Dromoland Castle - Storybook Perfect

One of the things that I loved about Ireland is how they make it super easy for tourists to navigate the country. The major highways have street signs that direct you to upcoming castles on your route. If time permitted, as we were going from one stop on our itinerary to another, we'd take a chance and take a little detour to check out some castles or abbeys that we would have missed otherwise. I saw Dromoland Castle on one of the signs, and it just sounded kind of fun. So, we veered off course not knowing what we were going to come across. Would it be a broken down shell of a castle or something much more grand? To our delight, it was the latter.

Dromoland Castle is a functioning 5 star luxury hotel that looks like it was plucked right out of a Disney storybook and plopped down in County Clare, Ireland. While we weren't guests, the gate attendant told us that is was perfectly fine to drive up the winding lane, park our car, then walk the grounds.

Since we weren't paying guests, I didn't want to go inside of the castle, but we did have a lovely time walking around it, exploring its perfectly manicured lawns.

The current castle's construction was finished in 1835 and has housed 8 generations of the O'Brien family. However, the oldest building constructed on the property dates back to around the 15th or early 16th century and housed other Gaelic families dating back to the 16th century.

Quite a few notable guests have booked a stay at Dromoland Castle, including Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Cash, Bono and Bill Clinton. I was shocked to learn that when President George W. Bush stayed at Dromoland for less than 24 hours, his guard of police, military and private security was around 7,000! Something tells me we would not have been free to tour the grounds that day.

I did check room prices, and it looks like in the off-season you can get rooms fairly cheap at around $200 per night. During the busy season though, rooms can go for over $1,000 USD! For that kind of money, I'll gladly return to The Waters Country House and spend the savings on some authentic Irish wool sweaters or blankets. (Though I'd gladly stay in the off-season just to experience spending a night in a castle!)

If you're road tripping it through Ireland, make a little time to go off course for some unplanned stops. We never would have stumbled upon this gorgeous castle if we would have stuck to our planned route 100%. And what a shame it would have been to miss it.

Have you ever spent the night in a castle? Would you like to?