We recently got married and held our Reception at Kilkea Castle, all I can say is that the staff were excellent, the venue is gorgeous and all our requests were catered for. We took all 35 rooms and part of the Golf Lodges. A fantastic place to stay. The food is very good and the grounds are beautiful. If you like traditional furnishings in a stunning castle, this is the place to stay, if you pefer the modern touch then I would also suggest the Golf Lodges at Kilkea Golf Club as they too are lovely to stay in.

When you pay Eur 190 for a room, you expect higher standards, but I've stayed in 10 quid a night hostels that were cleaner. The windows were so filthy the room was dark, there were cobwebs inside the room at the window, the light bulbs were gone in the bedside lamps (one of the lamps was actually broken), mouldy smell, peeling wallpaper, shower fitting coming off the wall, the packet for the shower cap was torn where it had been opened and put back, the carpet looked like it hadn't been vacuumed and there was hair on the pillow. The reason for the dirty pillow became obvious the next morning when we saw that the staff had left the replacement bedclothes on the floor of the corridor outside the rooms. We were there at a wedding & didn't want to complain too loudly at checkout as the father of the bride was beside us. I mentioned the lamp bulbs being gone and the receptionist actually got defensive; took all I could do to bite my tongue.
It's really such a shame, because the wedding reception was absolutely perfect: the food was great and the serving staff were lovely & breakfast in DeLacy's was nice. The building is fantastic, it's in a great location & the grounds look well maintained.
But a dirty room is not acceptable at any price; nevermind Eur 190. If you're at a wedding here, I'd recommend staying somewhere else.

Stayed at the Kilkea Castle golf resort recently. This is one of the best preserved Mediaeval Castles in Europe, the grounds are very well kept and the golf resort has been constructed in harmony with the natural suroundings.

The food is a very high standard and the Bar is well stocked but comes at a premium price.

The whole package seems perfect however the Kilkea experience is badly marred by staff standards. Some of the waiting staff were quite rude and bordered on the aggressive which is not what you expect in this day and age and woe betide you incur the wrath of the jobsworth in the Golf club bar who polices when breakfast ends, rudeness personified.

Kilkea ticks a lot of boxes but the quality of staff is enough to turn us off a repeat visit. Common courtesy and good manners really should be a given these days.

Kilkea Castle is only open to wedding parties now but I thought I'd write a review anyway in case anyone reading is contemplating staying there for a wedding. I realize that it's an old castle, but for the price I expect cleanliness and comfort...the beds were hard and the bathroom could do with a good cleaning and re-caulking (personal pet peeve is moldy black or peeling caulking). The floors creaked horribly and the sound proofing was non-existent. It's just a really tired place. The one GOOD thing was the shower - fantastic pressure, felt really good.

There were no tea/coffee making facilities, no water glasses, no hair dryer, no extra special touches at all.

Except for a lovely waitress in the morning for breakfast the staff weren't very friendly, and forget any special requests. Breakfast was ok, nothing special.

We had family stay at the Golf Lodges down the road and these were much better value. If you have a choice, stay at those instead. They're self catering though so you'll have to fend for yourself food-wise.