Review of Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites, Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland

> For contact details, see greentraveller's full listing of  Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites

Inis Meain Restaurant and Suites, Inis Meain, Aran Islands

Inis Meáin is a luxury hotel and restaurant on the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.

The accommodation
There are five luxury suites tucked into the limestone terrace, all camouflaged by the building’s limestone façade, which segues seamlessly into the island’s same native stone. Windows stretch the length of each suite, giving a cinematic perspective on these dramatic sea and landscapes. This is contemporary luxury, with an enormous white bed, draped in locally knitted alpaca throws, all in shades of grey, to reflect the surrounding limestone. The mini-fridge is stocked with fine wines, salamis, local cheeses, and Fairtrade chocolate. Each room has a lobby, where they store bikes, fishing rods, and swimming towels for each guest. There is a wooden bench and bar stretching the length of this vast room, so that you can eat, drink and watch the Atlantic world go by, until the island's magic finally calls you out there to join it. 

The location
Noone describes Inis Meáin,  one of the least visited of Ireland’s Aran Islands, better than John Millington Synge, Ireland’s most celebrated playwright, who spent four long summers here, between 1896 and 1902. His journal of these visits, The Aran Islands, is a poetic study of life on the island, the people he met, their struggle to survive through fishing or minimal farming, and is packed with local fables and fairytales. I recommend buying the book here before you go). Today, the island’s natural heritage is relatively unchanged, with the same Atlantic waves pounding on the perilous cliffs, soft waters still flowing into secret coves, and karst limestone headlands as sparsely populated as they ever were. Visitors can’t bring cars onto the island, which is only three by five kilometres, and yet when you walk around it, you can get totally lost in what feels like another world, with thousands of stone walls, ancient forts tucked behind more stone walls, and thatched cottages protected from winter winds by yet more stone walls. This place is so magical, you won’t be able to stop taking photos. I'd almost recommend leaving the camera at home, and imbibe this island’s intense qualities in the purest and most technology-freeOverlooking the old pier on Inis Meain, Aran Islands way you can. 

The food
It is hard to know which can take the highest credit here - the Restaurant or the Suites? However as islander Ruairí de Blacam, who founded it with his wife Marie-Thérèse, is also the chef here, I think he may have opted to have ‘Restaurant’ come first in the credits, because the kitchen is his kingdom: an open-plan kitchen, where he stands centre stage in the restaurant producing the likes of  fresh lobster and crab salad with asparagus and aioli, monkfish served with broadbeans, pepper and capers, to the most simple and stunningly prepared dry aged sirloin. While his guests sit around him, all with a a view of the sea,  Ruairí is the perfect master of ceremonies, chatting with people about the menu or their day, while skilfully shredding crab or stirring a cream sauce. There are, however, no pretentions or preciousness about food here, with a big bowl of spuds to accompany every meal.  Marie-Therese wraps up my left over sirloin saying “you might be glad of that in a bit of a sandwich on your morning walk”. How right she was. Breakfast is a cleverly concocted mélange of goodies, including freshly baked scones and bread, boiled eggs, salami and cheese, fresh fruit, muesli and yoghurt, all in copious quantities to allow you to pack up the leftovers for picnic while out on a trek or a cycle. Breakfast is left quietly in the suite's lobby, so that you can help yourself when you rise and shine. 

The Activities
Bikes, fishing rods and swimming towels are provided with each suite, and I highly recommend availing of all three. If you think it is going to be too cold for a dip, pack a wetsuit, as the water is so soft and transparent, it worth experiencing. I hadn’t fished since I was a child, so was delighted to catch some Pollock  Ruairí insisted I bring back my catch if big enough, which he presented later at dinner, beautifully prepared in raw sashimi style slices, sprinkled with sesame seeds and ginger, and a bowl of wasabi sauce. Pack your hiking boots too, as the walking is spectacular. They have detailed descriptions of all walks you can do, but my favourite was the wild, mostly uninhabited south west coast, which took almost four hours and that was going at a pace. Most of this is an unchartered mass of limestone, some parts jagged and rough, other patches of smooth slab, all leading to scary cliff tops with waves pounding over the edge, sending sea water all around my feet. I kept my distance from the edge, and followed the stone walls which line the coast, feeling protected by their history of staying power.

Monkfish and spuds, fine fare at Inis MeainWhat makes Inis Meáin a green hotel?
As well as growing their own vegetables, rearing chickens, pigs and cows, all fertilised with only seaweed, they have an impressive rainwater harvesting system and mains water supplied via the island’s wind-powered desalinisation plant. As visitors cannot bring cars onto the island, cycling and walking are the only options while you are here, although the de Blacams will meet you off the ferry in their minibus when you arrive.

Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites is also an important employer on the island where work opportunities are limited as well as bringing good business to the island’s pub, just a limestone’s throw from the hotel.  As Irish speakers, the owners are keen conservationists of island culture and heritage, promoting all aspects of this through literature and art in the suites, as well as sharing their own extensive knowledge of island history. 

The Journey
Travel by ferry (a 45-minute crossing) to the island of Inis Meáin with Aran Island Ferries from Ros a' Mhíl (Rossaveal) port, 37kms west of Galway City centre (where you can pick up a shuttle bus at  Merchant's Road). You need to get the shuttle bus 1.5 hours before your sailing time. From €25 return for the ferry and €7 for bus. For those coming from outside Ireland, see our guide to How to travel to Ireland without flying.

Top tip
There are a lot of ancient monuments on the island, but you could easily miss the extraordinary 8th century church and cemetery, Cill Cheannanach. In amazing condition it overlooks the sea and was the islanders’ burial place until just fifty years ago. A poignant place to finish a long walk, this sacred place is almost hidden, and yet its piles of headstones, lying flat on the ground, sometimes one on top of the other, remind you of how harsh life has been on the island over the years.

Verdict
This island is a place of great solace and, in some ways, still harbours a mysterious sadness. It feels as if every stone wall, and there are thousands, tells a story of survival or loss.  It is remote and rugged, wild and mysterious, and it is easy to see why it has inspired artists, writers, photographers and musicians. Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites is also a work of art, in that it sustains and celebrates all of this natural and cultural heritage while still managing to wrap guests up in a cocoon that is chic but not pretentious, warm but not in your face, and with hospitality that exceeds all expectations of what we have grown to expect of an Irish welcome. And it is, quite simply, one of those places, which makes me very proud to be Irish. 

To book a stay, see our full listing of  Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites.

The photogenic island of Inis Meain