Hotel berhampiran Island Cottage, Cork

Stay here for a gorgeous view of Ireland's south coast. Request a room with a view. The owner is gracious and makes a wonderful breakfast. Go for the Fiddler's Fest in Baltimore and bio-luminescent kayaking. A real sweet spot!

This is supposedly a three star hotel, but I have stayed in much better two stars. The location is good and the view of the river is nice, but it is very scruffy and grubby in areas. The room was a reasonable size, but the bed did not feel very comfortable. We had a nice view, but it was quite noisy as we could hear voices quite a lot from possibly the room next door. The bathroom size was okay, but there was nowhere to put wash bags or toiletries. I had to put them in the shelving unit outside of the bathroom. The shower was over the bath. The tiling on the walls looks like it has been done quite recently but the grouting all along the edge of the bath is in a very bad way and needs attention. There was also a large greasy hand mark on the wall above the bed that was easily visible in certain light. The bedroom was not serviced on the day in between our two nights there. We don’t mind this but we weren’t told so we weren’t quite sure whether it was going to happen or not. The bins did get rather full. There was no decaf coffee available for the room even though it is available at breakfast. This was the first hotel in 10 on this holiday that we have not been able to get it. The public areas are very, scruffy and grubby looking. All it was take on stairs would be a coat of paint on the banisters and some repair work to the wooden knob at the bottom and that would help. The carpets looked quite dirty as well. See photos. Breakfast was reasonable and there was quite a bit of choice. However, things were all served in a slightly random order. We asked for our bacon to be very well done, but it was extremely under done. It would be helpful if sauces etc were kept at the table rather than having to keep asking for them. The staff on the whole were friendly and helpful. Interestingly all the other hotels I have booked on this tour offered a 100% refund a few days before the day if necessary. This hotel only offers 50% regardless of the reason or timeframe.

We booked for 2 nights and a dinner at a good price. We got a room with a sea view, which was nice. The room was small, but it was grand. The bathroom was old, small, and tired. The shower curtain was mouldy and smelled. There were bulbs blown, and there was sealant missing from around the sink. The restaurant and bar share the same space, and there was extremely limited relaxed seating for the bar. The food was lovely. No complaints there. The second night we had a 3 course meal. It took 55 minutes to receive our second course with no explanation given. This was unacceptable. It reflected very poorly on the restaurant. I asked for a cocktail at the bar and i was told no not tonight. The barman was a bit rude. The lounge areas are very nice and the paper was a nice touch. We didn't use the pool as the times didn't suit as there were constant swimming lessons going on. The second night there was an event on in the hotel and I didn't get to sleep until 2 am, when the music finally stopped. Then the door banging began in the halls until 4 am.