Dunluce Lodge on the Causeway Coast lives up to its billing as the newcomer of the year on the island of Ireland
Was it just me or was there almost as much discussion about Rory McIlroy staying at the five-star Dunluce Lodge during the Open Championship as there was about the Ulsterman’s battle with Scottie Scheffler for the Claret Jug?
Rory fell short on that Sunday in July, but he was effusive in his praise for his stay at a hotel which straddles the fourth fairway at Royal Portrush. It’s not difficult to see why as you drive into the hotel grounds on a mild but grey October Saturday.
Northern Ireland boasts its fair share of hotels in gorgeous locations, but this is an unrivalled setting. You can’t fail to have missed Dunluce Lodge if you’ve been driving in or out of Portrush over the last year.
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It’s all the more breathtaking if you’re a golf fan, but even those oblivious to the sport’s charms can’t fail to be blown away. Many of the course’s treacherous but stunning holes are visible from the grounds with the Atlantic swell and Portrush town in the distance – this really is Northern Ireland at is most beautiful.
Dunluce Lodge is compact and that is part of the attraction. It’s an incredibly luxurious setting, but it’s intimate too, meaning that the restaurant and bar areas don’t lose any sense of personality, a fate that befalls too many larger hotels.
Yes, you might be sitting right next to someone over your evening meal or breakfast but it never feels overbearing or not private enough.
The rooms
These aren’t rooms, they are suites, hugely spacious with great living and sleeping space. When it was named the best newcomer across the island of Ireland in the Georgina Campbell Food and Hospital Awards last week, the judges highlighted Dunluce Lodge’s ‘contemporary design’ and ‘harmonious blend of understated luxury with a warm, welcoming atmosphere’. They weren’t wrong.
Our suite is luxurious but beautifully designed, sheer perfection from the king-sized bed to the walk-in shower. In many hotel rooms, I can’t wait to get out and about, but this is different, it’s ideally suited if you want to stay multiple nights, which definitely suits the American golf clientele Dunluce Lodge is luring across the Atlantic.
Spa
The Spa at Dunluce Lodge is not the Galgorm or the Old Inn in Crawfordsburn in terms of its size and scope but it’s ideal for downtime for those not interested in golf, or even after your round is finished, especially if your head is frazzled after spending too much time in the bunkers.
Kelly received the wave full-body massage by Pamela. The spa area was stunning, the massage the perfect combination of relaxation and revitalisation. The oils used were lovely and added to the whole experience.
The treatment ended with a 10-minute Sensate treatment which calms the vagus nerve. That was a de-dressing end to what she called a gorgeous treatment.
The next morning and breakfast rivals the night before, it might even better it. The highlight is the porridge, often a weak spot for many hotels but not here. It’s so ridiculously good that I contemplate asking for a second bowl, even as I wait for my smoked salmon and Kelly has the full Irish.
I almost forgot. I usually opt against ordering coffee in hotels but I make an exception for an oat latte. It’s better than anything I have tasted in a coffee shop for as long as I can remember.
After breakfast we walk around the grounds, which boast those great views of Royal Portrush and particularly that fourth fairway. I take some sadistic pleasure in watching a succession of balls from toiling players nestling in the fairway bunker and then in the traps around the green.
Cost
This isn’t a cheap night away, but then this is a five-start hotel, a stone’s throw away from one of the most famous golf courses on earth.
There are opportunities for discounted stays and offers, particularly for couples during the week. The hotel is marketing dinner, bed and breakfast and a pre-dinner cocktail from £365, a price that is comparable with what you pay at many other prestigious Northern Ireland hotels. That gets you access to The Spa. It’s more expensive at the weekend, but far from unreasonable.
As ever on a weekend away, packing up and leaving on the Sunday morning is an ordeal, but leaving Dunluce Lodge is even more of a wrench than normal. It’s not that we don’t want to get home and see our boys again, but we can’t shake off the gloom that this little slice of heaven is over after less than 24 hours.
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