Healing Places of Ireland

New Age health spas, springing up alongside the more traditional seaweed baths, are enticing people to Ireland for healing vacations as never before.

John Wayne did it. W. B. Yeats did it. Even the pagan Druids did it. They all went on healing vacations. Yesterday’s movers and shakers knew then what today’s vacationers are just discovering — Ireland has the power to heal and rejuvenate. So, nowadays, lured by invigorating sea air and waters rich with life-enhancing minerals, stressed-out Boomers, elders, and younger folks from Generation X are soaking, stretching and meditating in the new health spas that are mushrooming across the country.

Hidden behind the hedges of Wicklow, surrounded by farmland in the Midlands, or overlooking the rocky seashore of the west coast, Ireland’s healing places are geared not only to restoring the body. Like modern-day holy wells, they also heal the spirit.

Each of the dozen or so healing places has its own character. Some, like the seaweed baths, offer traditional therapies that haven’t changed in hundreds of years. Others have pampering programs similar to European spas, with guests luxuriating in masks, facials and peppermint wraps. But most are health farms not unlike American spas, with guided exercise, energizing food, weight loss, relaxation, and motivational talks, jazzed up with aromatherapy, massage and a few other blissful beauty treatments. Here are some of Ireland’s best wellness vacations.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the May / June 1998 issue of Irish America. The hotels, spas, restaurants, farms, and other facilities may not be accurate as of 2024. Please look up and confirm the names, numbers, and prices are accurate before paying for or booking services. ⬥

Seaweed Bath

The seaweed bath was actually developed in Ireland. A popular prescription in Granny’s day, the hot briny baths brimming with seaweed are part of a 300-year-old tradition for easing aches and pains. Today, however, the only bathhouses are at Ballybunion and Enniscrone.

In Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, the Kilcullen family has been drawing seaweed baths for nearly 100 years. At the helm are Ed Kilcullen and his wife Christine, who manage the bath complex, and Ed’s brother Michael gathers the fresh seaweed on the shore in front of their bathhouse.

Every morning at low tide, Michael wades into the bay in front of the bathhouse and pulls the seaweed, stuck like glue, off the rocks. Gathering about 300 kilos (enough for ten bucketsful), he carries it up to the bathhouse. Then, as each bath is being drawn, the bathhouse crew steams a bucket of seaweed, bringing alginate, seaweed’s oily substrate, to the surface of the leaves. The amber-colored gel is so rich in iodine that it’s 20,000 times the concentration of its seawater.

Seaweed baths, which are said to have originated in Enniscrone in the mid-1700s, became popular in the late 1800s when Christopher Orme, owner of nearby Abbytown demesnes and a pioneer in the benefits of hygiene, opened the first bathhouse. Several decades later, the Kilcullen family followed suit; they have stayed in the business for five generations.

Quite a few of their customers are also fifth generation seaweed enthusiasts, who, following the lead of their parents and grandparents, use the baths to treat psoriasis or ease their aches and pains. But lately, there’s a new batch of seaweed groupies — the 30-something crowd. Looking for a relaxing pampering treatment at bargain basement prices, they’ve discovered that seaweed works as a natural moisturizer.

Sinking into the steaming baths, they take the ends of the fronds bulging with alginate, and rub the gel over their faces, arms and legs. Then, after soaking for 20 minutes or so, the heartiest souls jump into a cold shower.

You can hear them roar and shout. That can be disconcerting to a newcomer, says Kilcullen, a hydrology engineer at University College, Galway. Carefully avoiding the idea that seaweed baths help medical problems, he says there’s a much simpler answer. “The buoyant water takes pressure off aching limbs and that gives a sense of well-being, and the cold shower cools the body and closes the pores. You can’t help but relax.”

Kilcullen Seaweed Baths are open daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from St. Patrick’s Day to November, for a week at Christmas time and weekends throughout the rest of the year. There are eight baths; towels are provided; massage is available and there’s an adjoining teahouse. A seaweed bath (no time limit) costs £7 ($10). Phone 011- 353-96-36238; fax 011-353-96-36895.

