Could anything be more hackneyed on St Valentine's Day than champagne, chocolates and flowers? Okay so we are not exactly going to refuse them, but come on guys and girls, you can do better than that. To help out SANDRA O'CONNELLhas rounded up 20 hotel treats from around the country guaranteed to separate the men from the beaus
1 STARLIT KAYAK TRIP AT INCHYDONEY
Top billing for imagination goes to Inchydoney Island Lodge in Cork for coming up with something far more memorable than a rose petal turndown. Instead, woo her with a starlit kayak paddle for two. With luck, it will be a starry night. If it isn’t apparently there is great bioluminescence in the water anyway – the glow emitted by marine life in the area – so the water around your paddle should sparkle with thousands of tiny lights. And when you have feasted on that there’s a gourmet picnic basket on board too.
* The two-night Starlight Package costs €335pps. See inchydoneyisland.com.
2 SWEEP HER OFF HER FEET AT FERNHILL
Fernhill House Hotel near Clonakilty is also looking to get you outdoors with a one-night package with all sorts of treats. These include chilled champagne and home-made truffles on arrival and a gourmet picnic to have on one of the area’s beautiful beaches – deserted at this time of year for extra romantic effect. Then sweep her off her feet and on to one of the horses at Kingston’s, the stables next door to the hotel. After all, who can resist a man in jodhpurs?
* The one-night package including dinner, picnic and riding lesson is €125pps. See fernhillhousehotel.com.
3 TAKE A DIP BY CANDLELIGHT
As any woman over 35 will tell you, everything looks better by candlelight – rooms, carpets, bodies. Especially bodies. This is why the kind of woman who will really relish the luxury handmade chocolates on offer at Knockranny House Hotel this Valentine’s Day, is also likely to appreciate the romantic candlelit swim the hotel is offering in the pool that night. If the country’s community pools followed suit, there would be a queue of us looking to swim of an evening.
* Knockranny House Hotel, Mayo, khh.ie, one-night Valentine’s package, including dinner, €125 per person sharing.
4 STAY INCOGNITO WITH SUITE DREAMS
Over at the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt in Wicklow, they love their “Suite With No Number” promotion, which was launched earlier this month. But I’m not sure how it works in practical terms. Just think of the awkward conversations: “Kids, if you need us, we’re in . . . eh?”
Designed for romance, it comes complete with gold chaises longues, petal-filled baths for two and a host of flickering candles. Guests can also order up a special strawberries and cream spa treatment for two that really is good enough to eat.
* Prices start at €335 per couple per night. See ritzcarlton.com/powerscourt.
5 STILL NUTS ABOUT EACH OTHER?
Here’s a clever one designed to keep you coming back for more. Rathmullan House in Donegal has a package especially for couples who are nuts about each other.
This Valentine’s weekend, guests get to plant a nut tree in the hotel grounds. Not only will you get a Nuts About Each Other certificate giving details of your tree but get a complimentary upgrade at the hotel whenever you return to check on its progress.
* The one night Nuts About Each Other package costs from €135pps. rathmullanhouse.com.
6 FEED YOUR FANTASIES WITH A QUICKIE
Or how about, as management at Dunbrody Country House hotel in Wexford so elegantly put it, a Valentine Quickie? Check into Kevin Dundon’s place for chilled champagne and a chocolate fondue in front of the fire on arrival, followed by a menu of “sharing specials” that night. I can see it now, a dining room filled with couples feeding each other. Ew.
* Prices for the one-night package start at €150pps. See dunbrodyhouse.com.
7 BAROQUE AND ROLL YOUR LOVE IN BARBERSTOWN
On a lighter note, how about the Baroque Delight Night in Barberstown Castle in Kildare? Taking place on February 13th, it’s a concert featuring flute, piano and soprano with well known pieces of baroque music played by suitably costumed performers. It’s €25 to attend the concert only or €65 for dinner and the concert. But why waste that lovely ambience by not staying over?
