Guesthouses have lots to offer, especially a warm family welcome, good cooking and an innate friendliness that's hard to beat. Their rates are very competitive too. Comfort usually comes in the "last word" category, since many guesthouses have most if not all their rooms en suite. One guesthouse of my acquaintance in Kenmare, Co Kerry, had fully en suite rooms. The bed was delightfully soft - you just sank into it and fell into a restful sleep. The room had a television set, a direct-dial phone and separate bathroom, all very functional.
Ariel House in Lansdowne Road, Dublin, is another such place of high standards, where guests can stay just as comfortably as any four star hotel, and for a lot less money!
In short, the standards of guesthouses around the country have rocketed over the past few years and certain suburbs - like Ballsbridge in Dublin and Salthill in Galway - have become guesthouse meccas. But this is a phenomenon that has come to most parts of the country, not just the most touristy areas.
Many of the leading registered guesthouses are listed in the Discover Ireland autumn/ winter holiday breaks brochure, a hefty volume running to nearly 150 pages. However, while these breaks are available now, that only remains the case until mid-December.
Not too many guesthouses will take paying visitors over the Christmas holidays, so it's not a very practical option for the actual Christmas or millennium holiday period.
The special millennium festive breaks brochure put out by Bord Failte contains nearly all hotels, but there are some exceptions, like the Gormanstown Manor farm guesthouse, near Wicklow town and Brittas Bay.
This is a lovely family-run guesthouse, with bright, spacious en suite rooms. It's one of the very few guesthouses that actually does a Christmas programme.
Christmas Day includes breakfast, followed perhaps by Church, a walk, a round of golf or sightseeing, with the traditional Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings, being served at 5 p.m. Then guests are free to relax in front of the open fires.
Another suggestion from this millennium brochure is Peggy O'Shea's Bleach farmhouse at Blennerville just outside Tralee in Co Kerry.
For Christmas Day, she will be serving a light lunch, then Christmas dinner with wine and Irish coffee, with the day finally rounded off with a late supper and drinks. You can almost savour the wonderful family-style Christmas atmosphere of these two locations off the brochure!
However, if you do want to have a quick trip away before Christmas and escape for a weekend or perhaps a mid-week day or two from all the shopping madness, then there are lots of places on offer. As one example, the Augusta Lodge guesthouse in Westport, Co Mayo, does weekends (two bed and breakfasts plus one round of golf) for £60 per person sharing. This is a superb family-run, three-star, purpose-built guesthouse.
In another example, you could stay at the Abbey House guest house in Upper Newcastle, Galway, for a weekend up to mid-December for £38 per person sharing.
In Tivoli, in the east of Cork city, the Lotamore House guest house is four-star; it's a modernised Georgian guesthouse with 20 en suite rooms. A three-night mid-week break up to mid-December is priced at £60 per person sharing.
If you opt for a four-star guest house - like Lotamore House - the comfort standards are going to be really good. Luxury, en suite rooms, with television sets, direct-dial phones and self-contained bathrooms/shower rooms are the norm.
So while it will be difficult to find many guesthouses where you can stay en famille during Christmas, certainly all the main guesthouses will be catering for visitors at least up to the middle of next month.