Accommodations: Ceol Na Mara (Music of the Sea), a 150-year- old town house owned by the O’Regan family for 50 years, is within walking distance of the baths. Bed &breakfast costs £17 per night, per person, double occupancy or £170 per week, including home- cooked dinner. Phone 011-353-96-36351.

There are also two seaweed bath operations in Ballybunion both run by granddaughters of the original owners. Open seven days a week from May to October on Ladies Beach, the cost is £5 per bath. Phone Mary Collins Hot Seaweed Baths at 011-353-68-27469 or Daly’s Hot Seaweed Baths at 011-353-68-27559.

Traditional Spa

Though earlier this century Ireland was dotted with a number of traditional spas (health resorts built around mineral springs), there is only one left. Called Lisdoonvarna Spa Wells, it’s near the edge of the Burren in Co. Clare. Here, healing water, rich with sulfur, iron and magnesium, trickles down through nearby mountain shale into a spring under the pump house. It’s then pumped to the surface, where faucets provide hot or cold water.

Celebrated as a therapeutic treatment since the early 1700s for rheumatism, arthritis and skin diseases, Lisdoonvarna water was traditionally used to cleanse the liver. “Some find it beneficial after a winter’s drinking of bad whiskey from private stills,” reported Hely Dutton in his 1808 Statistical Survey of Clare.

The pump house has its regulars who meet every season for a daily dose of sulfur water. They advise a newcomer that the nastytasting drink is easier to slug down when it’s taken hot; that’s because heating the water dissipates some of the sulfur gas. That gas, steaming up from the eight Victorian baths in the bathhouse, has soothed the muscles of many nature enthusiasts who make Spa Wells the last stop of walking or biking trips through the Burren. Those with heart problems should check with their doctors before taking a sulfur bath, just as they would before taking a hot sauna.

The Spa Wells has at least one old-fashioned treatment that you won’t find in many other spas. It’s called the electric sulfur bath. Here, as the bather sinks into the hot bath, he or she rests his back and the soles of his feet on metal plates in the bottom of the tub. Then a battery-activated gentle current passes through the water, zapping the plates and relaxing the muscles. But again, a word of caution. Don’t even think about taking an electric sulfur bath if you have a pacemaker or metal implant. You’d become a human lightning rod and might get quite a jolt.

Spa Wells, open June to October, is especially popular in September during Lisdoonvarna’s post-harvest matchmaking fest (there are tea dances and concerts in season). Treatments include aromatherapy, reflexology, wax baths and massage. Sulfur baths cost $12; a full massage is $27. Phone 011-353-65-74023.

Accommodations: The Hydro Hotel, across the street from Spa Wells, has bed and breakfast packages starting at £27 per night, per person, double occupancy; £39 for a single. Phone: 011-353-65- 74005, fax: 011-353-65-74406.

Health Farms

Clona in Westport, Co. Mayo, is Ireland’s oldest health farm. The old stone mill, restored 25 years ago by Sonia Kelly, has been owned and run for the past decade by her son Darragh and his wife Emer. The Sunday through Friday cleansing program, expected to be strictly adhered to, includes yoga in the mornings; guided walks every afternoon; and a vegetarian detox diet of soups, salads, fruit, nuts and herbal teas. Daily talks center on nutrition, yoga and herbal remedies; optional shiatsu, reflexology and Swedish massage. In spartan accommodations, the rooms are all singles with shared baths. Cost is £285 per person for a stay lasting from Sunday night through Friday afternoon. 011-353-98-25251.

Perhaps the most comprehensive of Ireland’s healing programs is at Laughaunrone in Oranmore, Co. Galway. With New Age treatments, inventive therapists and a dramatic seacoast setting, this holistic health farm is the centerpiece of a 50-acre deer farm just minutes from Galway city. Owned and run by Margaret McNulty, a registered nurse, and her husband Gerry, a fitness enthusiast, Laughaunrone offers a plethora of health and beauty treatments and classes in an elegant country setting.

