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Thanks to Clodagh for a great stay in August with our family. The house is fabulous & located on the beautiful Sky road in Clifden. We really enjoyed the access to the cove beach where many a morning swim was had and the Kids enjoyed hunting for crabs / fish in the rock pools. Highly recommend for a week away and already booked again for next year!!
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Date of stay: August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This place couldn't be more perfect. Each room is designed and decorated and situated with such great care. The decor is simply beautiful. You will want to move in.
The staff is perfect. Clodagh is the most thoughtful host you could hope for. I forget the cook's name, but the one supper we had there and all of the breakfasts were fantastic food. All the staff was welcoming and helpful and friendly.
We loved our room, the Crooked Room. It had such wonderful organization of space, and out small window by the table you could see the sea. Wouldn't have traded it for the Bay View or Cove rooms even if we could have, but those do have views of the sea from your bed, which is also nice. Every room has one particular treat in terms of interaction with the outdoors, either a charming patio area or a beautiful view.
The service is really lovely. One note - if you're very determined to eat there (as opposed to hustling away from this perfect location into town), make sure to request clear communication about that when you reserve the room. It's a bit ad hoc whether or not meals will be available, so best not to go in expecting that you can definitely eat there if you want to.
Internet service was a bit spotty, which was fine for us - nice to get away from it a bit, and did work eventually when I needed it to - but warning just in case you need. I know they're very actively trying to make it better.
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Date of stay: July 2017
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â The Crooked Room, Bay View and Cove seem the best for couples.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is one of those hotel 'finds' that are so exceptional you think hard before sharing. The charm of Dolphin Beach House unfolds slowly but surely. The location is superb, on the coast of the evocatively-named Lower Sky Road, ten minutes' drive from Clifden. The house itself consists of an old stone cottage cleverly extended to incorporate nine (I think) guest rooms, all but one of which has a sea view. Five open directly onto a terrace and have their own distinctive chunky wood furniture outside for sitting, gazing and thinking about nothing much. If you come from London, you'd describe Dolphin Beach House it as a 'chic boutique B&B' and expect to pay three times as much as the published room rate. The rooms are large and attractively stylish, all wood and light-coloured fabrics, sparklingly clean, and flooded with Connemara light which can be blue-dazzling with sunshine or dulled with sea mist: both are beautiful. This is the West of Europe, after all, and the mist rolls in from the Atlantic -- but can lift as fast it came if you are lucky. The rooms have elegant wood floors and comfortable hand-crafted beds with exquisite linen, carefully-chosen random but interesting pieces of furniture including in our room a chaise longue, two soft easy chairs and a coffee table, a vintage screen, two antique chests, lots of lovely lamps and fascinating prints, paintings and books. Our bathroom was large with both bath and walk-in shower. The highlight of Dolphin Beach House, however, is the 'vibe' created by the Foyle family, and in particular by Clodagh, who combines relaxed friendliness with extreme professionalism and a brisk efficiency. Clodagh has been described by another reviewer as slightly eccentric: my Irish husband would say she was simply the best of Irish, while I would describe her as the ideal hostess - highly intelligent and knowledgeable, thoughtful and amusing. She and her smiling colleagues prepare a wonderful breakfast, cook a mean dinner of fresh produce most evenings, light you a fire if there's a chill in the air, are always on hand with trays of coffee or tea, and somehow manage to clean the place from top to bottom each day without ever disturbing anyone. But what we would return for, above all, are the magnificent views and walks from the house. From every room, including the dining room and sitting room, you can see the tiny sandy cove (where the brave can bathe), the sweep of the bay and on to the wide Atlantic. The exhilarating walk along the cliffs from the house provides some of the most spectacular cliff scenery in Europe, with colourful rocks, caves and tunnels, and seas that range from gentle to tumultuous. This is a wonderful, special place, with people to match -- and very good craic in Clifden's many pubs if you want further evidence. It is not the place for those seeking entertainment, noise and bustle, (no TVs in bedrooms, for example) but if you want beauty, peace, comfort, warmth and kindness, make the journey to Clifden and then on to Dolphin Beach House. If its magic affects you as it did us, you may start to believe that perhaps heaven DOES exist, and that you have found it.
