Travel

Luxury tees off at Dunluce Lodge, Northern Ireland's first five-star resort

THE service at Northern Ireland’s newest five-star luxury hotel, the 35-suite Dunluce Lodge overlooking the fourth fairway of Royal Portrush Golf Club, which hosts the 153rd Open Championship (July 13-20), is impressive.

They rang me several days before I arrived.

And asked me - as they doubtless will Rory McIlroy who he will be based there for the week- what I wanted to drink on my arrival. Prosecco, Long Meadow Farm apple juice or Magharamourne spring water?

Guinness, oddly enough, was not mentioned. They also asked if I had a specific time in mind for my turndown service and delivery of my complimentary night-time Chocolate Manor, Coleraine chocolate bar.

American-owned Dunluce Lodge, an hour’s drive north of Belfast, has an American country club feel to it. It is decorated with especially commissioned paintings by Irish artists.

It is Northern Ireland's first five-star resort. Overlooking the fourth fairway of Royal Portrush Golf Club, it offers 35 luxurious suites, including The Stookan, a private annex for larger groups. Amenities feature a restaurant, wine vault, private dining spaces, and a spa, all open to residents and the public.

The staff are endlessly helpful and friendly.

Wait-person Carla gave me a lesson in early morning Irish cuisine. Apparently, the difference between a traditional Ulster Fry breakfast and an All-Irish, as served in the Lodge’s restaurant are baked beans.

Although heavy on black and white pudding, an All-Irish doesn’t have them.

An Ulster one does. Carla also told me how to make Irish porridge. “Just tip some Bushmills in.”

It should be easy enough to get the whiskey. Bushmills, a charming village in just half a dozen miles away, is renowned for the Old Bushmills Distillery, the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery since 1608.

You learn a lot of important things at Dunluce. Not just at breakfast. You learn how to distinguish between a ghost and an American.

On a tour along the Causeway Coast, Simon my Landmark Luxury guide pointed with his blackthorn at a woman in the distance standing on a clifftop. She wore a billowing white dress.

Simon quickly explained that she was on an “elopement package”. This is an option for those who prefer to get married in an open field than in a church and for those brides who prefer, for the photos, to stand beside an old ruined castle or the like, rather than a handsome best man or pretty bridesmaids.

An aerial view of Royal Portrush Golf Club

The knowledgeable Simon confirmed the women wasn’t the spectre of the long-dead Lady of Dunluce waiting for the return of her lover from the high seas. She was just someone waiting for her photograph to be taken.

Having your own private Co. Antrim storyteller, or Seanchaí, is a must. Simon is a proud storyteller and keeper of local lore and his jokes are as old as the Giant’s Causeway itself.

He’ll give you a whisky-tasting session on the Causeway, take you to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and tell you all about the Games of Thrones filmed around here. The Dark Hedges are just to the south of Portrush.

The atmospheric avenue of beech trees near Armoy portrayed the King's Road, notably seen when Arya Stark escaped King's Landing.

The beautiful Ballintoy Harbour was transformed into Lordsport Harbour where Theon Greyjoy returns home and meets his sister . . .and so on for several more episodes.

He’s full of facts about Dunluce Castle too. What a fascinating place, aside from the fact that it was Castle Pyke, the stronghold of House Greyjoy on the Iron Island in the Game of Thrones.

Perched dramatically on the coast, it was significantly rebuilt in the 16th and early 17th centuries by the MacDonnell clan—particularly under Sorley Boy MacDonnell and later Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim.

During this period, cannons were integrated into the castle's defences, and it's often noted for its gun loops and bastions designed specifically for artillery.

He also has all the gen on the U-boat attacks during World War I.

Simon does a pretty convincing Finn McCool the Giant too. And will even advise on souvenirs.

He also will guide you to cafes, various water-related activities, and bracing walks.

Whatever you get up to, your appetite will be built up. Dunluce Lodge’s former Rick Stein apprentice and executive chef at the Lough Erne Resort, Stephen Holland offers smoked Lough Neagh eel with seared scallops, Glenarm North Coast salmon, venison from County Tyrone, halibut with crayfish sauce, flax-fed sirloin steak with garlic and ginger sauteed spinach, County Fermanagh mushrooms, Bridal Gold butter, the hotel’s signature Baked Alaska, spiced plum and pistachio tart, stout and treacle soda bread and artisanal Ballylisk cheese of Armagh.

In the spa, Jessica does wonders for your skin matrix quality, taxed calves, stressed hamstrings and wind-swept scalp, leaving you glowing with Co Kerry Seabody products.

Over a Calamity Corner dirty martini -named after famous par 3 16th-I asked Pierce the barman who he fancied for The Open. “My heart is with Rory or Shane,” he said. “But I think Brooks Koepka and Jake Knapp have a chance.”

Groundsman and curator of the hotel’s putting green and former chef Glenn picked Tommy Fleetwood. But Gerard, the doorman, thinks Tony Jacklin.

We’ll have to wait and see.

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

The 153rd Open Championship is scheduled to take place from July 13 to 20, 2025, at Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim. This marks a significant return to the venue, following the memorable 2019 Open where Irish golfer Shane Lowry clinched victory.

Royal Portrush is renowned for its challenging Dunluce Links course, considered one of the finest links courses globally. The 2025 Open will be the third time the club has hosted the championship, with previous events in 1951 and 2019.