Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa: A Kerry Weekend Done Right
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Ireland in sunshine is a different country, and Kerry got the best of it the weekend we were there. We had two nights at Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa just outside Tralee, and between weather that could not be beat, a morning in a seaweed bath, and 150 acres to ourselves on two wheels, it turned into one of the easiest weekends of our summer.
We spend every summer in Ireland, and we are always looking for the places that do the countryside stay properly. Ballygarry does. It has been in the same family for three generations and currently ranks in the top 1% of hotels in Ireland on Tripadvisor.
The Estate
Ballygarry sits at Leebrook, a few minutes outside Tralee town, on over 150 acres of Kerry countryside looking straight at the Slieve Mish Mountains. It calls itself an estate hotel and means it: landscaped gardens, woodland, walking trails, and enough ground to lose an entire afternoon on.
The welcome set the tone. Check-in was as warm as they come, and Billy, the concierge, took us on a tour of the estate that turned into the best briefing of the weekend: the grounds, the gardens, and the history of a property that has stayed in the owning family for three generations.
The sun helped too. Ireland has a reputation for rain that it mostly earns, but Kerry gave us the other version that weekend: clear mornings, long bright evenings, and the mountains sharp against the sky from the moment we arrived.
The Room
We stayed in a Superior King Room overlooking one of the courtyards, which meant quiet, and morning light through the windows without a car park in sight. The bed was comfortable, the room was spacious, and the bathroom was stocked with products from Voya, the Irish skincare brand. It is a small thing, but an Irish hotel putting Irish brands in the bathroom instead of the usual generic miniatures says a lot about how the place is run.
Nádúr Spa
The spa is the reason a lot of people come to Ballygarry, and after a weekend there we understand why. Nádúr takes its name from the Irish word for nature, and the place lives up to it: a thermal suite indoors, a thermal garden outside, and all of it sitting at the foot of the mountains. In this weather the outdoor half was where we lived. The two outdoor hot tubs look straight at the Slieve Mish range, and sitting in one under a blue Irish sky is an experience we recommend collecting. We were in them the evening we arrived, and back the next morning for the main event.
That main event was the seaweed baths. Ours came with an hour in the thermal facilities beforehand, which is the right way to do it: sauna, steam room, showers, hot tubs, then 45 minutes each in a bath of hand-harvested Irish seaweed overlooking the mountains. Seaweed bathing is an old Irish tradition for a reason: the warm seawater releases the seaweed's natural minerals and oils, which ease tired muscles and leave your skin softer than any product we have packed. It also came with a glass of champagne, a mango smoothie, a cookie, and fruit to work through while we soaked, which is our kind of wellness. A treatment includes access to the relaxation areas afterward, and we used every minute of it before our day of exploring Kerry.
Worth knowing: hotel guests can use the thermal facilities and outdoor hot tubs at no charge, but you need to book a slot. Do it when you check in.
The Estate on Two Wheels
Ballygarry keeps a fleet of estate bikes that any guest can take out whenever they like, and this is our favorite way to actually see a property rather than just stay at it. We headed into the woods behind the estate and covered ground we would never have walked: shaded trails, the quieter corners of the grounds, and the paths that loop past the Estate Cabins. The ride also brought us past the beehives, which are managed right on the estate. The honey makes its way into some of the food, and into handmade candles you can buy on the property, which is the kind of full-circle detail we did not expect from a hotel bike ride.
Dinner at The Brasserie
The night we arrived we ate at The Brasserie and sat out on the porch, because in weather like that you do not eat indoors in Ireland on principle. Thomas had the crisp roast duckling: oven roast duck with braised red cabbage, tenderstem broccoli, and gratin potato, finished with an orange glaze. Scott went for the fish and chips, North Atlantic cod in a light beer batter with homemade tartar sauce and mushy peas. Long evening light, good plates, nowhere to be.
Breakfast at Restaurant 58
Breakfast is served in Restaurant 58 and runs as a buffet plus warm dishes cooked to order, which is the correct format. Between the two mornings we covered the eggs and salmon, the eggs Benedict, and the full Irish, and can vouch for all three. Whatever you order, do not skip the brown bread. This is non-negotiable.
The Cottage
One we did not get to, but will next time: afternoon tea in The Cottage, a mid-18th century gate lodge on the north side of the property with a story worth the visit alone. It was once home to Thomas and Ellen O'Brien, a Tralee couple who refused to be separated over religious differences, walked away from promised family fortunes, and raised eight children there over 22 years. Ballygarry has kept The Cottage as a piece of Tralee's history, and today it seats just 12 to 14 guests for afternoon tea. Book ahead.
