Hipódromo de Navan: Tours y Actividades

Our stay at Carton House was, unfortunately, far from what we expected. I caught COVID during the trip, and the extreme dryness of the room made everything dramatically worse — every swallow felt like swallowing crushed glass. Even after turning off the air system, the noise from neighbouring rooms kept coming through the walls. The dustpan and brush in the room were broken and frankly disgusting to use, especially around the bathroom. Breakfast was excessively expensive, and our first room (225) smelled like something was burning. When I asked at reception to change rooms, the young woman told me she couldn’t offer anything better because we were staying “too many nights” — seven nights, apparently, was too long to deserve an upgrade. My wife was five months pregnant at the time. Another staff member had to come to inspect the room. Thankfully, the man who eventually came — Philippe — was extremely kind, professional and helpful. He arranged a much better room for us (256), larger, more comfortable, with more storage and even two complimentary drinks. He also helped with the luggage. He did everything the receptionist refused to do, and I still don’t understand why. Even in the new room, a microwave was missing, and it wasn’t possible to open even a small window to get fresh air. The shower was tiny and had no handheld shower head, making it difficult to wash properly. The front desk girl was rather cold, and overall the reception team lacked empathy and warmth.

The reviews on this have been variable so it’s time to weigh in with my own. Bottom line - if you want a decent stay for a cost-effective price, DO consider this. If you’re looking for the Ritz, it’s probably wrong for you. This is normally student accommodation and so is way better than a hostel while not being a hotel. You get your own, modern, fairly smart room with an en suite shower room and toilet. There’s also a modern shared kitchen/TV area with oven and microwave and washing up facilities just down the corridor. The crockery, kettle etc seemed to have come from Ikea and some were still in their plastic, to give you an idea. The fridge/freezer looked new as far as cleanliness goes. Yes, the shower was a bit slow to drain (design flaw I think), but that’s as bad as it got. Bella on reception was ever-pleasant and helpful and I was able to leave my suitcase for a few hours on the last day. This place is on the edge of the centre, so not a bad location. There are one or two places to eat, plus takeaways and convenience stores in easy walking distance. I personally feel I nailed it with this as a choice for a cheap city break - it met my expectations and did the job very nicely. Recommendation for a good break? Leave your car at home and order yourself a visitor’s Leap Card to get around. Dublin hates cars and has pretty great bus, train and tram (Luas) systems. I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t go far wrong.