Hotel Europe, Killarney > Reviews > Come and relax in this stunning location

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	stunning location, large rooms
Disadvantages:	located outside town centre  -  best accessed by car

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

We stayed here as part of our honeymoon in September 2005. The hotel is located 5-10 minutes drive from Killarney town centre and has an absolutely stunning location. The hotel overlooks the lake with lovely views of the mountains (including Macgillycuddy Reeks) and gap of Dunloe. You can go for peaceful walks in the grounds and walk right down to the lake. There is a tea house in the grounds.

Bedrooms:
We were upgraded from a golf view room to a lake view room - these are definitely worth the extra money if you want to enjoy the view. The rooms were really large and had balconies. However the decor is not the most up to date - decorated in rather old fashioned orange and gold. The bathroom is also huge - with a bath on one side of the room and toilet and shower on the other and two huge sinks. Lots of nice extras like dressing gowns and complimentary toiletries. There is a nice turn down service in the evenings that leave a chocolate on your pillow and check if you need anything.

Facilities:
The hotel has a 25m heated indoor pool - this is located at the furthest end of the hotel where you can swim and still see the view. There is also a sauna and spa area. At the time we were there in early September we had the whole pool to ourselves with time to relax and enjoy the superb view. For the more sporting there are tennis courts onsite and a golf course next door. You can go fishing on the lake and there are ponies close by that you can arrange to go riding on. The hotel has a large free car park.

The hotel has themed common areas: there is a lounge area with huge pretty windows (I think this has an English theme) which is excellent for enjoying the view and relaxing. There are other lounges decorated in a more French style, a German themed restaurant/bistro, Irish pub (of course!).
The hotel is sort of E shaped with the middle part of the E missing, allowing the rooms in the middle section to have lovely views over the lake. At the top tip of the E is the swimming pool whilst the breakfast area is at the bottom tip of the E, again with large glass windows and views across the lake and mountains. unfortunately it was sooo sunny whilst we were there that they had to pull some of the blinds to block out the sun.

Breakfast was buffet style but a nice touch is that there is a chef cooking eggs to your specification. A great cooked breakfast with Irish sausages, bacon, black pudding, tomatoes and mushrooms. Porridge was also available (my husbands fav) in addition to the usual choice of cereals, juices, yoghurts and pastries. Tea/coffee and toast is served to your table.

I think there are some great deals out there for this hotel, especially out of season - we certainly found the hotel to be really quiet at the beginning of September. Although located outside of the town centre and probably most handy if you have a car I think the hotel does offer a shuttle service into town a couple of times a day. The hotel is well located if you want to head out to do the ring of Kerry (sparing you the traffic of Killarney) - head to Rosbeagh beach for some great views and sea air. However the plus side of being outside of town is the lack of noise and traffic congestion. If you want a peaceful relaxing break with beautiful scenery this is the place to go!!