Best b&b / hotel for a weekend driving around Wicklow Mountains?

lorripop

hi folks,

Myself and the girlfriend would like to spend a weekend exploring the Wicklow mountains.

Where would be the best spot to stay? Not looking to splash out. Preferably a hotel, but would accept a b&b. (I've never stayed in a b&b before... are they a bit weird? Sneaking past the sitting room with the whole family watching the late late?!)

I would like to be a short drive from nice views, but not too rural as we'd still like to go for a meal or maybe even the cinema at night or whatever. Perhaps somewhere in the middle? 30 mins from a town, and 30 mins from scenery?

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

also: Are there any places to get a snack around the mountains or should I bring enough grub for the whole day?

vickers209

Would think stay in bray, maybe the royal hotel (few other options too)
or wicklow town, the grand hotel,
Both in town centres so few restaurants in walking distances and pubs nearby for a bit of nightlife ect.

Both about 30mins drive from mountains from bray head south on N11 and turn off at kilmaccanouge up into roundwood from there you can head on to laragh towards glendalough ect.

From wicklow town head into ashford and left at roundabout and up to roundwood/annamoe and towards laragh.

Theres a few places to eat in laragh or roundwood pub grub ect but if you going up into mountains likes of sally gap wicklow gap there nowhere up there to eat anywhere.

if you go across the wicklow gap you will end up in Hollywood small village theres a pub there will get food ect or you take a right for ballyknockan on far side of the wicklowgap before hollywood and follow the lake drive road lovely scenery on a nice day and will bring you to blessington.

If you go up sallygap you could end up in blessington/tallaght area/roundwood depending on which road you take from the military cross roads on top of the gap


No cinemas around bray/wicklow nearest to bray would be dundrum town centre good for shopping ect
Nearest to wicklow is Arklow Gaiety cinema

g0g

I'd agree with previous reply that basing yourself somewhere like Bray (stay above The Martello if you like your nightlife and to be by the sea) or Wicklow (or even South Dublin) still puts you within 30 minutes of the mountains. The drive already starts to get scenic as you climb out of Kilmacanogue from the N11 or up the hill from Ashford. Another option might be the Parkview in Newtownmountkennedy - might not be the biggest town in the world, but the hotel is quite nice and I think pretty cheap. If you'd rather stay somewhere in the middle of Wicklow I'd recommend Trooperstown Lodge near Laragh (near enough for meals etc) as a nice B&B, but to be honest the distances in the mountains aren't massive so might not be a need to do that.

If I were you I'd bring lunch each day and go the picnic route. Some great walks to be found throughout the area. Places I'd recommend to include are the Wicklow Gap (maybe walk up Turlough Hill for views), Sally Gap, road from Sally Gap to Laragh (including waterfall), Glendalough, Djouce (if you feel like a hike), road from Sally Gap to Lugalla (views of Lough Tay), maybe Loug Dan, Greenan Maze (nice to eat there) etc. And that's just the North end of the county...

Kimiko2012

The Parkview in Newtownmountkennedy is lovely. Smack in the middle of what your looking for, only it's a small village if your looking for anything more. Hotel is great, fab views, food is good too.

lorripop

Thanks for the replies folks. Yeah I was looking at Parkview in Newtownmountkennedy, looks pretty nice.

Are the Wicklow mountains safe? Where I'm from (South Tipp) there are often a few scummers up the mountains doing doughnuts etc and break-ins can happen if you leave your car long enough! Any tips?

g0g

lorripop wrote: »

Are the Wicklow mountains safe? Where I'm from (South Tipp) there are often a few scummers up the mountains doing doughnuts etc and break-ins can happen if you leave your car long enough! Any tips?

Safe as anywhere else I guess. Never in my life encountered the slightest bit of hassle if that's what you're asking. Yes I've heard I'd say a handful of times in my life of cars being broken into while left in carparks, but no more so than you'd guess might happen anywhere remote. The usual rules reply as with parking anywhere of not leaving valuables in a car or on display in a car!

ellejay

Glenmalure lodge is up in the mountains, very nice spot.
They do B&B but it's more like a bar / lounge with rooms.
They've a great reputation for food and music.

We stayed there about 2 years ago, at 7.00 beautiful summers evening, there were about 10 people sitting outside, we thought we'd found a secret gem. By 9.00 the place was wedged and couldn't move!!!! - not so secret!

Music was great but food was delicious. Rooms were gorgeous, country cottage style.

Cerco

Kimiko2012 wrote: »

The Parkview in Newtownmountkennedy is lovely. Smack in the middle of what your looking for, only it's a small village if your looking for anything more. Hotel is great, fab views, food is good too.

Fab views
On one side you have Dunnes Stores and the other side a car park.
The front looks out on to the Main Street.
The hotel is fine but certainly no fab views.

Macy0161

lorripop wrote: »

Are the Wicklow mountains safe? Where I'm from (South Tipp) there are often a few scummers up the mountains doing doughnuts etc and break-ins can happen if you leave your car long enough! Any tips?

There wouldn't be too many issues during the day with doughnuts etc., but a few of the car parks (Sugar Loaf, Crone Woods, and to a lesser extent Djouce Woods) are fairly notorious for break-ins. It's less of an issue in busier, more exposed to passing traffic car parks and side of the road parking.

Just a word of warning, you wont have a pick of parking spaces unless you're early enough on a Sunday if the weather is nice!

lorripop

HI folks, just got back from a weekend in Wicklow. Stayed in the Parkview. Nice hotel, comfy bed and room overall. I enjoyed Glendalough (although it was fairly misty & drizzly so will have to return for proper pics of the lake) and I drove all over the Wicklow gap and Sally gap and Blessington and all over. Military road had a fairly impressive waterfall flowing into a huge valley. It was great.

The only problem was that Sally Gap was burnt black as coal. It made for seriously ugly photos and views in general. My girlfriend is foreign and was pretty excited about this as she loves going for road trips with me around Ireland and THE MOST IMPORTANT PART .... it's where some of PS I Love you was filmed (rolleyes I know)... but it was horrid! You can smell charcoal when you step out of the car too.

Forgive my ignorance but who burns the gorse and why do they do it?

I'll have to return again when it has grown back, I can imagine in the height of summer it would be very nice. When do those purple flowers grow in the Sally Gap? (She made me watch PS I love you and there are purple flowers everywhere)

vickers209

Alot of ps I love you was recorded around enniskerry village and glencrea area..
the last few weeks of dry weather must have been cause of fires
it was ok 2 weeks ago I was up around that area.

The flowers I think you are referring to is heather according to this link it grows July to October

http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=121

lorripop

Thanks for the info, will definitely be back in the summer. Does gorse really spontaneously combust when ambient temp reaches a mild 16 degrees celcius? Surely it was set on fire on purpose, as is done around the country.

Macy0161

lorripop wrote: »

Thanks for the info, will definitely be back in the summer. Does gorse really spontaneously combust when ambient temp reaches a mild 16 degrees celcius? Surely it was set on fire on purpose, as is done around the country.

There were big fires last week up on the gap, with a helicopter in dropping water at one point.

Officially they are accidental at this time of year, and to be honest up in the tourist spots that can't be ruled out. However, its the way gorse, and heather, has been controlled for centuries. It is all farmed land.