Irish hostels enjoyinga renaissance

GO IRELAND:Fancy spending the night in a 150-year-old train carriage, in an old monastery or on a working farm? Look no further than Ireland's hostels to find a break with a difference for a good price, writes CIARA KENNY

WE ALL HAVE less money in our pockets these days, but a shrinking holiday budget doesn’t have to mean giving up short breaks entirely. Irish hostels are a cheap, fun way to get away, as many travellers are rediscovering.

“Irish people were few and far between in hostels during the boom years,” says Peter Crossan, the international marketing director of Independent Hostels of Ireland (IHO).

Now owners of IHO hostels are seeing a resurgence of middle-aged travellers from home and abroad who are retracing the steps of their youth on a budget holiday.

“We are seeing a lot of the older generation returning to hostels that they may have visited 15 or 20 years ago during our last serious recession,” says Crossan. “You meet people from all walks of life in hostels, it’s not just young people and old hippies. We see a lot of professionals from Ireland and abroad who stayed in hostels as students and continue to come back year after year.”

The gap in price between hostels and hotels has narrowed considerably over the past three years, so hostelling is often a choice of a type of holiday rather than simply a budget decision. Hostels are particularly popular with those interested in taking part in outdoor activities, such as walking or cycling.

The 24 An Óige hostels that are part of Hostelling International are popular with youth groups on activity breaks, though increasingly they are attracting families too. According to Julie Ann Ennis, its marketing manager, an increasing number of Irish families choose hostelling when they want a budget holiday.

There is plenty to do as EcoAdventure Ireland, an outdoor adventure company, has outlets at several An Óige hostels. This means that groups of 10 or more children or adults can try pony trekking, archery, orienteering, mountain biking, team games or learn basic survival skills.

Many An Óige hostels are available to rent for exclusive use by groups, sleeping between 16 and 280 people. The option has always been popular with youth groups, but they are now taking an increasing number of bookings for family reunions, parties, stag and hen weekends, and even weddings.

“It would have been unheard of up to a while ago to have your wedding in a hostel, but we actually have a honeymoon suite in our hostel in Knockree with a floor-to-ceiling panoramic window with spectacular views,” Ennis says.

“We have had a couple of weddings there. The setting is stunning, it is right on the Wicklow Way, and it has a large outdoor barbecue area. Hotels are so expensive for weddings these days, and really, all many people want is a suitable place to hold a big shindig.”

According to the IHO, Irish tourists are increasingly important to the hostel market.

“We have been getting a fairly cool reception on the Continent over the past few years,” says Crossan. “People stopped coming here because we were becoming more expensive, less friendly, and had lost some of the charm that attracted so many visitors here in the past. But that is reversing again now, and things are going back to basics.”

Here a few interesting hostels around Ireland worth checking out.

Carriage Hostel

This renovated 150-year-old mahogany train carriage in the wilds of Dunfanaghy, north Donegal is divided into five cosy bedrooms, with double and bunk beds hand-crafted from old railway sleepers.

A replica station house shelters the carriage from the elements.

There is a communal sitting room where guests can gather around an open turf fire.

Tramore beach, a vast curve of golden sand, is a 20-minute walk away across windswept fields and sand dunes.

* the-carriage-hostel-corcregg an.com or tel 074-9100814. Rates from €16.50

Downhill Hostel

This white Victorian villa is in a stunning location – Castlerock, Co Derry – just a stone’s throw from the sea and overlooked by Mussenden Temple which stands on a nearby cliff.

Expect to find period furniture, open fireplaces and polished wooden floorboards. The rooms are decorated with contemporary works produced by local artists and craftsmen.

In the homely sitting room, guests often have impromptu music sessions using the hostel’s free instruments. If you can drag yourself away from the comfy couches and open fire, the Giant’s Causeway and Dunluce Castle are close by.

* downhillhostel.com or tel 048-70849077. Rates from £14 (€16)

Gyreum

A gigantic green mound rising out of the Sligo hills near Riverstown, this eco-lodge in a “modern day cairn” has spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. They say you can see five counties on a clear day.

Wind turbines provide hot water. The building is heated using a geothermal pump and a woodchip stove. Rainwater is harvested from the conical roof for the showers and toilets, and all waste water is treated using natural reed beds.

Couples sleep in two-man tents in the circular central hall, and singles in dormitories slotted into the walls around the building’s circumference.

* gyreum.com or tel 071-9165994. Rates from €17

Old Monastery Hostel

This rambling stone house in Letterfrack, Co Galway – built by Quakers in the 1840s – has been home to one of the most colourful hostels in the country for the past 20 years.

