Angela

Just a quick note, the Westport Inn has a nightclub, so could be noisy at night.

I'll get back to this thread at lunch time and try to answer some of your questions Melissa!

Angela

Melissa5

Mom1Emac: nice of you to suggest the Westport Inn. I notice you were there in November. We'll be in Westport in July which is bound to be busier, so since Angela says they have a night-club, it might not be the choice for me (light sleeper.) But I appreciate your reply. Anyway I'm curious now, I'll check into Westport Inn though leary about the night club.

CHATHAM: What a nice comment, glad you enjoy reading about my plans! I'll post a trip report when I get back. It will be long, but with paragraphs and section titles.

You asked what trip I'll be planning next. Mini-trip in January/February 2006 for just hubby and I for 1 week, island in the Caribbean, haven't had time to decide which island. Summer 2007 family trip: probably Torres del Paine, Chile, (hubby's choice), beautiful area mentioned in National Geographic Traveller magazine, but I haven't had time to check their seasons and to see whether our summer is a good time to visit Chile. Summer 2008, probably Scotland or Norway unless daughters talk us into Japan or Greece...but I hear Japan is very expensive! EEk!

Well Joan have fun dreaming about your 9th trip to Ireland and visit to Westport! I don't know how long I can exist without a second trip to both Ireland and Italy (and I am still planning my first trip to Ireland!)

ANGELA: Thanks for all your help, look forward to whatever other info you generously offer me!

SiobhanP

ANy Hotel with a nightclub is going to be a nightmare. Knockranny will also have weddings as its a beautiful upmarket hotel. It is definately walking distance to town but just on the edge of the town. I would walk unless I had mobility problems.

The old railway I have never stayed in but looks like its ageing to me and I have never hear raves about it. B&B's are hard because unless some stayed it could be nice or a kip. I tried to Book knockranny lodge for the wedding we went to but it was booked out and some of our friends stayed there. They said it was lovely and it is just beside the Knockranny hotel so you could go to the bar and have a drink and a look around. its at this link http://www.knockrannylodge.ie/index.html


For restaurants see my trip report from my August trip. We stayed a few nights for a wedding. http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...hanP&fid=2

I would not stay in the clew bay area my first time as its outside the main village and a bit of a hike in unless you drive. A B&B in the centre of the village or colose enough will also get noisy on the weekends. When the Pubs close there is a mad dash to the local discos for an extra hour or two of drinking.

My friend was in Westport 2 weeks ago and said there is a fantastic new Elmis Spa...not sure where but they loved it.

Have fun.

S

Melissa5

SiobhanP, thanks very much for your input. Anybody else have an opinion to offer? It's especially hard to get info on the smaller family-run B&Bs. I am sure stumped at this point, and still considering Olde Railway, in spite of it's creeking and aging, or one of the B&Bs, but I wish I had more info on them. It sounds like Knockranny might be too noisy and busy with weddings, etc.

CU

Have a look at www.irishbeds.com/mayo_bnb.html
Did you ever consider staying in farmhouse accommodation. The Americans find them a great hit and enjoy seeing the animals etc. You would even get a chance to milk the cow.

CU

As you are in Mayo could I suggest you look at www.quietman-cong.com and
www.folkpark.com will be of interest to you in relation to your ancestors in the north.

Itallian_Chauffer

CU: Is that last the Ulster Folk Park?
If so, I agree that would be a good consideration, given the Ulster roots.
Bob

McShane

Hi Melissa,
Chatham is right, your trip planning is fun.

Our townhouse shared an alley space w/ the Wyatt Hotel and it was a nice hotel. It has a bar below, but it's a quiet bar and quiet at night (attracts an older crowd.) It's on the Octagon, which is like a central square but it's a block from the action. It's next the the Lemon Tree restaurant which everyone recommends.

The Olde Railway Hotel is lovely from the outside! And the river that it's on is pretty. There may be nightclubs nearby so you may want to ask about that as they heat up when the pubs close.

