“Hands down, the best hotel I’ve ever been to was Kilkea Castle in Kildare, Ireland — about an hour outside of Dublin. Not only was it an actual CASTLE from the 12th century with ridiculously beautiful grounds, the friendliest, kindest staff, and a bar that looked like a dungeon, but the EXTRAS, Y’ALL.
They had a spa where any treatment you booked came with a trip to their **hydrospa** that was literally one of the coolest, fanciest-feeling things I’ve ever done. It was basically a six-zone hot tub massage, then a sauna, then a eucalyptus-scented steam room, and then an ice bucket shower to finish it off. And all of this was the lil’ free perk BEFORE the literal best massage of my life. Audrey, the massage therapist, made it her mission to get the knots out of my shoulder/neck that had been there for god only knows how long.
BUT the coolest, craziest, once-in-a-lifetime amenity was the FALCONER, Bernard. You can book for $300 a two-hour session with him, in which we got to hold, pet, and learn about his barn owls (Tiddlywinks and Twinkletoes — TELL me you’ve heard cuter names), a falcon, a hawk, and a crazy hybrid condor, each of which he’s raised for years. He made us feel so safe, you could tell the birds respected and loved him, and my life was MADE when Tiddlywinks the owl fell asleep on my arm 😭💗. But the coolest part? Bernard had us walk the condor like a dog down the path, holding our arms out with treats (I truly don’t want to know what it was) to coax him to swoop down to us like we were frigging medieval falconers.
I will never in my lifetime forget the experience we had at Kilkea Castle, and I could not recommend it more. If you’re going to Ireland, you need to make it a priority!”
—slad619
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/best-hotels-resorts-people-have-stayed-at
