There is a huge variety of B&Bs in Ireland, not just in terms of quality, but in terms of what kind of B&B - ranging from city townhomes, to farmsteads, to even castles!

Most fascinating B&B host: The gentleman who had previously worked as a cook for the local correctional system. He was a sweet, friendly man who gave us lots of fantastic recommendations for throughout northwestern Ireland.

Quick Tips:

Another source is http://www.premierguesthouses.com - Premier Guesthouses of Ireland, which highlights 60+ premiere quality accommodations. PGI hotels are pricer than T&CH properties, but often four-star quality.

Not all B&Bs, especially in rural areas, accept traveller's checks or credit cards. Get an exact price quote and find out available method(s) of payment before committing to a room.

Rooms are rented as "singles" or "doubles"; "single" accommodations can cost as much as the "doubles." If you have 3-4 people, you will probably have to book two rooms - in which case, ask if there are any discounts for multi-room bookings, especially during off-season.

Finally, keep an eye out for the green shamrock sign which indicates Irish Tourist Board (www.ireland.travel.ie) approved properties.

Best Way To Get Around:

Bromley House is a clean, well-kept B&B offering private parking, several double rooms (both queen size and twin beds available). The proprietress, Mrs. Eileen Fogarty, was a sweet lady, getting us a pair of adjacent rooms upstairs. Our rooms looked over the gravel car park to the rolling green fields beyond. There are a few pubs within walking distance; we ate dinner next door.

All guest rooms were "en suite" (full bathroom attached). Linens were clean and fresh, everything tidy and well cared for. There are a couple ground-floor rooms which are wheelchair accessible. Although the Bromley is located on a major road, the rooms are very quiet and peaceful.

Breakfast was standard Irish –- eggs, sausage, etc. –- very fresh, and nicely cooked, with a choice of cereals, juice and coffee available.

Overall, it's a very pleasant stay and we would readily stay here again.

Case in point: after consulting the T&CH guide, we concluded that most Killarney accommodations were pricey compared to surrounding towns. So we choose the Ocean Wave House, located just east of Glenbeigh on the N70, and were pleased to find they had space available when we arrived. The parking area is a little tight (as is common with many B&Bs) but there is enough space for a few cars.

The Ocean Wave sits atop a well-manicured lawn lush with flowers. It is spacious, well-kept, and seemed like a relatively new building. The common rooms have large windows allowing for maximum viewing of the gorgeous views of the garden/yard and the lush rolling hills and Dingle Bay, and if your own room does not have a private window on this view, there is always the common room.

Breakfast was excellent, with some choices beyond the usual eggs-and-sausage.

Glenbeigh is just down the road -- a tidy and charming village with a very good restaurant, post office, and a few shops. This area has many local amenities such as golf, pony trekking, beaches, hiking trails, etc.

Of all the places we stayed in Ireland, the Ocean Wave was my favorite in the Republic of Ireland. The hostess, Mrs. Noreen O’Toole, was just as lovely as her home, and it was a very enjoyable stay. I would have enjoyed staying here a few days more and exploring the west coast from here!

email information: oceanwave@iol.ie

This B&B is located on a quiet street about five minutes’ walk from "the Mall" in the center of Westport. Family rooms with one queen plus one twin bed are available, which is rather unusual in Irish B&Bs. My only complaints about the stay were that loud noises carried easily through the house (a rather tipsy pair shared the room above us and they were giggling and laughing into the wee hours), and that the mattresses, at least in our room, could’ve done with a replacement. Otherwise, it was a very clean and tidy establishment, and the proximity to downtown was a huge plus. All rooms come "en suite" and have a color TV. Additionally there is a TV lounge as well as mini-kitchen facilities (you won’t be able to say, cook a turkey, but you could at least make yourself dinner there).

Unusually for a B&B, the hosts also offer massage, reflexology and aromatherapy. I didn’t get around to trying any of those, however.

Hazelbrook was built specifically to be a B&B, and the grounds include parking for several cars, as well as a shed where you can store bikes or other gear. Westport is a favored tourism center, not only for outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds, but for its proximity to Croagh Patrick, as well as general historical significance of the area. This B&B is an ideal place to begin exploring the region nearby, such as the Burrens and Connemara.

The host, Mr. John Cafferkey, is very friendly, and can tell you a great deal about the town and local environs. He was extremely knowledgeable, and quite entertaining with some of his tales! Also, he is an absolutely super cook, so breakfast was great. (He also has a lovely singing voice, and he sang while he prepared breakfast.)

Overall, a place I would stay at again.

Website: http://www.hazelbookhouse.com/ - ITB approved, credit cards accepted. Assisted access for some rooms.

Lisdoovarna (population 822) was only another 15 minutes or so north of Ennis. The town is famous throughout Ireland as a spa town and to this day, people come to "take the waters". (Unfortunately, "the waters" help lend a slightly sulfuric scent to the air!) The town is also world-famous for its annual Matchmaking Festival, which happens every September (http://www.lisdoonvarnafestival.com/, http://www.matchmakerireland.com/), and runs through the entire month of September. We were a bit early for it, being August, and found ourselves in a quiet but highly colorful village.

