Luxury Travel Advisor - November 2008 - (Page 42)

HOTELS K Club Kildare, Ireland The K Club (www.kclub.ie) is Ireland at its most beautiful, blending heritage and elegance with excellent service in a stunning rural setting. Sitting in the spacious lobby and looking out across the 500-acre estate, we decided there really are those “Forty Shades of Green” Johnny Cash sung of. The Arnold Palmer and Smurfit championship golf courses shot the resort to international prominence when they hosted the Ryder Cup in 2006; however, the K Club is not just golf—it also offers a wide range of activities and experiences like riding and fishing, gourmet dining and luxurious treatments in the K Spa. The elegant lounges on the ground floor are handsomely furnished with paintings and antiques and art lovers will be dazzled by the Yeats Room, which has the world’s largest collection of the Irish Impressionist artist’s paintings. Art historians give lectures for individuals and groups on the in-house art and on Irish architecture. Ask Head Concierge Billy de Bertraut (billy. debertraut@kclub.ie; 011353-1-601-7200) to arrange the lectures and also to set up tailor-made programs for clay pigeon shooting, horse riding, fishing, shopping in the nearby Kildare Village outlet mall and city and airport transfers. He can also arrange private jet and helicopter services at Baldonnell airport, which is 12 miles away. When the present owners bought the 19th-century French château-style Straffan House, they added another wing, which is a mirror image of the original, so there is no need to ask for the old or the new wing, as it is impossible to tell them apart. The 60 Superior, Deluxe and River Rooms and the nine Suites all differ in size, shape and décor, but they are all graciously elegant with an abundance of period furnishings and modern amenities. They have extremely large marble bathrooms, with those in the Superior Rooms standing out for their hand-painted walls, which feature a range of different themes. All bathrooms have double sinks and Aromatherapy Associates toiletries, but there are Joe Malone products in the Imperial and Viceroy Suites. We particularly liked room No. 72, a Deluxe Room on the ground floor, which has elegant bay windows, and room No. 44, which has a bathroom down a few steps and a separate shower stall—not all rooms have one. Tip: For extra atmosphere and for honeymooners, ask for one of the Deluxe Rooms with a fourposter bed and views of the front Italianate gardens. The four 614square-foot Liffey Suites have separate living rooms and views of the hotel’s private stretch of the River Liffey and of the 17th hole of the championship Ryder Cup Palmer Course. For the best sunset views, ask for one of the Liffey Suites or room Nos. 74 or 85. The seven Hotel Suites have interconnecting living rooms and they all connect with deluxe rooms to create two-bedroom Suites. The Imperial and Viceroy Suites have separate bedrooms and living rooms; the Imperial is the larger of the two and has a long dinner table in the living K CLUB (top) is surrounded by Ireland’s pastoral landscape and greenery with 69 rooms and two championship golf courses on offer. 42 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | November 2008 http://www.kclub.ie

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Luxury Travel Advisor - November 2008 Contents Publisher's Letter Editor's Letter Las Vegas Australia Virginia's Northern Neck Posh Penthouses K Club Four Seasons Florence Entertaining Luxury Caribbean Spas The Pulse Jetset Report Luxury Lifestyles Just Back Luxury Travel Expo Sightings Source List Virtuoso Insert

Luxury Travel Advisor - November 2008

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