20 Facts about Bunratty Medieval Banquet . . .

This banquet came highly recommended by my father who used to live in Ireland. I'm so glad we listened to his recommendation and bought tickets for it. We were running late, but there was still a line waiting to get in when we arrived.

1. You get see a small portion of the castle while they finish setting up dinner

2. They provide a small performance in the Great Hall before dinner

3. Free Mead is provided for all the adults during the first performance

4. For dinner you sit at communal tables like you would in medieval times

5. You receive a 3 course meal: appetizer, entrée and dessert

6. No silverware!!

7. We had delicious soup, chicken and potatoes, and dessert

Main Meal
  

8. The pottery your meal is served in is available for purchase

 9. We had the nicest server . . . great local insight.

10. Everyone is dressed up for their part

11. The performance was awesome. A very talented group!

12. It is interactive with the crowd: someone gets crowned the Earl and Lady

13. Someone gets thrown into the Dungeons- Make sure it isn't you!

14. Shannon Heritage runs this banquet along with the Knappogue Banquet and the Dunguaire Banquet

15. The whole performance with dinner included is about 2 1/2 hours

16. There are two performance times 5:30pm and 8:45pm

17. The Banquet runs yearly

18. The price for adults is 51.50 euros

19. Reservations are required: Book ahead of time or their wont be tickets left

20. Visit their website at http://www.shannonheritage.com/BookNow/

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Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle is a 16th century tower house located on the southern shores of Galway Bay.  It was built in 1520 by the Hynes Clan. Legend has it if a person stands at the front gate, and asks a question, they will have the answer to that question by the end of the day. I did some research on this castle after we came home, and Dunguaire is thought to be one of the most photographed castles in Ireland! Funnily enough we didn't even know this castle existed before our trip.

We left our B&B that morning and began our journey to Liscannor, where we would be staying the next couple of nights. It ended up taking us the entire day to get there! There were so many things we came across and we stopped at all of them. We were passing through a small, Irish town when a castled popped up out of nowhere! We had a just driven around a curve, and directly in front of us was the castle! We were so excited to see our very first castle! We had been warned that castles would be everywhere, but this one is special to me now. We drove past the castle and parked in the free parking lot down the road. It's a small parking lot, but it is free. We crossed the street and walked a couple minutes to the castle. It's a very picturesque castle with the Irish countryside on one side and Galway Bay on the other side.

Dunguaire is run by Shannon Heritage and it was in very good condition. I think Bunratty is the only castle we saw that beats it in condition. The have the rooms set up as you imagine they would be in medieval times. We paid a small fee in order to tour the castle. It was awesome! The spiral staircase starts on the first floor and continues to the top. You are able to enter the rooms at each landing. In some cases you had no choices, but to get off at a landing in order for the people coming down to pass you.

The Great Hall is set up just as you imagined it would be. The table went around the room with the lord and lady's chairs at the head. I'm not sure if your allowed to sit in the chairs, but I did!

 

We became very familiar with spiral, stone staircases on this trip. On the top floor there is a couple of steps that lead you outside to battlements. You are allowed to go up and walk around. Some of my favorite pictures were taken here!

It was so beautiful! The views of Galway Bay and the irish countryside were amazing! They did a wonderful job restoring this castle. I'm so glad we stopped. Sometimes deviating from your plan gives you such unexpected surprises!

The castle is open from April- October 1, 10am- 4pm. The admission for the castle is as follows:

Adult- 5 euros
5-16 children- 2.95 euros
0-5 children- free
Seniors- 3.50 euros

They also offer the Dunguaire Banquet. We didn't know this was offered, but we did do the Bunratty Medieval Banquet. They are both run by the Shannon Heritage, so I'm sure this one would be fine also. We really enjoyed our banquet. The banquet is offered at 5:30pm and 8:45pm. Reservations are required. Reservations can be made at Dunguaire Castle or on their website http://www.shannonheritage.com/EveningEntertainments/DunguaireCastleBanquet/.