Sneem Hotel or Manor West Tralee?

Famous45

Torn between 2 hotels,

Sneem hotel in Sneem, Kerry

or Manor West in Tralee, Kerry

Has anyone stayed in either? or both?

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Benedict XVI

Famous45 wrote: »

Torn between 2 hotels,

Sneem hotel in Sneem, Kerry

or Manor West in Tralee, Kerry

Has anyone stayed in either? or both?

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Have stayed in the Sneem Hotel but not in the Manor West, have been there many time to eat though.

The Sneem hotel is very nice and is in a lovely location.

The real question is where do you want to spend the weekend rather than how good the hotel is.

A. In Sneem a small quaint village on the ring of Kerry, with fabulous scenery on your door step, and other nice villages like Kenmare quiet close

or

B. In a hotel on the edge of a commercial town adjacent to a shopping center.

Berty

I have stayed in both. Like mentioned already both are different in what they offer.

Sneem is a sleepy little town.

Tralee is a world apart.

For myself and my missus I would be thinking Tralee because of shopping and more pubs and sneem for a quiet relaxing weekend.

Both are not far from each other.

Where are you coming from? Sneem might be worth a day trip only IMHO while you negotiate the Ring of Kerry.

Famous45

Travelling down from Drogheda in 6 weeks. Taking the missus away for her birthday. I had a look at Fota Island too, that could be another option, but ideally we both wanted to explore the ring of kerry and what it has to offer. I've done a bit of homework on both places and couldnt come to decision still cant after what you both say - but that's a good thing, cause I really appreciate your input's.

We'd like to head out in the evening time for bit of craic in the local bars, local music etc but not too mental and touristy which Im gathering Tralee might be so I'd kinda prob favour Sneem for that reason alone. If you can think of another other reasons to stay in either place please comment.

Thanks a mill.

Famous45

Arriving on a Tuesday and departing on Friday. 3 night stay. Could we expect a quieter Tralee than say the weekend?

Benedict XVI

Famous45 wrote: »

Travelling down from Drogheda in 6 weeks. Taking the missus away for her birthday. I had a look at Fota Island too, that could be another option, but ideally we both wanted to explore the ring of kerry and what it has to offer. I've done a bit of homework on both places and couldnt come to decision still cant after what you both say - but that's a good thing, cause I really appreciate your input's.

We'd like to head out in the evening time for bit of craic in the local bars, local music etc but not too mental and touristy which Im gathering Tralee might be so I'd kinda prob favour Sneem for that reason alone. If you can think of another other reasons to stay in either place please comment.

Thanks a mill.

Well if you are looking to do the Ring of Kerry I would pick Sneem.
It also has a good few small local type pubs and it would not be mental with tourists in April.

Kenmare is about 20 mins away from sneem and is a bigger town with more food and drink options that Sneem

To be honest I think it's a no brainer, Tralee is just another commercial town if you ask me, a night out in Tralee would be no different to a night in Drogheda.

Go for Sneem

Berty

Tralee has its fair share of quiet pubs as well as loud pubs but Sneem is very small indeed, more quaint that anything.

If you want a choice of restaurants and pubs then Tralee is for you. The ring of Kerry can be started from Tralee. Head from Tralee to Killorglin and out past the Red Fox and you will end up in Sneem as the last town.

BUT for me. I would actually try to head to Cahersiveen and over to Valentia Island by the ferry. €12 one way. ONE WAY you ask. There is actually a bridge at the far end of the island which you can use to leave and then continue your journey around the Ring.

From Sneem come back over ladies view and back into Killarney and back to Tralee. Killarney is a day out from Tralee itself.

Just consider Tralee your base.

Is your SValu break a 3 nights break? Can you afford to just stay in another hotel at your own expense?

I.e. Book the 3 nights but only stay the 1st, stay away the 2nd somewhere on the Ring(dont tell them of course) and stay the last night.

On another note. The manor west hotel is in a bit of an Industrial area and a bit of a walk to the town and the Sneem is a little slice of luxury.

I would choose Sneem for the hotel itself and Tralee on the restaurants and bars.

Also Cafe Solo in Tralee is the only guy in the country doing the "pay what you think its worth" menu.

Famous45

Wow thank you both for the info.

I'm glad you mentioned an island berty, I've been wanting to do something like that and it's great you mentioned it.

The break is for 3 nights. I'm fairly confident now that Sneem fits what were looking for, staying a night elsewhere isn't an issue, I'll mostly likely try and work out some sort of mapping schedule.

Again thanks so much for the guidance. I'll report back when I return.

mumhaabu

Sneem is very quaint and the people friendly but it would be for a nice relaxing weekend and a quit pint, there is no night clubs nearby only in Kenmare which is about a 40min drive on quite possibly Ireland's worst road, if you have an SUV bring it for the potholes or else a Smart car for the roads are so narrow.