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Date of stay: July 2013
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My husband and I did not like this B&B at all. It reminded us of an American ski lodge complete with shoe echoing floorboards, loud voices and banging doors. Our room was horribly spartan for the money we paid (which was more than what we paid at Quay House in Clifden the night before).
We were definitely misled by the blurb on the Dolphin House website – the beach they describe is not a beach even by Irish standards and we saw not one dolphin, duck or chicken – let alone an opportunity to collect eggs for breakfast. In reality, we found ourselves forced to sit and wait ages while the breakfast room coordinator totally ignored us and chatted at length to a large group of American guests at another table who, incidentally, had finished eating. Unfortunately, there was nothing left on the 'help yourself' table - fruit, yoghurt etc - which we could have tackled to fill in time while waiting. When we were finally served what we each received was a very small mediocre cooked breakfast and a feeling of being a nuisance when we asked for coffee rather than the tea offered.
This B&B also lies some considerable distance (5 kms?) from the nearest town Clifden. The road is high, narrow and winding which (unless you are a local) is extremely tricky to drive on - making dining out at night difficult.
We have read with surprise the rave reviews for this place on Tripadvisor. Personally, we want more of the true Irish hospitality - which includes - better service, better breakfast and a lot more amenities for the money we paid. We definitely won’t be back.
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Date of stay: September 2005
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It's expensive, not just compared to a hotel, but also for what you don't get - they were mean with complimentary products and the breakfast must be the smallest in Galway.
We were upset that the sandy cove turned out to be a rocky cove and the peacocks, dolphins and chickens mentioned in write-ups were absent during our week there.
Our room was a bit gloomy and didn't have a bath, although the bed was a good size and comfortable.
The guest house is also 3.5 miles out of Clifden, so you're at the mercy of local taxis in the evening.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Most expensive stay of our trip and probably the most disappointing considering how much it cost. It is pretty isolated which in itself should not be a problem if the rooms were up to scratch and if the beach were truely a beach! The people were nice but did not make up for what we expected,.
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Date of stay: August 2006
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Check-in / front desk
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Delightful place but very far from the town. Location was its strongest point - the receptionist was excellent. We were very disappointed with the comfort of the bed and lack of feather pillow - but maybe that is an unreasonable criticism. It was quite good value for money and the breakfast was good. We cancelled our second night and were not chArged for it, which was very good. We so wanted to like it there but.......
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Date of stay: September 2015
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We were super excited to stay here based on the outstanding reviews, however we were disappointed in the end. First, as others have stated it is more like a hotel than a B&B- meaning that the owners are present (as in visible in common rooms) for check in and breakfast, and that's about it. We got the sense that they are happy to run the place, but this isn't necessarily their passion or their dream job - which was a feel we had gotten from many other B&B owners. To be clear, they did not say this, that was just our impression from our interactions with them.
We stayed in the Cove Room which has a patio and beautiful views of the bay. The room would have been great save for a few things that took away from its quality. First, the room had a very strong musty smell that did not go away with airing. There were cobwebs on the light fixtures, and the bed was not comfortable. The mattresses (two twins pushed together to make a king) were hard and had no extra padding where the beds met, so if you laid in the middle of the bed you could feel the ridge of the beds. Also this was the only B&B that used a regular comforter (not a duvet with cover) meaning the comforter is not cleaned between guests- which always feels a little gross. On a positive note, the ceilings were high and the bathroom was clean and nice- pretty blue tiles and a deep soak tub.
Breakfast was, again and sadly, the least impressive of our entire trip. It was fine, just nothing special. The cooked items were tasty, but the buffet items were lacking in quality. The breakfast space has beautiful views, but the tables have a plastic cover (with small linens covering the plastic) and the chairs are stained.