Sunville House is located "off Doolin Coast Road," on Kincora, which is the cutoff road between the Coast Road towards Ennis, and the Doolin Road which leads into town. The town isn't that big, so it's easy enough to get directions to where you ought to be - the B&B is within a few minutes' walk to the town center, where you will find many pubs and restaurants. Like many B&B owners in Ireland, the Pettys opened their home as a B&B once their own children had grown and moved away.

Sunville is a neatly kept large pink house atop a small, sloped car park. (Don't forget to set your emergency brake!) All rooms are en suite, with electric blankets and hair dryers available. Mrs. Petty was a lovely lady. We had two of her upstairs rooms, both of which looked out towards the front of the house. The rooms were spacious and clean, although rather plainly decorated, and the beds were comfortable enough. Breakfast was served downstairs in the dining room, standard Irish breakfast fare - excellent bacon!

This section of Ireland is very quiet, very peaceful, and my sleep was quite restful. Also too there is less artificial light at night, so the starscapes I could see from my window at night were fantastic.

A comfortable, pleasant stay in the northwest corner of Ireland!

Portrush, like Portstewart, is a popular holiday town, having that rarity in the British Isles: a sizeable sand beach. Homes painted with varying shades of bright, attractive pastels line the main streets. It is a good central location to explore the northeastern corner of the Emerald Isle, close to Giant's Causeway, Bushmill's, and the Carrick-a-Rede bridge.

The Ballywillan House is a remodelled farmhouse, unpainted cement on the outside but beautifully decked out within. If anything I would call the Ballywillian an "American-style" B&B: that is to say, spacious rooms, spacious bathrooms, comfortable beds, with a TV in each guest room (a rarity in Irish B&B's) and we even managed to get a room with two queen beds. This was one of my best night of rest in all the time we had in Ireland. There are five rooms of varying sizes available.

Everything about the B&B says warmth: the decor colors, the soft inviting furniture, the touches like fresh flowers everywhere.

Mrs. Patterson, the proprietress, was an absolutely lovely lady, very welcoming, and extremely knowledgeable about the area. What she didn't know she would either look up for you or had brochures on hand to look through. She even had bus schedules handy, so was able to tell me when I'd be able to catch a bus from across the road into central Portrush.

As a final touch, breakfast was excellent, and for a change of pace, the Ballywillan offers a variety of choices beyond typical eggs-and-sausage; I highly recommend her apple pancakes!

Had we known this, we would've plotted our trip differently, going counterclockwise perhaps around Ireland, but instead ran smack into this hotel dilemma. After driving many miles in torrential downpour, trying hotel and B&B after another without success, the gracious Briege of the Fairlawns B&B in Dundalk was kind enough to call around to a few places for us and landed us a triple room at the Blackrock House, also in the Blackrock section of Dundalk.

The Blackrock House was a modest two-story building directly on the shores of Dundalk Bay. (If the weather had not been so awful, it would have been beautiful). Gerry and Brenda Rogers, the older couple who run the B&B, made a lovely couple -- in fact, my father spent a few hours talking with Gerry in the upstairs parlor, while my mother and I walked down the street and had a glass of wine in a local pub.

An older building, the Blackrock's halls are narrow and the rooms do not have a lot of space to spare, but everything was fresh, clean, and tidy. We had three twin beds in the room, of varying degrees of comfort, and each guest room has a TV. After a long exhausting day on the road it was a warm welcome to our weary selves, especially when we had feared we might end up sleeping in the car!

Handily enough, one end of the Blackhouse House building hosts the local post office, which is home to perhaps the stinkiest postal woman I've ever met in my entire life (and that was first thing in the morning even), but I got enough supplies to bundle up a variety of goods I'd collected on my trip around Ireland and ship them home. (Irish post is extremely expensive, by the way).

Blackrock (the village not the hotel) is also home to the Blackrock Millenial Sundial, located only a few yards from the Blackrock House, a graceful sculpture of a diving woman that doubles as a sundial.

The Lake View was newly opened; in fact I think we were the first guests to stay there. It was a bit of a challenge to find, as it was located down a back road, but the proprietress, Doreen Roche, was friendly and happy to have guests in her newly-opened B&B. Staying here is truly a homestay, as you pass Doreen's children's doors en route to your rooms (she has two rooms to offer; one with a queen bed and one with two twins). The B&B section of the house is newly remodelled, and the room with two twins actually still looked a bit unfinished at the time (Aug ‘03). However, the beds were very comfortable and the guest rooms were tidy.

The master room available for rent had a beautiful wrought iron bed frame, and sizeable windows that look out to the lake and pastures across the way. It was a good spot to view the sunset later in the day. The second room, the one with the twin beds, had a skylight, as well as a window from the bathroom, but you could not really see much from that room.

Doreen also runs a daycare center from her house, so she has a room to one side dedicated as a classroom. Pictures of her kids are everywhere -- she's a very proud mum, and her children are both accomplished. (If I recall properly, they also had a dog or two).

Breakfast was good, typical eggs and sausage, but she offered alternatives.

Although not the easiest place to find the first time you go down the road, it's centrally located (roughly halfway between Galway on the west coast and Dublin on the east) and has some nice pubs close by. If you are looking for a place where you feel more like a friend of the family and less just an overnight guest, this is a spot for you.