In a week-long program that includes aerobics and stress management classes, there are talks by a psychologist, a dietitian, and an image consultant; reflexology; a daily massage; and a date with the hairdresser for a final sprucing up. The dining table is laden with high-protein, low-fat meat, fruit and produce grown on the spot. Bread is baked daily and diets are devised for guests who request them.

Laughaunrone’s one-week package (Sunday-Sunday), including transportation to Shannon airport, a Saturday day trip to Connemara, and a Saturday night ceili, is £610, per person, double occupancy, or £650 for a single. Phone 011-353-91-790606, fax: 011- 353-91-790837.

Beauty treatments are a la carte at most of the healing centers; but at Powerscourt Springs Health Farm, relaxation through pampering is a main focus. This 50-acre farm in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, has a swimming pool, steam room, sauna, and gym; but the only organized activities are morning yoga sessions and afternoon walks. Here, in an unstructured setting, each guest designs his or her own spa program. The choices include a laundry list of pampering specialties, including facials, thermal mud treatments and a Peppermint Twist body wrap. A six-night package, including room, board and £175 worth of treatments (an average five or six) costs £499 per person, double occupancy or £589 for a single. Phone 011-3531-276-1000. Fax 011-353-1-276-1626.

The Rochester Hotel near Cork city center is Ireland’s first center specializing in thalassotherapy. The French spa treatment, based on seawater and sea plant extracts, involves wraps and baths with liquid seaweed, menthol and eucalyptus. A two-night thalassotherapy package includes bed and breakfast; use of the gym, sauna and pool; and a massage, facial and seaweed wrap. Cost is £145, per person, double occupancy. Phone 011-353-21-894949; fax 011-353-21-892178.

Temple Farmhouse in Horseleap, Co. Westmeath, specializes in relaxation, with guided meditation and an aromatherapy massage every day. Also available in the 200-year-old farmhouse: yoga and exercise classes, sauna, steam room and hydrotherapy bath. The cuisine is health-conscious but generous. Cost is £80 per night (£480 for six nights) per person. Phone or fax 011-353-506-35118.

New Age treatments are offered on an a la carte basis at An Tearmann Beag (The Little Sanctuary) in Kilross, Co. Tipperary. This holistic retreat on a small organic farm in the foothills of the Galtee mountains offers a loosely structured program including treatments such as bio-resonance/vega testing, kinesiology and the dance of universal peace. Cost is £35 per night (£210 for six nights) for lodging with vegetarian meals. Extra for meat-eaters. Treatments are also extra. Bring your own towel. Phone 011-353-62- 55102.

Strictly Vegetarian

Avon Park in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, is a 200-year-old Georgian mansion on the road to the famous monastic site. The Monday through Friday program involves yoga every morning, guided walks through Annandale forest and Glendalough every afternoon, and evening massages. Indian massage (£15) and reflexology (£25) are extra treats. Strictly vegetarian menu. A five-day package costs £490. Phone 011-353-404-46610, fax 011353-404 — 46878.

Annaghdown and Claureen health farms also have pocketbook- friendly packages for detoxing and de-stressing.

Annaghdown, in the pastureland of Corrandulla, Co. Galway, has an exercise gym, sauna, and vegetarian meals of fruit, salads and homemade brown bread. There are yoga classes every morning; reflexology and beauty treatments are extra. The five-night program is open February to November and costs £265 per person. Phone 011- 353-91-791155.

Claureen House, on a working farm in Ennis, Co. Clare, offers morning aerobics classes; afternoon walks on the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher; and yoga, reflexology and aromatherapy in the evenings. Every Monday evening a doctor visits and answers questions. Meals are vegetarian; beauty treatments are a la carte. A fivenight program costs £225 per person, double occupancy; £250 for a single. Phone 011-353-65-28969, fax 011-353-65-42970.