* Pre-concert supper, tickets and BB cost €149pps. See barberstowncastle.ie.
8 FLASH THE CASH TO IMPRESS
There’s a nice combination of love and lucre on offer at Rathsallagh House in Wicklow this year, with a Valentine’s special that includes discounted shopping.
Stay two nights over the weekend, enjoying not just a big breakfast but Sunday lunch too, and you will get a 10 per cent discount voucher for the Kildare Retail village which sells designer goods at a discount, as well as a gift certificate for Newbridge Silverware.
* Package costs €249 per person sharing, including two nights BB, dinner and a Sunday lunch. See rathsallagh.com.
9 CUDDLE UP IN COSY CASTLE DURROW
Get canny with your cuddles too by opting for Castle Durrow in Co Laois. A one-night stay at the hotel, including dinner, BB, costs €135pps. Stay two nights on the same basis and you save €50 off the top and get a 15 per cent discount on beauty treatments in its salon.
But, and this is the really clever bit, stay for the one night package on February 13th and you get a free night’s BB the next day.
* The deal is subject to availability so check with castledurrow.com.
10 ROMANCE IN THE STONES
Gregans Castle in The Burren, Co Clare is included in this list for its wonderfully entitled Romance in the Stones package, though of course the reference is wasted on most of those under 30 years.
The two-night package sees you arrive to find a bottle of champers and a “garden flower posy” in your room, plus a lovely handmade scented candle to keep the romantic mood going when you get back home.
There’s dinner and breakfast and then, best of all, a half day’s guided walk around the romantic landscape of the Burren, with just you, your beloved and your gooseberry tour guide.
* The Romance in the Stones package costs €620 per couple. See gregans.ie.
11 TRY CLIMBING THE WALLS
It’s not quite swinging from the chandeliers but a trip up to Loughcrew House in Oldcastle, Co Meath, could see you flying down a zip wire or struggling up a climbing wall.
And, as the path of true love never runs smooth, you can get in some practice over its obstacle course too. If it helps bond a bunch of corporate types on an office away day, think what it will do for the two of you.
Be warned though, the house has only four rooms with double beds, so book early or end up in a twin room, perish the thought.
* Two nights BB and a day on the adventure course costs €250 per couple. Dinner is available at €30 each extra. See loughcrew.com.
12 LOVE BOMB YOUR VALENTINE
The Twelve Hotel’s Love Bomb Surprise has a dozen romantic elements all wrapped up in one overnight package. These include red iced muffins from the bakery next door, a picnic perfect for a romantic stroll (which presumably means it’s not too heavy) and dinner by candlelight.
There are in-room spa treatments at the Bearna, Co Galway hotel, Love Potion cocktails and a framed caricature of the two of you to take away as a memento.
A word of warning about this last: only beloveds who are fully at ease with their visages should ever be permitted to have their caricature drawn.
Happily you should be able to repair any damage done with a trip to the local jeweller’s, for which a discount voucher is thrown in too.
* The Love Bomb Surprise costs €500 per couple. Stay on two extra nights at the special rate of an extra €130 per couple. See thetwelvehotel.ie.
13 GET A HAND IN POPPING THE QUESTION
Management at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Letterkenny is rewarding the first hotel guest to pop the question (successfully) with their first engagement present, a voucher for a two-night stay at the hotel.
For those not quite ready to commit, there’s the ordinary Valentine’s package too, including a five-course gourmet meal, BB plus rose petal turndown service.
* The one-night Valentine’s package costs €89pps. See radissonblu.ie/hotel-letterkenny.
14YOU SHALL GO TO THE BALL!
If you are looking to keep the mood light with a night of dancing as much as romancing, the Maryborough Hotel in Cork is throwing a good old-fashioned Valentine’s Ball on Saturday, February 12th.
