Review: Caisleáin Óir Hotel in County Donegal Ireland

At the top of Ireland is a lovely family owned and run hotel in Annagry called Caisleáin Óir. Translated from Irish to English, the hotel would be called the Castle Gold Hotel.

When you fly into Donegal Airport, you are presented with what is viewed as the world’s second most scenic approach. After I arrived, I chose to walk the 4 kilometres from the airport to the hotel.

Caisleain Oir Hotel

It is quite easy to find the hotel, perched at the end of the bay on the main road. It is located in a rural area so there is not a lot of traffic as there would be in a city.

Once inside to the left is the bar and off to the right is the restaurant. James checked me in quite quickly and I proceeded up to the first floor to my room.

Bay View Room

The bay view rooms are at the front of the hotel with a view over the bay. Various reviews on TripAdvisor mentioned these rooms which influenced my choice. The view is excellent!

Inside the door is a wardrobe which includes a safe. The safe uses a combination lock and is quite roomy – it easily fits an iPad with space to spare and may even fit a laptop. Two bottles of complimentary water are provided in each room and as I travelled alone both were mine. Inside the desk is the kettle and all the bits to make tea and coffee. Also provided are an iron and ironing board, luggage rack, bed side tables and of course an extremely comfortable bed. The linen is spotless, soft and comfortable. Overall quite a decent room. The rooms do not have air conditioning as it does not get very hot in Donegal. There is no wireless Internet, though I think there is supposed to be. I saw a Wi-Fi network named for the hotel once but could not connect. Otherwise it was not in my list. Perhaps it was broken during my stay.

Functional Bathroom

The bathroom is clean and functional and happily features a bath with the shower over the top. My apartment does not have a bath so usually I have a bath when presented with one but neglected to on this occasion.

Mason & Miller shower gel, soap and shampoo is provided. A little age and a little wear and tear are evident in the bathroom but nothing to shout about.

A Word About The Food

Reviews mentioned the food is very good in this hotel so around 5pm I decided to have some Vegetable Soup in the bar. Even at this time there were many people in the bar, an even mix of locals and tourists having a bite to eat.

Country cooking is good cooking and my god the taste of this soup will blow your head off. So very good! I broke a cardinal rule and also ate the bread with it.

Dinner Time!

In the restaurant, I was seated at a table overlooking the bay, which is lovely to look at. It is surprising how busy the restaurant was on a Monday night. Two parties of eight and twelve and a couple of tables of two were taken, mostly by local people.

The menu is on the hotel web site and my heart was set on the Crab Claws. Alas, when I ordered I was told they were waiting on a delivery so I needed to choose something else instead. It was a tough choice between the Smoked Salmon and the Mussels. Portion sizes are huge at the hotel and I was quite full after the succulent salmon. Again I broke my rule and ate some of the bread with the seaweed which, deliciously, reminded me of Australian damper. For my main meal I ordered Steak with Chorizo and Goat’s Cheese. It comes with a side so I asked for a half and half of mash and vegetables. You can see above that a colossal amount of food arrived. I only finished half of it and saved room for the fabulous home made Creme Brulee dessert.

Good Morning, It’s Breakfast Time

After eating for Ireland (and Australia for that matter) the night previously, I doubted I would want breakfast. Wrong! Breakfast is included in the room price and is served between 8am and 10am each morning.

I love black and white pudding so the Caisleáin Óir Special was always going to be my choice. Very delicious and the perfect way to start the day! After this, I paid my bill, checked out and headed back to the airport.

Overall Thoughts

The Caisleain Oir Hotel is on the Wild Atlantic Way in Annagry in County Donegal. The food is spectacular, with the taste only matched by the portion sizes. If you are not a big eater, decline all bread and maybe order the dishes one at a time. It really is a lot of food and the price is very reasonable.

Friendly staff are always present and all of them are filled with information about the local area. In fact, if you have a map and a car they will happily tell you exactly where you need to go – in the nicest way possible, of course. I highly recommend the hotel so if you are in the area, do visit. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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