Places to Stay With a Bar in Northern Ireland

What's actually in this set

Thirty-two places to stay with a bar are published on BritStays across Northern Ireland and the surrounding area. The majority are hotels — 25 of the 32 — with four caravanning sites and three camping sites making up the rest. That split matters when you're planning: if you want a bar you can walk back from in slippers, you're mostly looking at hotels; if you'd rather have a pitch and a clubhouse-style bar on site, the caravanning and camping options are a much smaller pool and worth pinning down early.

Facilities follow a predictable pattern. WiFi appears at 21 of them and a restaurant at 20, so a bar here usually comes with somewhere to eat rather than just somewhere to drink. After that the numbers thin out quickly: disabled access at 10, parking at 9, pet friendly at 6, sea views at 6 and a gift shop at 5. If any of those are non-negotiable, filter for them first and choose the area second.

Which areas suit which trip

Portrush has the most of any single place, with seven, which makes it the obvious base for a coast-first trip. The Elephant Rock Hotel is a good example of the type — bar, restaurant and WiFi together — and The Bushmills Inn is listed at Portrush too, with bar, restaurant and disabled access. Portpatrick follows with four and Newcastle with three, including The Donard Hotel (bar and WiFi).

For countryside and a quieter pace, County Antrim has three, among them The Manor House, which lists a bar, restaurant and cafe, and the Dunsilly Hotel, which adds takeaway food — genuinely useful if you're arriving late or heading out early. Clogher's single entry, Corick House, is the outlier of the set, with a swimming pool, hot tub and spa.

City breaks are covered by Belfast (two, including the Maldron Hotel Belfast International with bar and WiFi) and Derry (two). Da Vinci's in Derry lists evening entertainment alongside its bar and restaurant, while The Ebrington pairs a bar with a swimming pool and spa. Bowmore has one, the Bowmore Hotel, with bar and restaurant.

Families, couples and dog owners

• Families: look for the restaurant (20 of 32) and parking (9) combination, and consider the caravanning and camping sites if you want space to spread out. Dunsilly Hotel's takeaway food is a quiet win with tired children.
• Couples: the pool-and-spa stays — Corick House and The Ebrington — are the two that stand out, and sea views appear at six places if you'd rather the window did the work.
• Dog owners: only six of the 32 are pet friendly, so this is the hardest filter to satisfy. Dellwood Hotel at Campbeltown lists pet friendly alongside its bar and restaurant. Always confirm the dog policy directly, including whether dogs are allowed in the bar itself and whether there's a charge per night.
• Accessibility: ten list disabled access, including The Bushmills Inn, The Downshire Arms Hotel at Banbridge and Port Charlotte Hotel. Ring ahead about the specifics — step-free routes to the bar and restaurant aren't always the same as step-free bedrooms.

What to do once you're there

The coast gives you the Giant's Causeway and the Dark Hedges, both within reach of a Portrush base. Inland and around County Down, the castle and heritage trail is strong: Scrabo Tower, Mount Stewart, Killyleagh Castle, Kilclief Castle and Narrow Water Castle, with Hezlett House for a National Trust half-day. Rainy afternoons are well served by museums — the Tower Museum, the Museum of Free Derry, Seamus Heaney HomePlace and the Linen Centre and Museum in County Down. With children in tow, The Lake Kilrea WaterPark, Lagan Valley LeisurePlex and Rainforest House in Belfast are the ones to have in reserve.

When to book

With only 32 of these in total and seven of them concentrated in Portrush, availability tightens fast around the summer holidays, Easter and any weekend with golf, music or a major event on the north coast. Book three to six months ahead for July and August and for bank holiday weekends. The pet friendly six and the sea view six go first — if either applies to you, treat them as the thing you book around.

Off-season midweek is where the flexibility is. Before you confirm, check whether the bar and restaurant keep the same hours in winter, whether parking is on site or on the street, and whether food service stops earlier than the bar does.