The Best Hotels Near Mara, by the Record
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A Jack Nicklaus golf course, an archery range, an equestrian center, clay shooting, and a spa, which suggests the estate takes the idea of a country weekend seriously. This is an old Irish manor hotel, a former earl's residence spread across manicured grounds above the River Nore. Rooms range from the historic Manor House to the larger Hunter's Yard, and the dining runs from the Michelin-starred Lady Helen to the more relaxed Irish cooking at The Hound.
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The indoor pool hangs over the Atlantic, which is either the hotel's greatest trick or its most unfair argument for booking a second night. The Cliff House is a sleek, contemporary hotel on Ireland's south coast, an hour outside Cork, where every room faces the sea through floor-to-ceiling glass and the beds are the kind you negotiate with at checkout. A spa, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and very little reason to leave the property.
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A Palladian manor on the main street of Cashel, where the Rock of Cashel's medieval towers are visible from the garden and some suites look straight up at them. It's been around forever, had its celebrity moment, went a bit quiet, then came back sharper after a full renovation by new owners who also happen to be in the equestrian business, so a trail ride can be arranged. The hotel holds 2 Michelin Keys, and dinner at Bishop's Buttery rounds out the stay nicely.
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A Regency-style country house hotel on a wooded estate in County Wexford, with an ornamental lake that makes the grounds feel slightly too cinematic to be real. The 18 antique-furnished rooms in the main house give way to the Lodge cottage and the Pond Suites, modern sustainable villas where the forest comes right to the door. Two restaurants run the full range from formal conservatory dining to casual terrace plates.