Many of the monastery’s original features are still intact, though they are now juxtaposed with brightly painted walls and funky “disco showers” (which have lights inside them) that have to be seen to be believed.

The owner serves up freshly baked bread, scones and porridge for breakfast. That should set you up for a day’s hiking in Connemara National Park, the entrance to which is just a few steps from the door, and the new sauna in the garden will melt tired muscles on your return.

* oldmonasteryhostel.com or tel 087-2349543. Rates from €15

Dooey Hostel

After Mary O’Donnell decided to set up the first independent hostel in Ireland in the early 1970s in Glencolmcille, Co Donegal, she got local stonecutters to gouge a hole in the side of a hill that had staggering views over Glencolmcille and to use the remaining stone for the building.

Not much has changed here since then.

The basic facilities may not be to everyone’s taste, but the stunning vistas of the cliffs more than make up for it. This cosy and homely place is oozing with character.

Many return again and again to chat with Mary and for endless cups of tea.

* independenthostelsireland.com or tel 074-9730130. Rates from €15

Wicklow Hostel

An old Georgian schoolhouse in the hamlet of Moyne near Tinahely, Co Wicklow has been lovingly restored to provide eco-friendly lodgings to hikers and bikers travelling along the Wicklow Way.

Local tradesmen, some of whom went to school here, have combined traditional construction practices, such as lime rendering, with the latest green technologies to make this a truly special retreat.

It has a geothermal heat pump and insulation similar to that used in Nasa’s space shuttles.

One of the owners is a trained chef and can whip up one-pot dinners and packed lunches for hungry hillwalkers.

* wicklowhostel.ie or tel 059-6472795. Rates from €18

Globetrotters/The Townhouse

Globetrotters hostel and The Townhouse bed and breakfast share two well-preserved 200-year-old houses at 47/48 Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin 1.

Number 47 was the childhood home of the eminent 19th century playwright Dion Boucicault. The lobby is decorated with photographs, posters, playbills and other Boucicault memorabilia.

The dining room, where a decent Irish breakfast is served to all guests, overlooks a pretty Japanese garden created in memory of writer and journalist Lafcadio Hearn, who once lived at number 48.

The dorms and doubles are plush by hostel standards, and there’s a spacious studio apartment in the attic that sleeps eight.

* globetrottersdublin.com or tel 01-8788808. Hostel rates from €14, BB from €39 per person sharing

Glenmalure Hostel

This simple 100-year-old “mountain hut” in Greenane, Co Wicklow is the perfect retreat for nature lovers wanting to escape from modern living for a couple of days, as it has no electricity or running water.

The cottage is lit by gas lamps and guests can collect water for washing and cooking from the Avonbeg River nearby.

The glacial valley is stunningly peaceful yet rich in history. The English army was defeated here by Gaelic clans from the Wicklow mountains led by Fiach McHugh O’Byrne during the Battle of Glenmalure in 1580.

Stock up on supplies before you go as the nearest shop is 13km away.

It is open daily between June and August, and on Saturdays only for the rest of the year.

Call in advance for reservations.

* anoige.ie or tel 01-8304555. Rates from €14

Sleepzone

Once a three-star hotel, this hostel in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare has family rooms that can take up to seven guests. All have en suite bathrooms.

There are gardens for kids to run around in, and a pool table to keep them entertained while adults relax with a drink in the residents’ lounge.

The Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee Caves and Poulnabrone Dolmen are a short drive away, as are the surfing beaches of Lahinch and Fanore. The hostel can provide recommendations for walking and cycling routes in the Burren.

The sister Sleepzone hostel in Connemara, close to the Killary Adventure Centre, has similar family-friendly facilities, including a tennis court.

* sleepzone.ie or tel 065-7074036. Rates from €15, family rooms €60

Farran Farm Hostel

Constructed from local limestone as a grain loft more than 100 years ago in Ballacolla, Co Laois, this beautifully restored building is now a family home, hostel and part of a working farm.

The co-owner will happily show guests around the farm, which produces tillage crops and has sheep, cattle and horses.

Borrow a bike and cycle to Grantstown Lake nearby, where anglers travel from all over Ireland to fish for pike, rudd and tench – or you can take a looped walk through the surrounding woodland.

* farmhostel.com or tel 057-8734032. Rates from €20

For more information on hostelling around Ireland, see Independent Hostels of Ireland (IHO) at independenthostelsireland.com, Independent Holiday Hostels of Ireland (IHH) – its website is at hostels-ireland.com – or An Óige at anoige.ie.

* Bookings can be made on hostel world.com