The Europe hotel review – stellar scenery, one of the best spas in Ireland, and room to improve

The popular five-star feels wonderfully remote, but could benefit from a stronger sense of identity, our reviewer says

The Europe Hotel and Resort in Killarney

John O’Ceallaigh

Now in its seventh decade of operation, The Europe in Killarney was named Ireland’s Best Hotel in the Irish Independent’s 2023 Reader Travel Awards. The views are beautiful, the spa facilities fantastic, and our readers clearly love it. We last reviewed the five-star in 2017, so with this endorsement in place, it was high time for a return visit.

Competition for scenic plots in rural Ireland wasn’t quite so intense when The Europe was established in 1961, so its German owners, the Liebherr family (who also own The Dunloe and Ard na Sidhe), were able to stake their claim on one of the Kingdom’s crown jewels.