4 Best Hotels in Kinsale, County Cork

The gallery sells striking black-and-white photos, so it's fitting that the rooms in this carefully restored Victorian house are decked out in black, white, and gray contemporary furnishings, with large photo murals on the walls. Three of the four luxurious, uncluttered rooms have a sea view over the picturesque harbor as well as large flat-screen TVs and tea- and coffee-making facilities. Rooms are airy and spacious, and the generously sized bathrooms have rain showers and Voya's Irish seaweed soap products. The largest room ($$$$) has a living room area, an exposed-brick wall, and wooden beams.

A large Georgian town house has been tastefully converted into this cheerful guesthouse, with an array of amenities that would do a hotel proud. The quiet residential location is only a short walk from the town center and adjacent to the town's three churches, the bells of which merrily ring the hours. Guest rooms are large, pleasantly decorated in Georgian style, with cheerful spreads and drapes, wing chairs, and good-size bathrooms. The warm welcome and friendly touring advice from owner--manager Maureen Tierney and her team, good parking in a town where spaces can be hard to find, and excellent value make this a popular spot with regular visitors, many of whom are golfers.

This strikingly handsome, early-19th-century pier-front property with its black, iron-laced facade looks like it belongs in a French colony; inside the elegance continues with a quintessential Irish edge. Georgian fixtures, Regency wallpaper, solid timber fixtures, rattan carpet, and oak fireplaces---along with plenty of space---add to the eclectic mix of pioneering travel charm. Modern comfort breakfast is the best in town: fresh fruit, honeycomb (from the owner's beehives---of course!), homemade bread, and local cheese. 

The modern three-story building may lack old-world charm, but the waterfront location—built around three sides of a former dockyard on the edge of Kinsale's magnificent harbor—more than compensates. The hotel is adjacent to a working pier where rusty coasters tie up overnight, adding to the authentic harbor atmosphere and providing a conversation topic as you breakfast in the first-floor restaurant within feet of a ship's stern. The Trident features large rooms with fabulous sea views, and its Wharf Tavern and Grill is popular with locals, who range from stevedores to owners of the million-dollar yachts moored at the neighboring marina.