Abbeyglen Castle Hotel

While in Ireland I had one top item: To Stay in a castle hotel. We were so glad we chose this one. We arrived in the crazy rain after a long drive (apparently they got a months worth of rain in one day from what I heard) and it was raining so hard it actually flooded the ground floor area. It was crazy! The rooms were well appointed with really comfortable beds, great bathrooms & big windows that opened. Wifi is only available in the downstairs library & restaurant. I wasn’t happy about it at first but it gave me reason to sit by the fire and relax which ended up being nice. Definitely recommend

Absolutely wonderful experience at Abbeyglen. The room was clean and nice. The restaurant in the hotel was very fine dining and a bit on the pricey side. Staff is very friendly and helpful. The restaurant and bar also has live music in the evenings. Overall, great experience and would absolutely return and recommend others to go.

Beautiful old building, very large room, great ambiance. Grounds very beautiful (with helicopter landing pad!). Ann at reception was VERY HELPFUL in planning our day. Close to town so option to walk to shops and restaurants. Breakfast (two times) and dinner (one time) at hotel were good, not exceptional, but not overpriced. Service was very, very friendly and attentive. Pre-​dinner drinks at bar with host chatting about history of town was nice touch. Fairly clean (were a few cobwebs on windows). No WiFi in rooms, related to thick walls? Note about dinner in their formal dining room — restaurant host put American flag on our table turning it a notch down on «class rating.» Tour groups might like that. Summation: AbbeyGlen Castle Hotel is recommended for sure.

This place is amazing. I loved every minute of our stay. The staff is very friendly and the food is amazing! Amazing!!! The only reasons I didn’t give it 5 stars is because the Internet is only in public places, though that could be because of the walls. But … Other then that our stay here was perfect. Also, it’s located just minutes from town.

Booked by our tour service, this place was stunning upon entering. Had an old but comfortable feel to its lounges. Great bar setup downstairs, nice fancier restaurant upstairs. Our room included a sitting room which was great for relaxing after the long days of touring the area. The breakfast bar was delicious, as was their dinner deal (which saved its nearly 50 euro from their normal pricing. They had a free champaign hour, which allowed us to mingle with the other guests. The owner played piano during that joe, and chatted us all up! T was great seeing the owner take such a keen role in making guests feel like they were in the lap of luxury!
Don’t forget to say hello to the Lord of the castle, Gilbert the parrot!

I mean yeah, of course I am a fan of staying in a castle. Abbeyglen Castle hotel was a fun and festive hotel choice by the tour company that booked it.
Check in was easy and they helped us up with all our bags to the rooms on the 2^nd floor. Mine had 2 beds in it, the door was invitingly open, and the TV on when I got there. Bed was kind of bouncy but still pretty comfy. It had all the necessities like coffee/​tea and a hairdryer. It is kind of hard to find plugs for all this, but it is an old building soooo to be expected. No free wifi in the room was my only complaint, but maybe they want you to get down to the lobby and explore.
The place is interesting. There’s a parrot that whistles at the ladies coming through the lobby and he lets you pet him. The lobby area is cozy and you can sit and chat. The bar is off to the right when you come in the door and it has a piano and lots of tables. When we first got there they were serving free tea and scones in the bar area. Don’t mind if we do. Later on they had a champagne toast and told about the history of the hotel. There’s a throne out front for photo ops so you can be King/​Queen of the castle. Apparently there’s also a snooker table somewhere, a quiet library, and a restaurant. Too much stuff to even explore in just one night! And the location is just a short stroll away from Clifden where you can shop and eat. The doors also lock with those big old keys — super retro after all the sometimes-​working scan cards at other hotels. Oh, and a helipad. How I wish someone had shown up in their helicopter while I was there. That would have been my date for the night. Ha!
We went to dinner and came back and I camped in the bar area to use the wifi and listen to the race that was just getting started up at home. I had one headphone in and the other out lest people think I was snobby with my earphones in. Ha. I drank wine and enjoyed myself. Later on the owner (our guide said it was the owner that usually does this) played the piano, chatted people up, and took requests. It was festive.
Breakfast was in the dining room and it was a really good spread. Full irish fry up, fresh fruit, cereals, pastries, bread, juices, etc. The usual but everything was really good.
Basically if you are staying in the area you should totally stay here for the fun and quirkiness of it all!

