Beautiful hotel, beautiful experience. Having finished an MBA and in real need of relaxation we took off to Ardmore with our 8 month old baby for a weekend at the Cliff House Hotel. It was a spectacular experience. We availed of a local babysitter which worked out perfectly, the spa was great - massage treatment interrupted as masseur was called out mid treatment but it didnt impact the quality of the experience.
All meals were excellent - from presentation to taste - a real treat.
Highly recommend it!

If you like interior design, art, amazing views tied in with organic design, you will LOVE this hotel. They have dared to go where other hotels wont go. Colourful, funky and nowadays just different from the bland creams,beiges and generic sameness that we see in hotels everywhere. Stayed in a small but fab. suite with a very cool bathroom with uber mod cons, two balconies almost IN the sea.
The food in the dining room was excellent, service from staff top rate....warm & friendly but very professional & courteous. It was a Saturday night, the restaurant was busy with a great atmosphere with wonderful lack of stuffiness.
Breakfast the next morning delicious: homemade preserves, organic butter, great pastries, scrambled eggs, Sunday papers and all with that magnificent view.
Rain hail or sunshine that view is still AMAZING!
Have been to quite a few hotels in this locality recently looking for a venue for a small wedding (Mount Juliet, CastleMarytr, Hayfield Manor, Waterford Castle to mention a few) but I think this is the one......

Having had one of the more memorable dining experiences ever in the hotel restaurant last year I decided to return with some friends to repeat the experience and this time to also stay overnight. I might say at this point that I am fusy and have stayed in some of the best hotels in the world so The Cliff had a lot to live up to! In fact this stay followed two nights in two other five star hotels, but while all different, making comparisions seems fair as each hotel was almost the same in cost.

The location and restaurant again did not dissapoint. The food here is amongst the best in Ireland and worth making the journey for. Based on the fact that the restaurant and hotel seemed full for the weekend says it all in these economic times.

The leisure facilities are very nice with a lovely pool, outdoor hot tub, small but adequate gym, steam room and sauna. The walks around the area are also worth mentioning.

Why just short of the top rating - I told you I am hard to please! But I think I must mention when comparing The Cliff with the experience of the other same priced hotels - the rooms, while nice, are on the small side. The bathrooms are bright and spacious but did not have a thermostatically controlled shower valve (trying to get the temperature right was difficult) and this was the same for the shower in the pool area. I also thought that the toiletries were scarce and of an unknown quality.

Finally, the staff was very friendly and helpful but the reception seemed to be under staffed both at check-in and check-out. Also only newspapers available were the previous day and when I asked I was given the impression in both the bar and reception that they would do me and that a newspaper was a newspaper!

To sum up - this is a great small hotel with a fabulous restaurant and location - however, I think there are little improvements needed to justify the price when you compare it to other hotels.

I'm a lazy/silent user of this site and would never normally bother to write a review... if I like a hotel.. my feedback is that I just keep going back. Cliffhouse is now most certainly in this category. My blunt feedback...

With all due respect, I look at some dissatisfied Cliffhouse reviewers and suspect they are probably the types that will find fault with anything and everything anyway! I've stayed 3 times now so I feel qualified to say that!!. Because it is relatively expensive in recession-hit Ireland (and the word is spreading that the hotel is great) it is attracting some fussy Irish clientele. Certainly heard a few of them at nearby tables in the restaurant!

I holiday at home in ireland a lot because airports are synonomous with work for me (2 toddlers also not ideal!) If you are a foreign tourist, I think this is probably the best Irish hotel around at the moment. Ardmore may be off the well-worn tourist track but it is worth the price and extra distance to travel... the village is like Ireland of the 80s - quiet and unspoilt.. one or two shops/pubs... a caravan park (!).. nice beach/great scenery.

I sense this hotel will set a new standard in smaller irish hotels. Charging €150-200 a night for a trendy room, nice pool but crap service/food is becoming a thing of the past.

The (mostly local) hotel staff bend over backwards to the point that if you are a smoker and go out to the bar terrace.. the barman runs out with a blanket for guests!

Food is geat.. breakfast in particular. Pool and Spa area is small but very relaxing with terrific views.

If you have kids and want to get away for a weekend of chillout then this is a real treat. The fact that the hotel is full most weekends in this economy tells you something. if you are a struggling Hotel owner.. send your senior managers here for a night!!