Staying at the Limerick Strand Hotel, Ireland

It was lovely to get to another no stairs hotel (well, at least when moving suitcases) on our holiday in Ireland. I’d chosen the Limerick Strand Hotel, which is a large hotel overlooking the River Shannon in Limerick.

Having plenty of relatively cheap hotel parking underneath, it meant we could easily leave the car there and reach everything we wanted in the city centre by foot.  The location was perfect. Seeing the views as you go up to your floor in the glass front lift, we were then lucky enough to be in an executive room which also had views over to the river, St Margarets Cathedral and King John’s Castle.

We arrived late morning, but was able to leave the car while we went off to explore and visit the castle, walking along the river quay to reach it.

Our room was ready early. Having spoken to the friendliest and happiest guy on reception, he’d said he’d speak to the cleaners to get ours ready nice and early for us. So we were in by 2 (check in is 4 usually). 

I hadn’t realised I’d booked an executive room – it was obviously one of the only twin rooms available, or was on a special offer. It meant we had 24 hour access to the executive lounge which N was very excited about. 

The executive lounge meant on tap soft drinks, tea and coffee, plus homemade large cookies, brownie bites, and jellybeans.  The cookies were delicious, we treated ourselves for dessert after coming back from our dinner.

Our room was really nice. Lots of lights, plug sockets in the right places. I do find it strange that no hotels we stayed at in Ireland had main room lights. It’s all about mood lighting, but not that great for putting on make up, or actually being able to see.

There was a coffee machine (although wasted on us), a comfy chair, plus both desk, spinny office chair that N baggsied, as well as dressing table chair in front of the mirror. The comfy chair was lovely to lounge in.

The wardrobe space was good, the hairdryer was ok, and we had water bottles and a mini fridge which is always nice for cold water bottles. N filled the ice bucket from the machine on the floor, and that was also good for keeping our drinks cold.

I didn’t really sleep that well. I’m not great in new beds on the first night. I didn’t know if it was just a perimenopausal phase of waking every hour from 2am, or just finding the room too hot as we didn’t put the air con on overnight.  I felt like every time I turned over, the whole bed was moving on its wheels, so that didn’t help. 

We loved the bathroom in our room at the Limerick Strand. With a separate bath (with movable shower head), and shower, we could have a nice shower without climbing over bath sides. It was nice and hot, and really simple to turn on, unlike some other hotels.

Breakfast at the Limerick Strand Hotel

Breakfast at the Limerick Strand is formerly award winning. I can see why.

There were so many options in all types of breakfasts. Lots of meat and cheese choices, kippers, and fruits for continental. The usual cereals and yoghurts. But also lots of different nuts and dried fruit toppings for yoghurt or muesli.

We (I) loved the cute mini jars of ketchup and mayo.  There were plenty of toppings options for toast. Not only was there standard brown and white, they also offered sourdough bread, and bagels.

N opted for the standard cooked breakfast as usual. The bacon was good and well cooked, as were the scrambled eggs and sausages. I stuck with mini pastries, some toast and cereal with juices.

For something different and a treat, there were pancakes and waffles with all the sweet toppings you could imagine – Nutella, marshmallows and syrup. 

Swimming at the Limerick Strand

The hotel is part of the group with Energise fitness facilities, so there’s the gym and swimming pool. In Ireland it appears that you wear a swimming hat in public pools, so we had to wear them. Luckily they had a couple we could borrow – the fabric type – rather than having to buy our own we’d likely never wear again.

The pool itself was lovely, with a tiny kiddies pool area, 1 lane marked off, and then the jacuzzi next to the main pool, as well as the steam room. The pool had a few people, but never more than 4 or 5 at a time, and at 20 metres was fine to still swim with no issues. I was surprised at how empty of children it was, but the Irish children are now back at school, and we’ve so far not seen many children staying at the Limerick Strand.

The changing rooms were nice but all open plan. They did have a swimwear dryer which is needed when you’re only staying one night.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Limerick Strand. We did forget to validate the parking ticket when checking out, so had to come back up again to reception after going to the car, but that was all fixed so I could get the discounted hotel rate (10 Euros when we stayed).

While it’s a 4 star hotel (and we were lucky to get an executive room – probably because it was all that was left), it worked really well for us with a young teenager. The staff were friendly and helpful, and it’s a great location for exploring the city.

We then moved onto the Galmont Hotel and Spa in Galway for the next night, another hotel in the same group.

Have you stayed in similar hotels?