Ireland’s wonderfully bucolic landscapes makes it a natural choice for times you’re seeking some R&R among the restorative power of nature. There are no shortage of wonderful places to stay up and down the country, but when fresh air and walking boots are foremost on the agenda, choosing a country villa or Airbnb over a chic city center hotel is always the best option – more secluded, more peaceful and all the better to help you switch off fully. From kitschy seaside boltholes to a cooly industrial ‘60s lakehouse, here are nine of the loveliest holiday homes across Ireland to hole up in for a long weekend.
The Hidden Haven, Co Cork
This is the cabincore fantasy West Cork style: a cleverly designed hideaway with genuine eco credentials in a boho corner of the country known for its artisan producers and weekend markets. The Hidden Haven takes the boutique farmstay experience up a notch with a concierge service, super-king-size bed, picnic kit, boot room, natural Irish-made products, massages in the main farmhouse and a wood-fired hot tub looking onto a private lake. Set in Derry Duff, an organic farm in the hills, the cabin has large windows framing the wild landscape and a color scheme of blonde wood and soft greens. Join owner Steve Collins on a tour of the property to learn about regenerative farming methods. Derry Duff grows blueberries and aronia berries (used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes) and raises Dexter cattle – one of the herd appears as an artwork pin-up in the cabin, along with a sculptural piece of bog oak retrieved from the land. A generous welcome hamper packed with homemade and homegrown farm produce completes the good life profile.
Sleeps: Two
Price: From about £300 per night (three nights minimum)
Little Hay Cottage, Co Kerry
The Danish former owner of this quirky find, part of five-star Sheen Falls Lodge, used to time his visit with cherry blossom season, so he could drive his Rolls-Royce up the hotel driveway amid a cloud of pink. What a nice idea to do the same (Rolls-Royce optional). The appeal of Little Hay is that it comes with all the bells and whistles of a luxury hotel – dinner cooked by a private chef; breakfast pastries delivered daily; marble bathrooms – wrapped up in a charming cottage, with a winding staircase, open fires and a bottle-green kitchen warmed by a range cooker. Within the grounds of Sheen Falls Lodge there are all the country pursuits you’d expect – fishing, falconry, archery, horse riding – but also a spa with massages and facials by Irish brand Ground Wellbeing. And for evenings when no one wants to cook, you can book into the hotel’s Falls Restaurant, where the room glows from candlelight and the illuminated namesake waterfalls outside the window.
Sleeps: Four
Price: From about £570 per night
Limestone Cottage, Co Kerry
This sensitively restored whitewashed cottage is all about the epic setting, looking onto dark-as-porter Coomasaharn Lake with the heather-covered mountains sloping gently in the background. For those who get their kicks from cold-water swimming, there’s a path down to the shore, and for warming the bones up again afterwards there’s an outdoor bath hewn from a rock – surely Ireland’s best tub with a view. Inside, the one-bedroom hideaway feels bigger than it first appears, with thick walls finished in traditional lime plaster, exposed gnarled beams and textured upholstery in shades and green. The flame-scorched open hearth looks like it has borne witness to many fireside tales, and at the other end of the cottage, a modern glass extension is a wonderfully framed spot for reading the latest holiday page-turner. Nearby, the village of Glenbeigh – a stopping off point for hikers on the Kerry Way hiking trail – has atmospheric pubs and a pizzeria/deli that stocks artisan Irish products.
Sleeps: Two
Price: Three nights from £1,150
Fanad Lighthouse, Co Donegal
This is not the place to book if you’re looking for serene sundowners on the terrace. Instead, this pared-back, blustery spot lets visitors experience the salty-aired life of a lighthouse keeper in one of the country’s most dramatic and rugged locations. Up here in north Donegal, “isolated” is a selling point, with the epic seascapes all around providing the entertainment, that and the beams illuminating the night sky from Fanad Lighthouse, a 200-year-old structure that still helps to guide ships from its perch on a mist-circled bluff. The three cottages – the restored former homes of the lighthouse keepers – are cosy and simply kitted out, with wooden floors, wood-burners and even a roll-top bath. Irish playwright Brendan Behan stayed in one when he was a painter for Irish Lights – it would be hard to find a more inspiring setting for creative endeavours.