We took a long walk one day and I saw the neighborhoods where there are signs for B&B's - they didn't appeal to me. They were newer neighborhoods and a fair walk, perhaps 10 minutes, from the center. Not charming, more like the suburbs. There may be a great one in the town center, but you're right to be cautious.

I think either of the hotels - Olde Railway or Wyatt, could be lovely.

It seems like Westport is one of the hardest places to find out information about but it could be because fewer Americans travel there.

Melissa5

I'll miss chatting about Ireland for maybe 2 whole days even, due to wedding festivities here...not sure how I'll be able to make the transition from Ireland to real life! Maybe I could attend the wedding festivities with a big bag of Ireland books? Okay, maybe not. Maybe I can just pop into Ireland between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding!

It's challenging being such a devoted planner, because I like to dive in and get it done, very thoroughly done. Temporary break here!

Yes, McShane, I agree, somehow it seems harder to get enough info on Westport, whereas there's a greater abundance of info for some other areas.

GmaMcD

Melissa - We stayed at Hotel Westport in this past July and it was VERY crowded, sometimes difficult to wade thru the lobby! Staff not particularly helpful or friendly - but of course they were extremely busy;dining room required reservations; lounge/pub was nice - quite dignified, and children were there "after hours" - more a place for oldtimers like us to play cards and relax to quiet music - the rest of our family went to town! The location was OK, about a five minute walk to town, a pretty walk along the river taking the back way. But I wouldn't place it at the top of my list, and certainly not in July!

I agree with the recommendations for the Wyatt on the Octagon or the Olde Railway. After all, you're visiting an old country -so why bypass the antiquity? I find them so much more charming than copycat modern hotels. We had dinner at the Olde Railway and toured their public rooms,which I loved, but did not see their accommodations.Their excellent location is on the quiet side of the "mall", just at edge of the town Knockranny House was also one I had considered but was glad we were closer to town than that. Oh, another caution for July - if you plan special outings like horseback riding or fishing or boating, make reservations in advance. We had expected the concierge to be able to arrange everything our various family groups wanted to do, but were told instead "all booked"- and staff at Hotel Westport certainly didn't make any extra efforts to assist!

Melissa, I think you spend even more time than I did planning our family trip! (I'd hate to count the hours, weeks, months - devoted a year to it!) I'm curious - you obviously travel a lot - do you ever find you OVER plan? I found that with all I read, and inquired, and learned, and planned, my expectations grew (probably unrealistic) and we simply couldn't do even a small fraction of what I dreamed. I ended feeling a little disappointed and let-down. Possibly for me, that was because I was trying to plan for so many of us, of so many different ages. ( And yes, Wendy, I know you are still waiting for me to post our trip report!!)

CAPH52

I really shouldn't be responding to your post as our trip to Ireland was in 1982! Obviously, I have no current info to answer your questions. But I couldn't resist butting in here just to say that I think Westport is an excellent choice for your County Mayo base. We only spent one night there but we really enjoyed it. As I said, it's been a long time ago. But, at least at that time, Westport seemed to us to be less effected (affected?) by tourism than other places we stayed.

I wish I could give you the name of the B&B where we stayed. But, again, it's been a long time. All I can say is that we had vouchers through one of those fly and drive tour deals. I saw an add for the company fairly recently, so it's still in existance. But I can't remember the name off-hand. If I recall correctly, the B&B was on the edge of the town.

Melissa5

GmaMcD, Yes, I do massive planning, but I never feel like it's over-planning, and here's why. I consider the information that I'm gathering to be interesting just to know. For example, just for dublin alone, I have read so much I am actually thinking of skipping Dublin because I've already "been" there, through my wonderful and interesting research!

Anyway I forgot to tell you why all this research doesn't produce disappointment. It's because you need to be realistic about what you can actually in reality do in 1 day. I have found the best plan is to know a lot about a region or city, but actually only plan 1 activity per day, either a morning activity or an afternoon activity. That's it. A day that is actually under-planned. How do you fill up the rest of the day? You decide when you arrive, based on what grabs everyone's interest. But you're not going in blind, because you have a lot of info in your head about what the possible choices might be.