Manor west Hotel in Tralee is located by the Manor West shopping mall which is so badly designed you have to drive from end to the other or else walk quarter of a mile:eek:

TBH I'd go for neither because Sneem is so hard to drive to and there is not much to do, similarly the Tralee hotel is a bit rediculous as it taxi ride from Tralee town centre and Tralee is Kerry's business town and tbh is dodgy at night. If on SuperValu tokens you are kidding yourself they are now way overpriced and most hotels will give you a better rate or somewhere like ebookers or lastminute.

Killarney FTW!

Berty

I know those roads oh so well down that neck of the woods.

Here is a video of Conor Pass which is a route from Dingle over to Castlegregory which is the scenic way to return from Dingle to Tralee. Excuse the shaky camera. Its only a digital camera trying to sit on the dash.

These are images of a waterfall due to the heavy snow and rain which is right at the small pull over/parking area. Amazing.

http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h97/quirke/?action=view&current=ConorPass-1.flv





This picture is actually of a road through the Gap of Dunloe which you should not drive during tourist season because the jaunting cars will purposfully block you. If you come from Beaufort they will actually tell you to turn around unless you are a resident or have some work in that direction. The roads are just about wide enough for my Audi which is not the biggest of cars.



The Road goes from the back of Reeks mountain range around the side of Carrauntohill and back towards Beaufort and onto the Killarney/Listowel road. Amazing drive when you can actually drive it.







Here is the Ferry over to Valentia Island. To be fair I took this picture facing back towards where we came from.



When you come out the other side at Portmagee you can take the mountain road and you get a sight like this.



Further down there is a small turn to a pier that the crab boats come in at. You can look in the water and see all the dead crabs they throw out, male crabs I presume. Its called Little Skellig in the distance.

Benedict XVI

mumhaabu wrote: »

Sneem is very quaint and the people friendly but it would be for a nice relaxing weekend and a quit pint, there is no night clubs nearby only in Kenmare which is about a 40min drive on quite possibly Ireland's worst road, if you have an SUV bring it for the potholes or else a Smart car for the roads are so narrow.

Manor west Hotel in Tralee is located by the Manor West shopping mall which is so badly designed you have to drive from end to the other or else walk quarter of a mile:eek:

TBH I'd go for neither because Sneem is so hard to drive to and there is not much to do, similarly the Tralee hotel is a bit rediculous as it taxi ride from Tralee town centre and Tralee is Kerry's business town and tbh is dodgy at night. If on SuperValu tokens you are kidding yourself they are now way overpriced and most hotels will give you a better rate or somewhere like ebookers or lastminute.

Killarney FTW!

Tralee is a dodgy stop at night alright and there would not be much going on on weekday night anyway.

Killarney would be the best of both worlds, a far nicer town than Tralee, lots of hotel, restaurant and bar options and it's on the ring of Kerry

BTW I would not let the drive to Sneem be a deterrent, the whole Ring of Kerry is a fun, challenging drive so if that is what you do you have to do it anyway.

Famous45

The small roads add more excitement!!

Thanks for the video and photos Berty. Do you reckon I'd be grand driving thru the Gap of Dunloe in mid April? Have a Seat Ibiza, so pretty small car. I read before about the locals, I'll just have a sheet of paper on it saying DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH and on I go - hehe.

Tempted by staying in Killarney too. I've got more question open to everyone, we are going to be travelling around the ring every day and obviously back to the hotel in Sneem most likely, would we be better just book 1 night in different locations and say making our way first of all from Sneem to X and from X onwards, would that be the sensible route or is it a case that we could get back to Sneem within an hour or so from most places.

Famous45

If on SuperValu tokens you are kidding yourself they are now way overpriced and most hotels will give you a better rate or somewhere like ebookers or lastminute.

I ain't convinced by this. Sneem Hotel for 3 nights for 2 people b&b and 1 evening meal for €218. (SuperValu)

For 3 nights b&b on their site it's €450 - over double the price.

mumhaabu

Famous45 wrote: »

I ain't convinced by this. Sneem Hotel for 3 nights for 2 people b&b and 1 evening meal for €218. (SuperValu)

For 3 nights b&b on their site it's €450 - over double the price.

Yeah sure, but for the last few years Super Valu tokens were the cheapest nice hotels you could get my point is that the Super Valu nominated hotel in X town may now no longer be the cheapest and may be cheaper if booked outside the Super Valu scheme, but this obviously is not the case in your situation with the Sneem Hotel.

Also by telephoning the Hotel you will probably get a better rate as the situation now is with the vast majority of Hotels is that they are better off getting some money for the room for the night rather than leaving it go empty and making nothing. Eg. I stayed in the Ballsbridge Inn (D4 Hotels) on Sunday night for €37, if it was not that rate a large proportion of them rooms would be empty otherwise. At least this way the Hotel will lose less money and it is the lesser of two evils in a recession.

redlead

Lads, I'm driving down from Dublin to Sneem this weekend. Just wondering what you think the best route is i.e. down to Cork and across from there or via Limerick?

Fr Tod Umptious

redlead wrote: »

Lads, I'm driving down from Dublin to Sneem this weekend. Just wondering what you think the best route is i.e. down to Cork and across from there or via Limerick?

I'd go Cork, better road for more of the journey.