The Eccles Hotel: A Luxury Getaway to West Cork
As part of our continued Luxury Irish Hotel Series, we traveled down to West Cork recently to the beautiful Eccles Hotel, located in Glengarrif. A mere hour and a half drive from Cork city, the hotel is very easily accessible, even from Dublin. Our journey time was four hours, including a stop in Cork City for lunch. We got down early enough to miss the Friday Rush Hour. If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air and some time out of the city then we strongly recommend checking out the Eccles Hotel.
We stumbled upon the Eccles Hotel on the way back from the Alihees a while back and we were taken with the beautiful bay and appearance of the hotel.
It was like we’d left Ireland and entered some kind of beautiful oasis, we knew we had to come back!
What greets you first as you arrive is the stunning 1755 facade of the hotel and the breath-taking view of Bantry Bay. There’s ample parking, also important, and the hotel is a 5 minute walk in to Glengarriff village where’s there’s some lovely little pubs and restaurants and some excellent craft shops.
We stayed in a Bay View Double Room and the view, along with the room, was stunning. The room was decorated with a minimalist vibe with a massive King Sized Bed and adjoining bathroom. The room was absolutely spotless which was a big tick – It’s a pet peeve!
When we’d unpacked the bags and settled in to our weekend surroundings, we ventured down to the town for a walk. We ended up meeting a local guide who pointed us in the direction of a fantastic 5 km hike which took in some stunning scenery, the perfect walk after the drive to wake us up and get us ready for dinner!
As we walked up the steps to The Eccles Hotel, we really felt like we were stepping back in time, for all the right reasons. With the colder, darker evenings creeping in, it was fantastic to be greeted by roaring fires in the lobby and smiles all around from the very friendly staff.
We said we’d venture down to the bar for dinner, the restaurant was closed for the winter months, but the bar served the full menu anyway so it was all good.
We started for the seafood platter, which was massive – enough for a main for two! Then I had the burger and my partner went for the BLANK. Everything was just delicious, including the creamy pint of Guinness I had (serious Guinness critic – this was up there with the best). We were too stuffed for dessert so had another drink or two beside the fire in the lobby, it was so nice to see people just sitting around playing cards and reading books instead of on phones and iPads
The hotel had a singer in with a guitar which was a great way of keeping people in the hotel and entertained!
We had a relatively early night after the drive, walk and big feed so were content to catch some Z’s and make the most of the next day.
Saturday Started with a nice long shave, naturally. Trying out our new Barbershop Scent Shaving Soap.
Powerscourt Hotel were actually fantastic also when it came to dairy intolerance, you can read that feature article here.
I went for the Full Irish and my Partner got the waffles, both were really good and set us up nicely for the day. Along with the menu options, there was a huge selection of cereals, breads, pastries and fruit. The breakfast takes place in the beautiful dining room with stunning views of the bay.
My favourite meal of the day is breakfast! Hands down, I just love it, there’s something about chilling with a coffee first thing in the morning when someone else makes you brekkie. It’s a nice time to reflect and really ease yourself in to the day. The menu was great, a really good selection and everything you’d expect. Great coffee too so happy out.
My partner is dairy intolerant and the staff were so accommodating, the chef had no problem making a new batter for the waffles with soya milk, sometimes restaurants or hotels just won’t do it.
After breakfast, we both had treatments booked in the Voya Treatment room. The Voya Treatment Room only opened in July and is run by one of the ladies from the locality (also runs the local pharmacy!).
The room was nicely lit with lovely aromas, heated blankets, essential oils etc and the full range of the wonderful Voya products. I went for a back, head and shoulder massage and my partner got a seaweed facial. We were very impressed by the quality of the treatment and can highly recommend getting a treatment if you’re going to be staying. We had to go for a nap after ours, we were that chilled!
I love a good drive around West Cork so we headed for Caha Pass for a nice drive, the views were absolutely breaktaking, even on a foggy day. One of the best things about the West of Ireland is just getting in the car and seeing where you end up. We wanted to head to Dursey Island on Ireland’s only cable car but the weather wasn’t the best so it wasn’t running. Instead we took the ferry to Gairinish Island for some exploring! For €10 you get the ferry out, it passed by Seal Island and some beautiful bantry bay scenery. The drivers are gas and point out some of the sights like Maureen O ‘Haras old house and the now derelict Glengarriff Castle (such a shame).
Gairinish Island:
What a beautiful Oasis in the middle of Cork! You’d never think you were in Ireland. The groundskeeper, who was an integral part of the Ireland for 55 years, planted a protective belt of trees around the perimeter to shield the rest of the Island from the harsh coastal winds. The result is stunning, amazing tropical species of plants and trees from all around the world, thriving here in West Cork.
The family that lived here originally planned to build a massive Mansion but lost their fortune during WWI and so had to be content with a Two Bed Cottage which was quant and beautiful in it’s own right.
More Amazing Food:
We ended up having lunch and dinner back in the hotel on the Saturday, it was so good and so reasonable that we couldn’t think of a reason not to.
We had a variety of seafood dishes such as Chowder, Calamary, Cod and Chips and then a beautiful lamb dish. Everything was great again, couldn’t find a fault in anything.
We finished our evening similar to the first evening with a few pints in front of the fire.
The next day we had another great breakfast then hit the road back up to Dublin, all in all it was a fantastic stay and one I’ll cherish for a long time.
Thank you to Sandra from the Eccles hotel for having us down and for looking after everything, we can highly recommend the Eccles Hotel for a fantastic break from the city.
I’ll leave you with a few more images of the stay to give you an idea of the beautiful location.
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