Grand Hotel Malahide

Rooms at The Grand Hotel Malahide are elegant and spacious, all with private en-suite bathrooms and many offering sea views. If you've got an early tee time, it's worth requesting a front-facing room. The outlook over the estuary is a brilliant start to the day and it feels properly coastal without being miles from Dublin. There's also enough space to spread out your kit, which matters more than you think when you're travelling with clubs, waterproofs and a couple of pairs of shoes.

Food and drink are well covered on site and in town. The Coast Restaurant is the hotel's main dining room and it leans into quality local produce, helped along by those estuary views. A good fit for a relaxed, sit-down dinner after 18 holes, especially if your group wants somewhere easy without having to trek into the city. For something more casual, the Matt Ryan Bar offers an all-day menu and several big screens showing live sport, ideal if you want to keep things informal, catch a match and talk through the day's best (and worst) swings.

When it comes to switching off after golf, the hotel has a 20-metre swimming pool, plus a spa bath and steam room. There aren't full-blown spa facilities here, but for loosening up after walking the links, it's exactly what you want. Those facilities also make the hotel a stronger pick for mixed trips, where not everyone is playing every day and you want a bit of flexibility between rounds.

Overall, it's a comfortable base that suits short breaks, society trips and couples who want coastal golf, decent food and simple logistics, all within easy reach of Dublin.