The Trip Advisor ‘Travellers Choice Awards’ has revealed the best hotels and restaurants in Ireland, so where should you go for a nice meal and a kip?
So what’s the story with these Traveller Choice Awards?
The Trip Advisor ‘Travellers Choice Awards’ are virtual awards that are given out to hotels, restaurants and ‘vacation destinations’ across the world. They’re broken up into different sections so you can see where the best hotel is in Dublin, Ireland, Europe, all the way up to the best hotel in the world. The restaurants are broken up into cities, so you can see how the Dublin restaurants did.
The winners are chosen by millions of people who use the Trip Advisor website. So you can be sure that the rich, oversized, American Yankee Doodles have picked the stereotypical Irish destinations as the best places in Ireland.
So where is the best place to stay in Ireland?
Well the best hotel to stay in, according to the Travellers Choice Awards, is Castlewood House in Dingle. According to one Trip Advisor reviewer from Dublin: “They appear to have woven their own fabric into every opulent inch. The bedroom, the breakfast, the lounge… all just perfect”.
Sounds like the manager’s words. So where’s the best part of the country to stay in?
That would have to be Killarney. It definitely came out on top as the best location to stay in as six hotels in Killarney made it into the top 25 Irish hotels. Those being Loch Lein Country House (2nd), The Killarney Park Hotel (5th), The Ross (6th), Killarney Royal (13th), Lake Hotel (20th) and the Cahernane House (24th).
That’s good for Killarney. So how did the restaurants do?
Well the best place in the capital for a bite to eat (according to the awards) is Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud on 21 Merrion Street Upper (around the corner from JOE Towers!). One reviewer said, ‘If you can afford one special dinner, this would be it. We went for the 4-course gustation with the wine pairing.
Each course was like Christmas morning – a surprise and a delight. The wine pours were generous and the waiters friendly, not at all snooty or intimidating. A gourmand’s slice of heaven!”
Sounds expensive tasty… So how did we do worldwide?
Well Ireland actually came in 25th as the world’s best destination to visit. Here’s what the site had to say about the capital: It’s easy to love Dublin. Where else can you legitimately learn about local history and culture by visiting multiple pubs? (Side note: you can’t say you hate Guinness until you’ve had it in Dublin. It’s different. And it’s fantastic.)
London came first, followed by New York, Rome, Paris and fifth was San Francisco.
So tell us, where’s the best hotel in the world?
Well, The Phoenix Resort in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize (close to Mexico) came out as the best hotel in the whole wide world for 2012 as voted by Trip Advisor users (which could be you).
So if you were are doing something special this year – like getting down on one knee – we’d recommend you stay here. Well, that is if you can afford the $350 per night price tag.
