Ireland B&Bs: Kinsale and Kenmare
 

Hello all! For our April trip to Ireland, we are trying to narrow down B&B options. They all sound fantastic, and are within our price range (70E per night total), so any opinions you can offer would be excellent. We are spending 2 nights in Kenmare and 1 in Kinsale.

In general, we're looking for something charming, with character, and would like to be wakling distance to town. If you have other suggestions, I would appreciate that as well.

Thank you!

Kenmare:
Riverville House
Seanua B&B
Rockcrest House

Kinsale:
Four Winds B&B
Waterlands
Tara Farm

Anyone? Bueller? :)

third time's a charm...

If you don't know anything about the above B&Bs, I would love other suggestions for Kenmare or Kinsale!

thank you! :)

Stayed at the Waterlands in Kinsale last summer. It was a very nice place but it is not really walking distance even though it is less than a mile from town. Kinsale is very hilly, and I mean hilly. Waterlands is on a hilltop and I would not want to be walking along that road at night. Very steep and narrow. No matter where you stay in Kinsale, taxi's are abundant and cheap. It was approx 5 euro to town. The B&B owners were very nice and the house is immaculate. Good breakfast and very helpful hosts.

My wife, teenage son, and I stayed at the Old Presbytery last May. Great room, breakfast and off street parking. Easy walking to downtown and the Fishy Fishy restaurant (one of the best in Ireland). Hospitality was great. I can't remember the price but it was well worth it. Enjoy.

Hi Tarheels, I am interested in this post because I also was looking at those same three B&B's in Kenmare. I have eliminated Rockcrest, which might not be fair but based on a less than stellar review in TA, didn't feel it was worth considering. Love the look of Seanua though so think I'll give it a try. We will only be in Kenmare for one night and then onto Kinsale too! Did you decide on anything there and when are you going?

Thank you all for your replies!

Starfish, the jury's still out for us. I was hoping to get some more Fodorite opinions, in additional to TripAdvisor. We're going in April, and will be in Dingle for two nights before Kenmare and Kinsale. I can't wait!

Tarheels,
Only been to Kinsale once, and we stayed at The Kilcaw House a mile outside of town. We liked the owners and the rooms were nice & clean.

Hope this helps!

Thank you, zaneyjaney! It does help. I hadn't heard of that one, but it looks charming!

I just noticed an error in my above post- Tara Farm is in Kenmare, not Kinsale.

We stayed in Seanua in October 04. Andy and Allison were very nice, although Allison wasn't feeling well. They have 3 lovely little daughters. We had the yellow room upstairs - I think they only have 3 rooms. She uses Judy Greene pottery and another whose name I can't remember, so I was happy.
Andy puts music on in the lounge/dining room. It's not really walking distance to town but a very short hop in the car. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

I would recommend "The Lodge" in Kenmare.I stayed there for three nights last April,and was very pleased with the my room.Its within walking distance of town,and the staff and breakfasts were great.
You can see some photos I took of the place on TripAdvisor under candid traveler photos.
http://tinyurl.com/cpz6e

I stayed at the Cephas House in Kinsale and enjoyed it. It's a bit of a walk but it didn't seem to bother us even after a night of Murphy's in town. The walk probably shook off some of the cob webs from the brain. The view of the bay is wonderful. I would stay there again.

Tarheel, I stayed 7 nights at The Lodge in Kenmare and was very comfortable and I'm a fussy old lady. Easy walk to town and the rooms were very nice. The ladies running it treated us so well. I'd stay again in a minute. My only trip to Kinsale I stayed at The Blue Haven. It was OK, right in the center, had a good pub. The rooms were good, it just didn't have the warmth I felt on my last trip staying in B&B's. Oh, Tarheel, if you pay in cash at The Lodge, you get a discount. At least I did in April. Have fun, Joan

We really enjoyed our stay at The Olde Bakery in Kinsale. It's a charming place with warm and wonderful proprietors: Chrissy and Tom Quigley. They provided a lovely breakfast at their large table in the kitchen. Easy walking to everything in town. It actually had been a bakery in past years, though hard to imagine. Very comfortable and well-maintained.

Tarheels, we are going the end of April beginning of May also doing Dingle,Kenmare and Kinsale - I guess I will be right on your heels! Staying at Emlagh Lodge in Dingle but haven't decided on the others yet either - I'll be following your post!

starfish, what a funny coincidence- we're staying at Emlagh over Easter weekend! That was the first place we looked. I got a very good feeling from the photos and reviews.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! I can't wait to research all of these places.

