looked up others in the area and found one at Knappogue Castle and booked it right away!

The banquet and ambiance was SOOOOOOOOOOO much fun! In fact, it is one of our favorite memories from our trip! I'm not saying the food was absolutely out of this world, but in all fairness, I'm a pretty darn good cook myself, very keen on spices and flavor, so we're not easily impressed. But it was good, and a very filling meal!

We arrived just a few moments before the large gate and front door were opened to welcome guests in, and were immediately greeted with two cups of mead. Now, I'm not a big wine drinker, but this honey wine was delicious! In fact, since Mark doesn't drink at all, I ended up with two cups! My only complaint was that I couldn't get more!

After mingling in the entryway listening to some fun authentic irish music played by the minstrels, we headed on in to the main dining room. The pictures don't do it justice, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!

While we waited for our courses, there was a great song and dance show to entertain us. It was pretty comical, and incorporated a few audience members - a real hoot!

The first course was a delicious tomato basil soup - which I can almost smell again just by seeing this picture - yum!

The second course was a salmon salad, which was delicious. Mark absolutely despises Salmon, though, so it was comical for me to see him eat it...until I told him it was salmon. it was sliced sort of like deli meat, so you wouldn't necessarily know it. And I forgot to take a picture of it, sorry :(

In fact, I forgot to take any pictures of our food the rest of the meal, unfortunately. We were too busy visiting with the lovely people seated around us:

Of course, throughout the entire evening, we were continuously entertained by song and dance, which was so fun!

We had a wonderful time at the medieval banquet and would definitely go back again! I can't imagine that it would be too terribly different at another castle, but if you go to Ireland, you really must do this!

Danny Mann Pub & Restaurant (Killarney, Ireland)

We didn't do any good research beforehand on where to eat in Killarney, and it seemed as though every eatery we passed just didn't sound good (we weren't in the mood for fish and chips, didn't feel like anything too ethnic, some places just didn't smell good, etc.), and it seemed like we wandered for a while before we came across the Danny Mann Pub. Not only did the menu sound good, it was priced right, and there was a big sign out front saying that there would be live traditional Irish music.

It sounded like a good plan, especially with as exhausted as we were, considering we walked the Gap of Dunloe earlier in the day - in the pouring rain. Our bodies were tired, and we were ready for some comfort food, a relaxing atmosphere, and some music.

Mark had the Leg of Lamb while I enjoyed the Shepherd's Pie

We thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment and atmosphere and stayed for a couple hours to take it all in. The Danny Mann Pub was precisely what I envisioned when I think of a traditional "Irish Pub", and it is a fond memory for us in Killarney :)

The Country Market (Castleisland, Ireland)

After a long day driving around the Ring of Kerry and making our way up to Castleisland for the night, we found we couldn't check into our B&B early, so we made our way into town to find some supper.

Castleisland was an adorable little town that, while we were less than impressed with, we probably needed at this point in the trip. We did manage to find food there, but it definitely was not at all geared towards tourism at all. It is a good 20 miles past Killarney, and an equal distance from Dingle, and after asking multiple people on the street, it was pretty obvious that for some good Irish food, we probably should have stopped at one of the two cities along the way.

There isn't much of a nightlife there, nor is there much decent shopping, so we found ourselves somewhat bored until we were able to check into our B&B.



The food was good at The Country Market, but nothing to write home about. I vaguely recall some sort of pressed sandwich and fries, but it was more like a lunchroom cafe type of feel, not a relaxing, laid-back pub like we were hoping for.

If we had it to do all over again, we would have still stayed in Castleisland, because the B&B was incredible, but we probably would have spent most of the evening in Killarney instead of rushing ahead to Castleisland.

Durty Nelly's (Bunratty, Ireland)

While in Ireland, one of the "absolute must go" eateries was Durty Nelly's right next to Bunratty Castle. I'm sure that this very highly-recommended pub was actually more of an evening recommendation, but we already had reservations for a medieval banquet at Dungaire Castle that evening, so we decided to visit for lunch before visiting the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park that afternoon.

We decided to (once again) split a sandwich and soup for lunch, which were both good! Of course, even at this point in our trip, we were still trying to adjust to the blended-style of soup in Ireland. We're so used to chunky soup in the Midwest, so while the flavor was always very good, we did miss the chunks of carrots and potatoes.

One of our favorite parts of visiting these pubs in Ireland was the atmosphere - and the feeling that you just met new friends everywhere you went. Perhaps it's the fact that most everyone you meet is also on the vacation of their dreams - perhaps it's just that everyone is really that friendly. Either way, we met a large group of older folks from the states that we visited with for a good hour before heading off to the castle. We swapped cameras for a few quick pics first :)