So for example I massively researched Rome. Fascinating city! Then, an example of 1 day: the only scheduled activity one day was a 3-hour guided walking tour of Ancient rome with a private licensed tour guide. That's it! Just 3 hours planned for the whole day. But you can believe that by the time the tour was done we had plenty more ideas what we wanted to see more of.

The secret is to have massive amounts of information, but to carefully under-plan your days.

This plan is only good for people who actually enjoy the research process. I do!

I share my research with my family only when they are receptive, otherwise I would drive them insane!

Hope this helps answer your question.

Gotta family wedding to attend tomorrow, family in town, time to take a break from Ireland planning!

Melissa5

GmaMcD, forgot to say thank you for your input on Hotel Westport and your opinions on Old Railway and Wyatt in Westport!

CapH52, thank you for butting in. Of course you're not butting in, you are most welcome, it is interesting to hear about how Westport lingers in your mind after all these years, that in itself is an interesting fact.

CAPH52

Thanks, Melissa, for letting me know that my input had value to you. And, now that I think of it (thanks to you!), the fact that I still have warm feelings about Westport is probably a good indication that it's a place worth visiting! Or at least that it was for me!

Melissa5

Thanks, everyone! I'm leaning towards the Olde Railway hotel but am a bit worried about whether or not I will be able to sleep there. (light sleeper.) Trying to avoid big hotels with loud parties.

I like the antique/charming historical sound of the Olde Railway hotel. But I will be miserable if it is so creeky that we can hear everybody in the whole hotel walking about all night, and if there are noisy night-clubs nearby.

Thanks if anybody has any more input. You are all great.

Melissa5

Oh, yikes. I have made decisions for Dingle and Ballyvaughan, but not for Westport yet!

Anybody stayed here, just outside of Westport town centre, but I'm not sure how far:
Cillcoman Lodge, Westport

Sure haven't narrowed it down much. Thanks for all your info! I want to look at Knockranny Lodge again, and also Ardmore House Hotel on the Quays.

Also still considering Olde Railway Hotel although it is sure getting a huge variety of comments, some positive and some negative.

Usually by this point in my research someplace has really jumped out at me as being the right choice for us.

I am gathering the impression that the Wyatt is probably nice but hotel-ish and maybe a bit boring considering I started out looking for a very Irish B&B type experience! But location is important too.

Yes, we have decided to sleep in the car with the luggage.

CU

Have you looked at www.townandcountry.ie
You can click on Mayo and then Westport and up comes the B & B around. I stayed in Altamont House many years ago and it was very good. I see now that it is in the top 300 B & B in Ireland.

In case I do not cross your way again over the next few days Mellissa could I wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving Day.

lawchick

Just a word of warning....weddings are very popular in Ireland (we luv em) and are usually held on a Friday or Saturday....when you do choose a hotel - ask if there is a wedding taking place there - then ask to be put as far away from the reception as possible. Even though your hotel may not have a nightclub - if it is hosting a wedding - the music and singing may go on until the early hours.

Melissa5

lawchick, you Irish really know how to do a wedding right! But I agree, since we're not invited to the wedding, we want to stay as far away from it as possible and get some sleep!

I am mostly solving the problem in Ireland by booking smaller B&Bs or guesthouses which wouldn't have weddings, and making sure they are in quiet areas, for sleeping, yet in areas still conveniently located for day-tours by car, and not too hard to find in the dark after returning from pubs!

thanks for your advice.

Melissa5

Thanks, CU! My wonderful daughers and son have volunteered to cook the whole thanksgiving dinner this year (they have all cooked before but have never actually had full charge of the feast!) Sounds good to me! I feel fortunate. Don't even care if they burn the gravy, I'm thrilled they want to give it a try. Thanks for the web-site too.