We had a similar leg of our trip in Spring 04 - two nights at the Shores to explore Dingle peninsula, a night at Kenmare (at The Lodge which we really enjoyed, we would have loved two nights there, it is an easy walk into town right past one of my favorite multi-town sign posts) and a night in Kinsale at Blindgate House (it was going to be two night but due to a significant misunderstanding about the age of our child we moved on after one night). At Kinsale we had a very good meal at Fishy Fish (sp?).

Here's another vote for the Old Bakery B&B in Kinsale. I stayed there last May and the previous post is spot on with the comment about proprietors Chrissy and Tom. As soon as we walked in the door we had the biggest welcome of any of the B&B's I stayed at in Ireland and the breakfast was terrific...scones "to die for"! It's far enough from the center of town that it's not noisy but close enough to be just a 5 minute walk to the middle of town with restaurants and pubs.

I also highly recommend the Fishy Fishy cafe in Kinsale, the food was excellent, but even at lunch time there was a wait. I was lucky in that the group I was with only had to wait 10 minutes, the people behind us in line had to wait an hour!

Enjoy your Ireland trip! :)

My husband and I stayed at The Old Presbytery last September and would highly recommend it. We loved its location in town, endearingly elegant breakfast, and very helpful hostess.
Their website
http://www.oldpres.com/
is excellent, though it doesn't seem to have 2006 prices yet.

maryfalin

Oops, should have added that The Old Presbytery is in Kinsale.

maryfalin

The Olde Bakery looks great, and is right in our budget. They responded with availability, so I think we may go with that one. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm really interested in both Seanua and The Lodge in Kenmare. Both are available, but The Lodge will be 20E more per night (2 nights total). Do you think it's worth the price difference?

I've not stayed at Seanua but as I've mentioned before we thought The Lodge was great. Very comfortable, accomodating and the breakfest was good.

I posted earlier that we had stayed in Seanua. While we were comfortable there, if money was not an issue, I would stay at The Lodge. It has been in business much longer and although we have never stayed there, seems much more luxurious. Also closer to town.
It always get favorable comments here.

Thank you for your responses! My husband and I will have to decide if we can spend a bit more for The Lodge. Unfortunately, this trip is on a bit of a shoestring budget, so we may opt for the less expensive choice. It does sound like Seanua has received positive reviews, so I don't think it's a bad option!

Another vote for Kilcaw House. It is near a nice meadow. It is a 20 minute walk, a five minute drive in to town. Proprietors are lovely. Place is clean and reasonable.

Tarheels, looks like you are narrowing things down which is great. This is a little off topic but I just became aware of something called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC)which you might already know about but just in case you didn't, do a search on here and you will get lots of important info. Wow,looks like a growing problem for us North Americans so good to be aware.

starfish, thanks for the heads up. I had no idea! We were completely oblivious to this on our Italian honeymoon in June.

For those who would like further information, Washington Post has a detailed article online:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072900927.html

Tarheels, we also stayed in Kilcaw House in Kinsale for two nights. Very lovely hosts. The rooms had lots of pine furniture and floors, very clean, good bathroom and shower.

If you choose Seanua in Kenmare, I will tell you a little secret: in the yellow room, they have an oil room freshener plugged in under a table or dresser against the back wall. You will want to unplug it as it was a tad overpowering.

Please report back and let me know if they now have 4 children, and if they still have Fluffy, the guinea pig!

Tarheels:

Where did you end up staying in Kinsale and Kenmare? I'm particularly interested in Tara Farm and your comments.

Arian

Hello! In Kenmare, we did stay in Seanua, which was just lovely. This was one of my favorites, because it truly felt like we were welcomed into the family's home. We stayed in the "red" room, and as that is my favorite color, it was perfect!

The family still has 3 children, and we didn't see a guinea pig- however, we did see the family cat! The children were just adorable, and Andy and Alison couldn't have been more lovely. Sadly, they are moving away for Andy's job, so they'll be selling Seanua. That news broke my heart a little, as I'd love to return. The house had not yet been sold, so I'm sure those visiting in the summer will still be able to stay there.

In Kinsale, we stayed at the Olde Bakery, which we loved as well. It was very different than Seanua- it's a townhouse B&B, and felt a bit more like a small hotel. We had a great time with our host Chris- she's a riot! I would highly recommend this as well.