Ireland Hotel or B&B Recommendations
 

Hello--firming up plans for our trip to Ireland in May. There are 4 of us. Looking for recommendations for places to stay in Dublin for a few days, in Kenmare area for a few days, and maybe in Kinsale, then up in Westport or Clifden. 3-star quality... also would love to stay in a castle for a night or 2 and willing to splurge a bit on that, but not extremely expensive.. any ideas anyone?

We have stayed in Dublin twice. My favorite place was Stauntons on the Green. It is right across the street from St. Stephen's Green. This is the center of Dublin,convenient to walk to most tourist sites. Our room was large, but the bathroom was small. It was pricey, but worth the splurge for the location. It is near Grafton Street where there is great shopping and entertainment. Trinity College is a short walk away. Many tours pick up at the Shelbourne Hotel which is a walk through the park from Staunton's.

For Clifden, I highly recommend The Quay House. Excellent in all categories.

www.thequayhouse.com

A great bargain hotel in Dublin is Bewleys Ballsbridge. Not fancy but great for the money.

We really liked the B&B where we stayed in Clifden: Buttermilk Lodge. Convenient to town, excellent food, really friendly owners. If you want to splurge a bit in the Connemara area, check out Rosleague Manor. We went by and thought it was absolutely beautiful.

We stayed at the Westin in Dublin which was lovely and in a very central and convenient location, but not the most cost effective place to stay.

In Kinsale I highly recommend the Old Presbytery B&B. It's been several years since we stayed there but it was close to town, nice people,nice rooms, great breakfast AND it's own small carpark (a real bonus),
Look on TripAdvisor to validate this over the past year. Can't go wrong,,,and Kinsale IS a wonderful town.
Kenmare is also a wonderful town..lots of accommocations, and oF course a favorite town of many ~~~Dingle~~, but you didn't mention that. IF you are going on up to Westport and Clifden you might have a time limit for extra stops :)