just arrived back from a fantastic weekend away in Kilkenny! We choose the Aspect hotel after getting a promotional fax at work!
finding the hotel was no problem! the directions provided by the hotels website led us straight to them! on arrival at the hotel we were met by extremely pleasant and helpful staff who took time to chat with us! the foyer is an extremely open planned space having the reception desk, breakfast area, dinner/lunch area, and bar all in the one space!
We had a room on the second floor at the side of the hotel, on entering the room it was your bog standard room, two single beds properly pushed together, tv, tea/coffee making facilities and an Iron and Ironing Board! my only peeve against the room was the overwhelming smell of cigarettes in the bathroom, especially when we came back later on in the night when the room was hot, you open the bathroom door only to be met with this gastly smell!
We had a few drinks in the bar before heading into town, the bar man was delightful! a really pleasant young man, i asked him exactly how long it would take us to walk into the town/city and he was up front and honest! 20 minutes give or take!! 20mins if we climbed over the fence, walked across the road and stayed on the footpath! 30 mins if we went out the front and walked like civilised people and didnt climb the fence!! well with the shoes i was wearing we opted to jsut get a cab! but the following day we took his advice and hoped the fence and it took us approx 15 mins to walk in! i would defo say that if we had walked around the civilised way it would have taken us the 30 mins, i would have been moaning, himself wouldnt be talking to me, and we would have had a crap day! so thanks Kevin (i think his name was that) big thumbs up! and by the way if you are reading this kevin i was the one with the guiness milkshake!
sooo the taxi driver was very informative, we asked him to drop us to the nearest central pub and he did! dropped us right outside the Hibernian with the Left bank accross the way from it! few pints in each and sure we were laughing! the hibernian was extremely busy and the constant que waiting for a table proved in time that this was the busiest bar in Kilkenny on a friday night, we went accross to the Left Bank and if there were 10 people in there it was a lot! a very quite bar! and a stiff walk up the stairs to the loo! i felt as if i was walking for ever!!
others bars visited on the night were rafter dempseys, matt the miller and one other pub just a few doors down from matt the millers but for the life of me i cant recall its name!
taxi back to the hotel €8.65! not too bad i suppose, a few more beers in the bar! and off to the bedroom, NOW!! i will swear on a stack of Bibles!! the DARKEST curtains in Ireland! usually there is a stream of light that you just cant cover up! but in the Aspect Hotel WOW, we woke at 9am and thought it was still nighttime, NO light whatsoever coming through the curtains! WHERE OH WHERE can i get a pair!
breakfast was a great experience! self service! no one waiting on you at the table you could come and go as you please! you had a choice of a full irish hot breakfast or your continental breakfast! we didnt have lunch or dinner in the hotel but if the breakfast was anything to judge by i'd imagine that the lunch and dinner were excellant as well!
One thing i woudl suggest to anyone staying here is that if you have a meal booked in a restaurant in town and you are getting there by taxi that you BOOK your taxi in advance, we booked into Runcianis (spelt very badly) and there was a que for taxis when we ordered one in reception, so pre booking is a must!
Check out was a late one, with the offer it was 2pm checkout normally 12! no delays all over and dusted within 5 mins, I had joined the loyalty programme in advance but no number was provided so im not sure whether I was given the points for staying this weekend! the receptionist advised that she would check it out and get back to me..........
I would recommend this hotel to a friend as long as they didnt mind a walk to town, i couldnt fault it!! i did bring it to the receptionist attention re the smell of smoke in the bathrooms and she apologised for this. OH!!! one last thing! there are other posters on here who mentioned the boy racers, i think that this was taken in hand by the local council in that they closed off the road by night that was being used! we heard no boy racers at all!! the only thing that woke us in the wee small hours of the morning was a VERY over enthuastic (again spelling woeful) young lady in what can only be described as a Jubilant mating ritual in the middle of the grass area to the side of the hotel! LOUD is not the word for her! not that we were complaining! we actually found it hysterical! (",)