Ashford Castle

A castle hotel of 83 rooms, suites and The Boathouse on a 350-acre estate on Lough Corrib, at Cong in County Mayo. The oldest wing dates from the 13th century; the Guinness family shaped the estate and Red Carnation Hotels has owned it since 2013. See the hotel’s history.

There are 11 categories. The rooms run from the Corrib Room, with a bedroom of 4.5 by 3.7 metres, to the Deluxe Queen Family Rooms with 2 queen beds; the suites from the Junior Staterooms to the Staterooms in the oldest wing, the Kennedy and Reagan Presidential Suites and The Boathouse on the lake. For each room the site gives the bedroom’s length and width.

Google Hotels, read on 15 October 2026 for 2 adults, showed €674 for 17 November 2026, €522 for 10 February 2027, a lone night, €1,054 for 13 June 2027 and €1,011 for 29 August 2027. These are the lowest one-night prices, with no room named; from January to April 2027, consecutive nights started at €545. The hotel’s FAQ says rates include tax; a discretionary €20 service charge per night is added to the bill.

By car. On OpenStreetMap’s roads Knock airport is 64 km away, about 67 minutes; Shannon 121 km, about 1 hour 43 minutes; Dublin Airport 253 km, about 3 hours 8 minutes. The hotel’s chauffeur charges €225 each way from Knock or Galway, €355 from Shannon and €690 from Dublin, for up to 2 passengers.

Yes. The Spa, in the castle, has a relaxation pool, a steam room and treatment rooms, open 8am to 7pm; a 60-minute Swedish massage costs €200. The pool for every guest is at Éalú by The Lodge: 15 metres, with a splash pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna and a gym, open 7am to 8pm on weekdays and from 8am at weekends.

Éalú is included for guests of the castle and of The Lodge, who alone have access: pool, sauna, steam room and gym, Monday to Friday 7am to 8pm and at weekends 8am to 8pm, under-16s from 9am to 6pm. At The Spa the relaxation pool and steam room open only to guests with a treatment booked, from the age of 16. Visitors who are not staying need a booking to enter the grounds.

Only with a booking. The FAQ says the grounds are closed to visitors who are not staying; non-residents can book dinner in the George V Dining Room, afternoon tea or some activities, such as a limited number of hawk walks. The cinema and the morning walks are for residents only.

One hour with Harris hawks at Ireland’s School of Falconry: €140 for 1 person, €210 for 2, €255 for 3 and €300 for 4, with up to 2 spectators at €25 each. Walks start between 9.30am and 4pm, 3.30pm in winter; the minimum age is 7, and cancellation is free up to 48 hours before.

The 9-hole golf course, the 2 tennis courts, Pashley bicycles, the 32-seat cinema, Éalú, the heritage walk and the morning dog walk; club hire costs €60. Paid ones, by the experiences pages: archery from €170, clay shooting from €175, a 40-minute wooden boat trip €160, fishing with a ghillie €320 for 3 hours, canoeing €110 from May to September.

Breakfast is in the George V Dining Room, from 7.30am to 10.45am from mid-March to October and from 8am in winter, with gammon carved from the trolley. Dinner is in the George V Dining Room, where men wear a dinner jacket, at The Dungeon’s Josper grill, or at Cullen’s at the Cottage from 14 March to 31 October; neither has a dress code.

€78 a head plus 15% service, in the Connaught Room at 1.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm and 4pm every day, by the tea page and its menu. Non-residents must book.

Parking is free, with 4 charging points for electric cars. Transfers are paid: the hotel’s chauffeur charges €225 each way from Knock, €355 from Shannon and €690 from Dublin.

The Deluxe Queen Family Rooms: 2 queen beds for 2 adults and 2 children under 12, and interconnecting rooms guaranteed at booking. Travel cots are available; rollaway beds are not offered. Children under 16 use Éalú from 9am to 6pm.

Yes. With exclusive use the 83 rooms, suites and The Boathouse take up to 160 guests; the Connaught and Inglenook rooms suit weddings of up to 40. Ceremonies are held in the gardens or in a church in Cong.

Yes: it opens all year, and the festive page describes a Christmas package from Christmas Eve and a black-tie New Year’s Eve dinner in the George V Dining Room. It links the 2025 brochures, where Christmas started at €3,727.50 per person sharing a Corrib Room; the 2026 prices are not published.

The One-Night Gourmet Getaway gives the night, a 5-course dinner in the George V Dining Room, a full Irish breakfast and a round on the 9-hole golf course. The Exclusive Winter Experiences, from 7 January to 31 March, come with breakfast, the morning walks, the nightly cinema and golf.

On 15 October 2026 it held 4.8 out of 5 on Tripadvisor from 4,299 reviews and 4.7 on Google from 4,237 ratings. Guests write most about the staff and the grounds, and often about dinner, their rooms and the hawk walk; visitors without a booking write that they were turned back at the gate.

No. The Lodge is a separate hotel of 64 rooms, built in 1865 for the estate manager, with its own restaurant; its guests can walk the grounds but come inside the castle only to dine.

Yes, in Deluxe Rooms and above, up to 2 dogs per room at €75 each per night, with a bed, bowls and towels provided; dog sitting and walking are booked 24 hours ahead.