Built in 1832 the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel is situated on the scenic Sky Road in Connemara less than a five minute walk to the town of Clifden. It is perfectly situated as a great base to explore Connemara and take a trip into Galway city.
The grounds of the castle are lovely and have tennis courts, fountains, a lovely patio area with tables and chairs, walking trails, a mini golf /​pitch and put course as well as a helipad, should you decided to leave the car and take the chopper. The castle is ivy clad with big wooden doors, everything you would expect from a castle.
Inside is full of charm and authentic touches, dark wooden panelling, elaborate art-​work on the walls, lush plush decorative carpets, thrones, dark leather armchairs and sofas as well as huge chandeliers and real turf burning fires throughout the public areas.
As you enter the castle you are greeted with one of these real fires and by Gilbert, an African Grey parrot that hangs out by the reception area and chats to guests and whistles at the ladies. He is a very charming parrot, almost as charming as all the staff who are so welcoming, helpful and funny, full of Irish wit and humour. Nothing is too much trouble for them and they will be the highlight of your stay.
Downstairs is the lobby area with fires and sofas, the library with books, games, more fires and comfy sofas and the bar which also has a turf burning fire, lots of cosy seats and tables and a grand piano smack bang in the middle. There is also another room with a big screen tv, pool table, card table and another piano. This room is a good size and great for functions and watching sporting events with guests. There is also a wall of fame which is adorned with framed photos of the many famous people who have stayed in the castle throughout the years.
There are triple bedrooms with a double /​twin bed and a single bed on the first floor. The second floor is where you will find a conference room with computers and large desk and the fabulous restaurant where buffet breakfast and dinner is served. There is also a very cool smoking area with big screen tv, outdoor heaters, and a fish tank! You will find lots of these quirky things throughout the hotel.
I stayed in two rooms on the second floor, one with two single beds pushed together to make a double bed and one with a full sized double bed, although it may have been a king sized bed it was so big but I am not too sure. The rooms at the back face out on to some secluded greenery area and the rooms at the front look out over a stream and offer views of Clifden.
There are many different types of room on offer including ones with canopy four poster beds, ones with a separate living are, rooms are available in the turret of the castle, loads have claw foot baths, and one has a double jacuzzi. I had the pleasure of been shown around each type of room and I can say that they are all striking and inviting and look fabulous.
The rooms I stayed in had the following: double /​twin beds with lots of pillows and lovely crisp sheets, extra bedding in the wardrobes. They had two beautiful antique chairs and table as well as two bedside tables with a lamp on each one. Each room have a big screen tv and dvd player, kettle, teapot and tea and coffee and milk and sugar. There was a huge desk with mirror and chair great for writing and setting up a laptop. There was a great hairdryer in the desk and there was an iron, ironing board, trouser press as well as a safe and a big wardrobe with plenty of hangers and shelves. There was also two full length mirrors in each of the rooms I stayed in. They offer a laundry service too and the bags are in the room. There was a nice long bath, although not very wide, and a good shower above the bath. The sinks were nice and big and there was a huge mirrored wall with shelf space for all your cosmetics. Shaving plugs are also on the wall as well as a magnifying mirror. There were lots of towels and a shower cap, soap, shower gel, shampoo and drinking glasses.
There were lots of lights in the room and a lot of natural light due to the big windows, however the curtains were big and heavy enough to block out all the light and making the room nice and dark at night time. The rooms where I was were very quiet and I only heard other guests going in and out of their rooms in the morning, but I am a light sleeper so I usually hear this in hotels. The beds in the rooms I was in were a little on the hard side but as I have a bad back this was perfect for me.
I found my room and especially bathroom to be very clean and my room was cleaned every day of my stay. The whole hotel was very clean if a little shabby but shabby in a very chic kind of way, this is a castle that is nearly 200 years old. However many of the rooms have just been refurbished including new showers and carpets and whilst I was there more working was being carried out on the carpets in the public areas.

I have to rate this accommodation at three stars. Here are the following reasons: the beds are not comfortable and need replacing. We requested a second twin bed in the room which my friend called the prison cot. It was quite uncomfortable and very lumpy. There is an unpleasant smell in the rooms too. The view is nice and Gilbert the parrot is quite charming.

Fun, fun castle hotel; perfect location for seeing Connemara! I loved staying at Abbeyglen, probably because there was a red carpet and throne out front when I arrived. (probably for a wedding party there at the same time, but nonetheless…) The old building is beautiful; the lobby, bars, sitting rooms, restaurants all feel adequately ‘country estateish’. Breakfast was good, healthy pour in the bar, beautiful grounds perfect for walking…
My room featured both a fireplace and some comfy sitting chairs, perfect for book reading by the fire on a cool night. My view was of the babbling brook out back, although the views on the front of the hotel were stunning! Nice appointments, a delicious, oversized soaking tub and a towel warmer were most appreciated. The only downside was the uncomfortable mattress, flat pillows and old bedding. Some bedding upgrades would have made this stay absolutely perfect. However, I’d definitely stay there again and have been recommending it to others.

This is the best hotel I have ever stayed in in my life. I am very much looking forward to revisiting it as soon as possible.
I do not say this lightly. The Abbeyglen is not only in a beautiful location, offering high quality accommodations, but it makes you feel pampered in an unpretentious, personal way.
It has character and is, as it turns out, full of characters — not least of whom is Gilbert, an African grey parrot who will allow ladies lucky enough to stay here to scratch his neck for him as he sits and holds court near the check-​in desk.
I was fully prepared to feel really uncomfortable here when we were greeted in the parking lot by a young man who wanted to know if we needed help with our bags. I sort of like carrying my own bag. But he followed us (as we carried our own damn bags) into the lobby, chatting with us about where we were coming from and why we were there, and the little so-​n-​so disarmed me sufficiently that I didn’t even mind when he picked my bag up again after I stopped to admire Gilbert. He was also a good source of local music intel.
When we got into the front desk, no less than two congenial, dignified (but hilarious) gentlemen, who have their own courts to hold here in the pub and restaurant and generally around, stopped us to insist we have some free champagne, and to make sure they could put our country’s flag at our table at dinner (whereby we sort of decided, okay, we’ll dine here — a WISE decision). I’ve never encountered people who could so be so lovably pushy. It is exactly the sort of thing I never would have thought could work, but was sort of wonderful.
I could go on about the details, but you should really just go and check it out for yourself. If you have frequent flyer miles from United, this is a good place to spend ‘em. You can also get an idea of the place’s gestalt from their Facebook page.
There’s a painting of the famous lines from Yeats’ «The Stolen Child» right inside the front door, over a beautiful beaux arts stove:
«Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping
than you can understand.»
I really was relatively well convinced we’d been kidnapped by faeries while we were at the Abbeyglen. I’m pretty amazed we escaped from underhill intact, despite eating the (excellent and abundant) food and drinking at least two free glasses of champagne apiece. I also really don’t know why we aren’t there right now. This coming home again business, after staying at the Abbeyglen, seems highly overrated.