Royal Hotel & Leisure Center - Bray

Great pool, ok rooms

The downstairs of the hotel was very nice. We entered and there was a lounge area with a fire place. The bar area was very nice and the pool/hot tub/ steam room area were lovely. However, the rooms, did not match the quality of the downstairs. Our room was non smoking but smelled like smoke. The size of the room was adequate, but the bed was squishy and the carpet was stained and grungy. We were there on a Sunday night so everything in Bray was closed for a late dinner. We went to the hotel bc we had seen the menu in our room and it seemed fine. But when we got there, we were the only ones there. They would only offer us an "early bird" menu though it was 8:30. The options were very limited and our waitress though nice did not seem to have any idea about any of the food. And this was on a menu with 3 apps, 3 entrees and 3 desserts. The meal was fine, nothing special. It did have more potatoes on one plate than I had seen in all of Ireland.

Traveller's tip on local attractions

You must go to Powers Court if it is a nice day. The grounds and gardens are lovely. Also, Glendolough is not too far and it is a wonderful place to hike and see historical landmarks

All things considered, a good place to stay.

The hotel was undergoing substantive renovations while we were there which detracted from the ’condition’ and therefore we scored this aspect lower than it might have deserved otherwise. The service was let down by a member of the staff not being able to present our bill accurately. But, if we are in the same area again and need a hotel we would use it as our first choice.

Good value for money

Very impressed with the standard of service and facilities at the hotel. Would stay there again. Very convenient for the DART and easy to reach via airport bus.

Will use again next time i visit

Great base to have if you wish to visit the surrounding area. Great transport links. I usually book two hotels, one in Bray and one in Dublin, in the future i will probably just book the royal and travel into Dublin to sightsee.

Great alternative to staying in Dublin

We spent several days at the Royal Hotel before returning to the states at the end of an extended trip. Bray is a delightful community that is an easy DART train ride from Dublin. Additionally County Wicklow offers many attractions of its own. Thoroughly enjoyed the stay and the staff were extremely helpful and courteous. Highly recommended.

Not impressed

This is a lovely art deco hotel. All the above categories were average but the worst bit was the food in the restaurant and the service, both were very poor. We won’t be going back

Had a great time

Lovely hotel in central location. It’s on the main high street in Bray, amongst shops, pubs and restaurants, the sea front is about five mins walk away. There is even a bus that runs from dublin airport to outside the hotel four times a day for 12 euros. (The Bray Air Express). Bray has pretty good transport links anyway, with the trains, DART and buses. I would use this hotel again.

Traveller's tip on dining

Shelbys restaurant on the main high street, is well worth a visit

it was ok

i had stayed at this hotel before, but on this visit i was not impressed. The room I was allocated was noisey, so i asked for a different room,and was given a smoking room, which absolutely reeked. I kept the noisey room. The bathroom hd a lot to be desired. It felt quite dirty although it was clean. Breakfast was revolting. A bowl of grapefruit segments from a tin, a boring hot selection that had probably been sitting for ages and it must have been a pensioners’ convention too. not again