2 Best Hotels in Westport, Connemara and County Mayo

Perched on a cliff overlooking a vast, sandy beach on the northern side of Clew Bay, 25 minutes' drive from Westport, this is one of Ireland's best-loved "bucket and spade" hotels, built in 1897 for holidaymakers arriving by train. The railway line is now the cycling and walking route known as the Great Western Greenway, which leads to Achill Island, 14 km (9 miles) to the east. The hotel retains a certain grandeur in the large scale of its bar and restaurant, with an extensive sun terrace facing the sea, and is as popular as ever with Irish families, as well as walkers and honeymooners. Choose between excellent bar food ($) and the acclaimed fine-dining experience in the more formal Nephin Restaurant ($$$). The staff are warm and enthusiastic, and full of useful touring tips.

For a small supplement you can stay up under the eaves in the retro John Lennon Suite, where he and Yoko Ono spent a long weekend in 1968.

There is a 20-meter (65-foot) indoor pool with an outdoor hot tub, while the lobby and lounge have open turf fires and inviting sofas.

With all the hallmarks of Ireland's Celtic Tiger boom time, this swish and stylish boutique hotel has a vast marble lobby with a double-sided gas fire and huge guest rooms with over-sized, veneered, Art Deco–style furniture and bathrooms with Jacuzzi tubs and modern showers. This may not be what you've come to the West of Ireland to experience, but there's plenty to enjoy about it. It's part of a large new complex in the town center, and shares leisure facilities with its more traditional sister hotel, the Castlecourt. The best bedrooms overlook a Zen-like inner roof garden, while others have balconies perched over the fountain and ground-floor courtyard.