Bedroom at The Strand Hotel
The weather wasn’t looking very cooperative that day. It was windy and very typical Irish weather especially in the Atlantic side of Ireland. Unfortunately, there is very little I can do about this. So I finally crossed the bridge at Achill Sound and continued on to Achill Island. This would be my first time visiting Achill Island and I look forward to visiting it. There are a few hotels in the island, and it is a big island so it pays to pay attention to where you would be staying. Most people would be staying at Keel where most of the establishments are, but depending on your tastes, you might want to stay in a more quiet area such as Dugort, which is to the north of the island.
Tiny Bathroom at The Strand Hotel
There are nice paved roads crisscrossing the island so there is no need to worry about needing an all terrain vehicle to visit Achill. The road passes by some mountains before arriving at the village of Dugort. The Strand Hotel is a hotel on the western end of the Dugort Beach and I would be staying here for a couple of days. The Strand Hotel sits at the foot of Mount Slievemore and the mountain makes a perfect backdrop to the hotel. The hotel itself is currently owned by a very friendly Italian who decided to set up shop here. The hotel itself can be a little old. I got a small room which has a great view of the beach. The room was large enough to have a bathroom of its own but it can be a little claustrophobic. Keep in mind that this is an old building so a lot needed to be retrofitted in. I would appear that the bathroom was one of those things that needed to be shoehorned in.
Staircase Area at The Strand Hotel
There is a restaurant downstairs including the all important bar. There are parties practically every night and I feel sorry for the owner of the hotel since he needs to be up all night to entertain the guests here. It seems that this is the only bar in the area and people in the village would come here for their pint. It is a very festive atmosphere at night. Having said that, the music can go on until early morning, if you are a light sleeper you might have issues with this, so try to stay further away from the pub area. I actually loved my stay here, the hotel has a very quiet location which can be a plus and a minus for some people. If you stay here, definitely need a car to get around. There is a bus which goes around here but I wasn’t sure what the schedule is like.
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