Events kick off with a Prosecco reception on arrival, a six-course meal including wine, and a night of music with a live band.
* Tickets to the ball cost €49 per person, but you can go the ball and get BB at the hotel for €99pps. See maryborough.com.
15 MEET YOUR MATCH IN TULLAMORE
If you are planning on spending Valentine’s looking for love, check out the inaugural TullAmoré Matchmaking Festival, which runs from February 11th to 13th in the Co Offaly town.
And to help move matters along, the Bridge House Hotel is hosting the Irish Heart Foundation’s charity black tie ball on Saturday night, with love advice and tips from Claire Daly, a fourth generation, professional matchmaker.
* A two-night BB stay costs €110pps, with tickets for the ball available at €100 extra. See bridgehouse.com and tull-amore.com.
16 TAKE A DIP IN AN OUTDOOR HOT TUB
There’s something so cheesy about hot tubs, so Hefneresque, that we just have to include Tanksardstown House’s loved up offerings.
The rambling country estate in Meath is promising an old-fashioned Valentine’s break with blossoms and bubbly in your room, 80 acres to walk through hand-in-hand and a sharing menu to devour.
And after all that, you can take a dip in the hot tub in its private walled garden. Presumably there will be a rota system in operation.
* Hot tub delights are all yours for €489 per couple. See tankardstown.ie.
17 ENTERTAIN THE LADY ON THE LAKE
Opt for the Lake Hotel Killarney’s Romance on the Lake option – it runs year round – and surprise your beloved with a walk to the pier at the ruins of its 12th century castle, where a boatman will be waiting, with champagne and strawberries on ice to take you for an hour-long boat tour of romantic Lough Lein.
And if all goes according to plan, you can book its proposal package soon after.
In that version, you go for a moonlit stroll to find your champagne and strawberries waiting at the ruins, so you can pop the question without rocking the boat.
* The Romance on the Lake package costs €230 for a superior lake view room, according to the hotel website, or €250 if you opt for a deluxe which, it points out, sleeps three! Knock yourself out guys. See lakehotel.com.
18 FEEL THE RUB IN SANDYFORD
There’s a couples’ massage on offer at The Beacon Hotel in Sandyford this Valentine’s, which comes with one night’s accommodation, a champagne breakfast in bed and a three-course meal in its My Thai restaurant.
A massage always makes for a nice treat, and this one is a “summer breeze” concoction of essential oils including jasmine, rose, sandalwood and neroli which, the hotel says, promises to bring the Mediterranean to you.
* The one night Avant-Garde Valentine’s package at the Beacon costs €310. See thebeacon.com.
19 SERENADE YOUR FUNNY VALENTINE
If music be the food of love, then the Concert at the Castle, in Co Antrim, should leave you well sated. Headlined by West End star Peter Corry, the event takes place in Ballygally Castle, which is on the scenic Antrim coast, on the Saturday and Monday of the Valentine’s weekend.
It promises such soppy love songs as When I Fall in Love, Love Changes Everything, All I ask of Youand My Funny Valentine.
* Tickets cost £25 (€39.40). Arrive early at the hotel and have afternoon tea from £18 per person or opt for the pre-concert Valentine’s dinner from £25 each. Doubles start at £80 a night on Valentine’s night. See hastingshotels.com.
20 ESCAPE THE LOVED-UP MADNESS
Finally, if the very idea of Valentine’s Day makes you want to bury your head under your (single) duvet for the entire day, you might like to check into the Hotel Meyrick instead. The Galway city hotel is running a Pour Moi package with a variety of fun activities laid on for singletons.
These include a welcome treat on arrival (which, it promises, will not be heart-shaped), a soothing hot stone back massage and a singles cocktail party in the basement bar that night.
* The one-night Pour Moi package is available from February 11th to 15th and costs €165 based on single occupancy. Bring your best (single) friend with you and it’s €110pps for a twin room. See hotelmeyrick.ie.
