2024 Award Winners 3-STAR HOTEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024

Foyles Hotel, Clifden, Co Galway

As many will know, the Guide has a soft spot for traditional three-star hotels, which so often provide an unassuming, authentically Irish and kindly priced experience that is not likely to be found elsewhere. Eddie Foyle’s handsome 19th century hotel in Clifden town centre is a great example, and it has played a central role in the hospitality of the area for many a year. Comfortably old-fashioned, with good beds and modern bathrooms, it is in a wonderful time warp - and its Victorian origins are seen in details like the corridors, which are unexpectedly wide for an old building, having been designed (like some much grander venues) to accommodate ladies wearing the hooped dresses of the era... The hotel’s Marconi Restaurant specialises in seafood and, consistently combining quality and atmosphere with good value, it is one of the most popular in a town that is well supplied with desirable eating places. Perhaps this should be no surprise, as the Foyle family is legendary in Connemara hospitality - and beyond, with its talented tentacles reaching down to Dunmore East in Co Waterford and more recently, to Dublin too. But, surprising or not, this is a gem and Clifden is lucky to have it at its heart.