Park Hotel Kenmare

The lovely waterside Park Hotel Kenmare is a Victorian-era gem, a fixture on Ireland’s luxury-hotel scene for well over a century. In its place, some hotels might go all in on nostalgia, but not this one. Its current owners are devoted to keeping it up to date, and after a renovation by the Kenmare-raised hospitality designer Bryan O’Sullivan, it’s neither a modern experiment nor a strict period piece, but something altogether timeless. This means luxurious rooms and suites decorated in a style that feels contemporary, but still pays generous tribute to the 19th century. Each one is different, and all are equipped with state-of-the-art comforts, handled as unobtrusively as possible. Some face lovely gardens, others the sublime Kenmare River and Caha Mountains. And every unit is stocked with Blue Bottle coffee, Barry’s Irish tea, and sencha for green tea devotees — as perfect a morning trifecta as we’ve ever seen. Nor are the accommodations the whole of the story. SÁMAS, the spa, is key to the Park Hotel Kenmare’s appeal. The hotel’s art collection is noteworthy in its own right, and is the subject of daily tours. The surrounding mountains and waterways offer no end of possibilities for recreation, while the Kenmore Golf Club lies just next door. And food and drink are by no means neglected — Landline, the restaurant, is joined by an elegant cocktail bar, a handful of lounges and terraces, and a wide variety of wines and whiskeys. How to get there: Park Hotel Kenmare is approximately a 1 1/2 hour drive from Cork Airport, 50 minutes from Kerry Airport and a 40 minute drive from the town of Killarney.