Beara Penninsula?
 

Last year I was fortunate enough to "DO DINGLE". This year(October) I plan to land at Shannon and spend a week in the southwest...I was thinking to concentrate in/on Beara. Maybe staying in two different places and using those as bases for my travel. To all of you well traveled people...I am looking for sugestions for GREAT B&Bs or Country Inns-- where would you suggest my "bases" be? I'd really like to stay at places near, on, or within view of water.

I don't have a specific recommendation on Beara - tho' I do love it. But one place I really enjoyed is across Bantry Bay on the Sheepshead. Grove House in Ahakista. it is an old whitewashed farmhose right down by the water/beach, and it is really lovely - and inexpensive. don't have the URL at hand but it should be easy enough to find . . . .

Visit the Beara Peninsula. Terrific and scenic with very little traffic. Picnic lunch on beach near Castletownbere. Overnight at SeaView B&B (40E) in Allihes. Dinner at O?Neills Pub- good pub grub. Allihes is a very scenic town overlooking the sea.
Also visited and stayed in Gougane Barra Forest Park at the Gougane Barra Hotel (40E) Rooms Ok and food was very good. Beautiful grounds and small chapel near hotel a delight.
The Beara Peninsula was one of the highlights of our trip. Also loved the Iveragh Peninsula and stayed in the lovely port town of Portmagee.
If you love small Irish towns with very few tourists, great pubs, you'll love Allihes and Portmagee.

I too am a big fan of Beara, though I stayed outside of Kenmare when I visited and also caught it from the Mizen Peninsula. Sheepshead is also wonderful and the hike to the lighthouse is a fine (and sometimes wet) walk.

Bill

Yes! Beara is wonderful. We overnighted off the pennisula and day tripped it though. Next time, I'll probably be asking the same question about places to stay.

Are you looking for authentic? We stayed at a B&B outside Balleydehob (less than half an hour from the start of the Beara. It's on a farm in a 200 year old stone farmhouse run by the most wonderful older lady (Leita Camier) and her husband. They have a "Folk Museum" in their barn where they have tons of stuff they have collected. There's a distant view of the ocean. It's about 3 miles north of Ballydehob on the N road as you head toward Bantry. Now this is not luxury accomodations, the bathroom is next door to the rooms (they have 3 rooms), the furniture is somewhat worn. But Leita made us tea and cake when we got there, sat and ate it with us, sat with us after serving us the best breakfast - talked all about how Ireland has changed, what life was like, anything we wanted to know. This was our best Ireland experience and I value it much more than some of the more plush B&Bs we stayed in in places like Kenmare.

It's called 'Gurtnagrough House', phone is 02837274, and you can book over the internet through FamilyHomes.ie