A Very Special Place for 2 People

Our first visit to Ireland after a busy few months Wedding planning and a brilliant Wedding day - the Solar Lodge turned out to have been the perfect choice for our honeymoon, and I mean PERFECT! Beautiful, clean, comfortable, eco-friendly (solar powered) lodge with STUNNING views and surroundings. Sky TV, DVD player, hammock in the garden, countless books meant that days in were just as lovely as trips out. You can't count on the weather in Ireland so we went prepared for all weathers - it just so happens that we had 8 straight days with no rain, and often bright sunshine! Would advise you to still prepare for anything though as it can change hour by hour. Even if it had rained, we would not have been disappointed as the surrounding sea and mountains lend themselves perfectly to dramatic stormy scenes and walks in the hills and on the beach were still lovely whatever the weather.
We had flown to Cork from Bristol and then hired a car. The lodge proved very easy to find using AA directions to Ballinskelligs and then Doris and Tim's directions to the lodge itself - making a very stress-free start to the holiday. Our hire car enabled us to easily reach the nearby town of Cahersiveen (20min drive) where a good size supermarket could be found (SuperValue).
The Killarney National Park makes a great day trip at about an hours drive and the Torc Waterfall, Muckross House and Ladies View, in the park are WELL worth a visit. Valentia Island also makes a good little day trip (about 15 minute drive from Ballinskelligs to the bridge across to the Island from Portmagee). We had a lovely meal out one night at QC's fish restaurant in Cahersiveen, eating amazing freshly caught fish. We had quite a small budget and still had a great time, but there is PLENTY more around the area to do if you have a larger budget!
Other days were spent enjoying the lodge and private garden, exploring, walking and relaxing on the beach at Ballinskelligs (10 min walk from the Lodge) and having drinking tea/coffee at surrounding cafes wherever we went.
To top it all off, the owners Doris and Tim couldn't have been more lovely. Helpful, generous and available whenever we needed them. Their home (The Solar House) is right next to the Solar Lodge but for the most part you wouldn't know they were there and it really felt like we had a beautiful haven all to ourselves. We would thoroughly recommend the Solar Lodge to all our friends/family and will definitely be returning to Ireland again!

The solar lodge was a gorgeous place to stay on a winter’s week. The lodge was cozy, clean and peaceful. The location was great, as we were not too far from tourist towns, but we also were able to enjoy the Irish country feel. The beach and waterfronts were amazing. Doris and Tim were wonderful hosts and we would certainly recommend the solar lodge as a great place to stay!

Beautiful, comfortable, clean accomodation - very well designed, spacious & warm, & facilities are excellent. Stunning views & lovely sheltered garden with hammock. Tim & Doris are wonderful hosts & provided helpful information & advice for visits,resturants & trips etc. The local resturants, outdoor activites, & arts/music were all fantastic depending on your preferences. Local people were very friendly & helpful. Nothing we disliked at all! We found so much to do, that 2 weeks were not enough. The only 'bummer' was we had to come home! We would certainly recommend this property to friends & are planning to visit again in the autumn.