Belleek Castle in

If you’re looking for THE castle experience this is it! The overall experience has been top tier offering grand furnishings, indulging restaurant and bar menu and relaxing atmosphere. The neo-gothic architecture and interior design transports you back in time. The only restaurant on site offers a unique and elegant menu with the highly recommended Drunken Bullock steak that is an experience in itself. As I write this, lounging in the luxuriously decorated sitting room adjacent to the Armada Bar, I can confidently tell you this is the place to book if you’re looking for a private castle visit. With only 10 bedrooms, you are guaranteed a timeless environment that takes you back in time. We are traveling the Wild Atlantic Way, which the Belleek castle has special WAW bundle offer with complimentary breakfast every morning, one night of complimentary 3 course meal for 2 at the their restaurant and 2 pints of Guinness at the armada bar. They also offer a tour (highly recommend booking) of the castle and dungeons daily which gives you an extra activity to do around the property. We are a young couple visiting from California. We got to meet the owner and he was so kind and friendly to us and our 16month baby. Happy to write they offer pop up cot which has been our deciding factor in choosing our residences along the WAW so we didn’t have to travel with a pop up cot. All in all would highly recommend coming on a weekday where you can avoid a possible wedding/wedding guests. The castle was up to par with what we had expected— the food/service was great and beautifully furnished. Some might expect Ritz Carlton meets Highclere castle- This is not that so get your expectations right before coming. The castle was such a fun experience along our journey across Ireland.

We had a fabulous time at the Beleek Castle. The desk clerk explained about the castle and signed us up for a guided tour. Tickets were reasonable. Our guide was a school teacher and he was very knowledgeable about the history of the castle. It is richly decorated with antiques and is popular with people planning weddings. The best 2 areas were the room of Jurassic fossils and the room of ancient weapons and armor.

So I am incredibly sad to give such a low star rating for the food and castle but there are significant points of difference if you are interested in the environment and you subscribe to their “garden to table” ethos. Firstly, the food was amazing and the staff were absolutely lovely. That said the cheese course was poor (and I’m sure the grapes weren’t local 🤣) but I think there were supply issues so the dish wasn’t as per the menu. The Castle claims to have a walk to table philosophy versus miles for ingredients so I was surprised to see asparagus on the menu at the beginning of April. I asked the question to the waitress in terms of how they managed to have asparagus at this time of year. The lovely lady didn’t know but asked the kitchen and apparently they have “a very good gardener”. I will take that as a horticulturalist with a pinch of salt given the weather conditions. The only thing that is absolutely unforgivable is that they burn peat, the carbon sink of the planet and the most precious resource known to man. Peat sale is banned in Ireland unless you have Turbary rights (local family’s use of peat for fuel but can’t be sold under law) but sadly I have seen that Airbnb’s and hotels that do not need to rely on cheap peat fuel as they are profiteering from people staying and they don’t seem to meet the Turbary right rules. They are not rural communities struggling with the cost of fuel crisis. I have been absolutely dumbfounded by the Irish’s approach to peat, it is heartbreaking 💔.

Very friendly and helpful staff, excellent food at evening meal and good hearty breakfast. Bar staff 'Steven' very attentive. Paul an excellent host. We will return. Cecil & Karen.

We just had dinner there and it was amazing.

It is about the people, the culture they create, the owner and the likes of Ricardo. Thank you. Food was great. What a location. Service excellent.

Was there recently at a family event, great staff & wonderful food. Beautiful castle & surroundings.