Re: location, it is not walkable to go to town for dinner. You must drive or hire a taxi. It is secluded and quiet, and as previously mentioned the views are lovely.
This place has great bones, but there are enough issues present to make it less than appealing. Also, it is not a good value. We were even given a special rate (much appreciated) and still it was the most expensive place that we stayed and our least favorite. We would not stay here again.
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Date of stay: April 2016
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My wife and I are regular visitors to north Connemara and it amazes me that I had not stayed at Dolphin Beach until recently. This is a beautiful country house hotel, but with only a handful of rooms and so it is much more the country house than a hotel. Hospitality was excellent, very welcoming, helpful, not overly intrusive. The hospitality we received was both warm and genuine.
The room was very large and comfortable, with plenty of space to move about, sitting area, large en-suite bathroom with excellent bath and shower hotness. The bed was a six foot wide sleigh bed, very comfortable (from which you could look out to the sea). Our room was decorated in a classic style with carefully selected antique furniture. The views from this property are just terrific and our room had large sliding doors facing the sea so we could walk straight out into the gardens. Do a google search for "Sky road Clifden" and you will immediately see the great views to be had from Sky road generally, and this property is located on the sea-side of the lower Sky Road, hence a short walk down to its own private beach. On the second morning of our stay, we had just finished breakfast in the lovely breakfast room overlooking the Atlantic, when we saw two porpoises feeding outside the beach cove. I managed to catch only their fins with my camera phone (see pic of bay, tips visible right near waterline to left of rocky outcrop) but we clearly saw them in the water. The name of the hotel is no accident, then! By the time we walked down to the water line they had moved on but it certainly made for a memorable experience.
The house in general is very comfortable, with several different sitting areas for guests to lounge comfortably and pick up a book to delve into. Clodagh might just appear out of nowhere with a mug of team and a dozen biscuits and you are lost for the afternoon, undisturbed with a book and the sea views. There are stove fires everywhere. We stayed three weekends ago and my overridding memory now is of blissful peace and the earthy smell of a turf fire. I think the highest compliment I can pay is that my wife said it was the best place we have ever stayed in Ireland. Coming from my wife, that's very high praise indeed. I will readily recommend this gem of a hotel, for me it far exceeds the others that I have stayed in the area. Its a small hotel so its a different kind of experience.
Other issues: it is between 5 - 10 minutes drive from Clifden. That's either a short drive or a three-mile walk along the famous Sky road. It is pretty easy to find. If you have got this far on Trip Advisor you will have learned that Clifden itself is a three hour drive from Dublin. 2 hours of that is motorway and the last hour out from Galway is through a dramatic, unfolding landscape where you might have to dodge the odd sheep here and there. Well worth the trip.
This is not a big hotel at all, it is instead a country house so don't expect a bar / restaurant on demand, although at breakfast time on both mornings we were invited to book dinner that evening. We didnt take it up this time but certainly will next year.
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Date of stay: October 2012
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â There are only a handful of rooms and we were offered a choice so ask if you can take a look at...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The drive up the Sky Road is stunning, the scenery is wonderful but you do begin to wonder if you will ever arrive! (Dont worry it seems much shorter when you do it the second and third time!) The girls, Clodagh and Sinead, are great hosts, from the welcome tray of tea to the use of the binoculars to see if the dolphins were in the bay (they weren't!) The breakfasts were great and the homebaked soda bread the perfect start to the day. The views from the cliffs are spectacular and the night sky on a clear night is something we will always remember. We loved our time in Connemara and when we get a chance to go back we will certainly stay at the Dolphin Beach House. The bathrooms are lovely and the rooms are peaceful and comfortable. Take a good book and relax - we did.
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Date of stay: January 2005
Value
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Clifden area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
dolphin beach house hotel clifden
LOCATION
IrelandWestern IrelandProvince of ConnachtCounty GalwayClifden
NUMBER OF ROOMS
8
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