The Estate Cabins
We stayed in the hotel this time, but the Estate Cabins deserve their own section, because there is nothing else like them in the southwest of Ireland. They are scattered across the estate within a kilometer of the main house, each one individually designed, built from locally sourced materials, and named after a tree growing on the grounds. They are adults only, which tells you what they are for: switching off properly, as a couple or solo.
The sustainability side is real rather than decorative. Guests are driven to their cabin in an electric estate buggy, wastewater runs into the estate's integrated constructed wetlands, and each cabin comes with complimentary estate bikes and access to the outdoor hot tubs and thermal suite at Nádúr. When we cycled past, nearly every cabin had its deck chairs out in the sunshine and occupied, which told us everything about how people actually use them. They are already on the list for a future trip.
Beyond the Estate
Ballygarry could hold a whole weekend on its own, but it also sits on the right side of Tralee for everything you would come to Kerry for. Having given our morning to the property, we settled on a partial Ring of Kerry drive rather than the full loop, and in that weather it was the right call.
The route took us up through Killarney to Ladies View, the famous lookout over the lakes, and on to Moll's Gap, where the Avoca cafe at the top of the pass handled the coffee stop. From there we carried on to Derrynane Beach, which in full sunshine could have passed for somewhere much further south.
Then came the lesson of the day. We arrived at the Kerry Cliffs to find that access closes at 6:30pm, because the cliffs sit on private land. Note it down, because we clearly had not. The detour turned out to be the highlight: we drove onto Valentia Island and up Geokaun Mountain, the island's highest point, where a cliff viewing deck hangs over the 600-foot Fogher Cliffs. On a clear day you can see out to the Skellig Islands, where one of the Star Wars films was shot, and ours was clear enough that we did. Fewer people, later opening, and a view that made us grateful for the locked gate.
We finished in Killarney town with a nightcap of the edible kind at Murphy's Ice Cream, which started in Dingle, so it counts as keeping it local. Get the brown bread flavor. Between the breakfast table and the ice cream counter, brown bread was quietly the ingredient of the weekend.
If you have more time, Killarney National Park deserves its own day: the lakes, Muckross House, Ross Castle, and Torc Waterfall, all half an hour from the hotel. It gets the crowds Tralee does not, which is exactly why staying on this side of the county works.
More to Do in Kerry
Kerry is one of those counties where the list never ends: boat trips, the Dingle Peninsula, the Gap of Dunloe, and more. We keep our favorite bookable Kerry activities and tours in one place, and you can find them all on our Kerry GetYourGuide list.
Next Time, the Cabin
Ballygarry is the Kerry countryside without roughing it: a family-run hotel that has had three generations to get the details right, a spa built around the outdoors, and enough estate to fill a weekend without getting in the car. It works as a couples escape now, and with family rooms and the location it would work just as well with the boys. Either way we will be back, and we already know where we are sleeping: one of those cabins, with our name on the tree.
The Details
Where: Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa, Leebrook, Tralee, Co. Kerry, on the Killarney side of town.
Getting there: Kerry Airport is about 15 minutes away, with direct flights from Dublin, London, and a handful of European cities, which makes this one of the easiest spa weekends in Ireland to reach. Shannon and Cork airports are both around an hour and a half by car, and Dublin is about three and a half hours.
On the doorstep: Killarney is 30 minutes, Dingle about 45, and the Ring of Kerry starts practically at the gate. Tralee town is minutes away.
Stay: Rooms and suites in the main hotel, or the adults-only Estate Cabins scattered across the grounds.
Spa: Thermal facilities and outdoor hot tubs are free for hotel guests but slots must be booked, so do it when you check in. Treatments, including the seaweed baths, should be booked ahead of your stay.
Eat: The Brasserie for dinner, Restaurant 58 for breakfast, and afternoon tea in The Cottage for up to 14 guests, booked in advance.
Book: Check rates and availability for Ballygarry Estate on Expedia.
If you are following our European summer, you might also like our stay at the Verdelago Resort in Portugal, Hotel Luc Berlin in Germany, and the NOMAD Mykonos in Greece.
Our stay at Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa was hosted in part by the hotel; we paid for our own dining. As always, all opinions are our own.
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