Price: One-bedroom cottage from about £315 (minimum two nights); two-bedroom cottage from about £450
Merrion Mews, Dublin
Dublin is going through a hotel boom right now. But sometimes it’s fun to seek out a more leftfield place to stay, one of creaky floors, sepia-toned portraits and scrubbed tabletops. Managed by the Irish Landmark Trust, this renovated coachman’s house is just off Merrion Square, one of the city’s smartest postcodes, in the heart of Georgian Dublin. It dates from the 1790s and has bags of character: you could even be woken by the clip-clop of horses for a time-travel jolt back to the 18th century as the apartment is located above working stables which are sometimes used by the mounted unit of the Irish police. Within walking distance are sights such as the National Gallery, National Museum and Trinity College, where the 1,000-year-old Book of Kells is now a digital experience, placing you in the colourfully curlicued pages of the illuminated manuscript. A slice of Irish history as immersive as your home back in the mews.
Sleeps: Six
Price: Two nights from about £915
Inis Meain Stays, Aran Islands
Formerly run as Inis Meain Suites, a coolly elevated restaurant with rooms with a year-long waiting list, this pair of architectural houses on the least-visited Aran island (population 180) are as beautifully sparse as the limestone-threaded landscape. Minimalist interiors of granite, slate and slatted oak are softened by touches of linen and cashmere. To stay here is to be immersed in island life. There are bicycles, ash walking sticks, backpacks and flasks provided for exploring, or walk to the pub for lively trad sessions, to the knitwear store for Banshees of Inisherin-worthy chunky knits, to the beach for rock pooling and limpet picking. The houses are set on a farm whose focus is to maintain the islands’ biodiversity, with wildflowers, native bees and potato crops fertilised with seaweed. You get to sample the result in the welcome hamper, which includes local honey, free-range eggs and brown bread made from a recipe passed down through generations that still uses fists of flour as a measurement.
Sleeps: Up to eight
Price: Four nights from about £2,695
Twig and Heather Cottage, Co Donegal
On the edge of a continent, on Ireland’s most northerly peninsula, is this postcard-pretty Thirties cottage with kitschy interiors you wouldn’t expect to find in a seaside bolthole. Holiday rentals can sometimes seem generic and soulless, but Twig and Heather has buckets of personality: Irish antiques sit alongside junk-shop finds from the owner’s travels in Asia; vases of wildflowers, a patchwork quilt and a wonderful stash of books keep the eclectic look fresh. There’s a wood-burning stove for misty Donegal days and binoculars to spot birdlife from the corner seat in the kitchen – also the best nook for watching the sun set over Dunree Head. Strike out from the front door for quiet boreen walks where sheep set the pace, or hike the loop trails near Fort Dunree – you might even catch the northern lights in winter. The beaches of Donegal are the most under the radar in Ireland, and here you’ll find horseshoe bays of golden sands, surf spots and sea cliffs all on the doorstep.
Sleeps: Two
Price: Three nights from about £425
Glasson Lakehouse, Co Westmeath
With its festoon-hung deck and setting amid the trees, this reimagined ‘60s lakehouse on the shores of Lough Ree has the vibe of an Upstate New York hideaway. Tongue and groove walls and white-painted exposed beams bounce the light around the space, and retro crockery and fabrics give an authentic feel. A wood-burner and cocktail trolley provide warming distraction on rainy days, and kingfishers are regular sightings from the large deck. Originally a holiday hideaway and then a fishing cabin, it was transformed by its interior designer owners and has won plaudits such as Irish Home of the Year. But the location is the real scene stealer: for kayaking and swimming in the lake just steps away; woodland walks amid towering hazel, beech and oak; sipping pints in the pubs of nearby Glasson; sailing trips on the Shannon.
Sleeps: Four
Price: £1,250 per short break
Damson Lodge, Co Waterford
Imagine having access to one of the grandest gardens in the country when there’s no one else around. That’s the big seller at this charming holiday rental on the edge of the recently revamped Mount Congreve estate (70 riverside acres that span woodland, waterfalls, walled gardens, a pagoda and a temple). Now marketed as Damson Lodge, this was the home of the gatekeeper for the 18th-century manor, and the clever revamp has retained some original features while mixing antique pieces with eco-minded mod-cons. There’s a vintage French day-bed in the living room alongside a bio-ethanol stove; antique beds and a walk-in shower. Tapestries, ornate light fittings, velvet headboards and gilt-edged mirrors make it feel like a grand house in miniature. As well as offering after-hours access to the estate gardens, the lodge is also on the Waterford Greenway; plug into the 28-mile cycle path that winds through rolling countryside to the coast, taking in bridges, viaducts and tunnels.
Sleeps: Four
Price: From about £335 per night