Renowned Travel and Leisure reviewers name four Irish hotels ‘world’s best’

A Co. Mayo hotel and a Co. Galway castle have featured among the Irish resorts which ranked on a prestigious list of the best luxury holiday spots in the world.

The Galway and Mayo estates turn out to be the same location, depending on who you ask- Ashford Castle on the edge of the river Cong.

The stunning and disputed castle featured on Travel + Leisure’s list of top UK and Irish resorts alongside its idyllic and luxury Lodge, which at least is well inside Mayo territory without a doubt.

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The castle’s address is Cong, Co. Mayo but it actually sits on the other side of the river in Co Galway, while much of its sprawling grounds, its tea rooms and the Lodge at Ashford Castle accommodation are all in Mayo.

Made trickier still is the fact that the Galway castle is inaccessible from Co. Galway directly and visitors have to drive from Cong across a bridge to reach it.

The strange location came into sharp focus in 2020 when lockdown set in and the public were discouraged from leaving their counties. “We have always paid our rates to Galway County Council for the Castle and we pay our rates on the Lodge to Mayo County Council,” the castle’s general manager Niall Rochford told The Irish Times.

In the end, the castle could stay open for Galway guests (who weren’t allowed to exit their cars as they drove through Mayo) and the Lodge was for Mayo visitors.

Both sets of visitors must have loved their stays, considering the high praise both received from Travel + Leisure. The castle, once the home of the Guinness family, boasts 83 individually designed and lovingly detailed rooms as well as a historic boathouse, perched over the lake.

The white-washed lodge, originally built in 1865 for the estate manager of the castle, has incomparable views over Lough Corrib backed by the rolling, emerald hills of Connemara.

Adare Manor in Co. Limerick and Ballyfin Demesne in Co. Laois also made the list.

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