Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites is situated in the middle of the small island of Inis Meáin which is about 5km by 3km in size. It is the middle island of the three Aran Islands, which are located in Galway Bay in the Atlantic Ocean, 15 miles off the west coast of Ireland. For a map and travel information please see our Travel Toolkit.

We recommend to travel via Dublin Airport as it has the most inbound flights and the best transport options for travelling onwards towards Inis Meáin. Shannon Airport is geographically nearer, however the roads and transport options from there are not as good. For further travel info please see our Travel Toolkit.

No. We offer a two night minimum stay only due to logistical considerations in our remote location. Everything that we do is inspired by our unique island location, and for guests to benefit from what we and our special location offer, we maintain that a two night stay is the minimum amount of time necessary.

No. Looking through our suites and book page, you will see that what we offer is much more than a typical hospitality package. To make this unique hospitality offering work in our remote location, we cannot provide accommodation on combinations of nights different to the stays offered.

Yes. Two of the Burren Suites can be prepared with separate single beds in the sleeping area. If you would like a suite with two single beds please tick this option when booking online.

The Burren Suites are designed for one or two guests to fully enjoy the views, expansive space and relaxation that the suites provides over a stay.

Although the largest suite at 130sq meters, the Connemara Suite is specifically designed as a suite of optimum comfort for one or two guests. The only sleeping arrangements available are a superking size double bed which is located in the ensuite bedroom. This is separate to a vast living area which is unsuitable as additional sleeping quarters.

To preserve the quietness that guests are seeking more and more, bookings are currently accepted for children over 12 only.

No. What we offer is not comparable to any other hospitality provider that we know of. What is included in our rates is much more than what is included in a B&B rate, which is why we call them Exploration Rates. Also we only have suites, each a minimum of 50 square meters, so we have no standard rooms. If comparing rates with other establishments, please ensure that you first read all that is included in our rates, look at suites of a comparable size, and consider that our rates are such to cover the considerable additional costs involved in providing what we offer in our remote island location. For example we have a team of 10 full-time staff, including the owners, to look after the 10 guests staying with us at any time. Our offshore location also currently confines us to a six month season, so we are only open in relatively peak season times and the rates are reflective of this.

No. As there are just five suites and a short season, the suite rates are the same for single or double occupancy in a suite.

No. We have no suitable outbuildings and there are none available on the island at the current time. With just 5 suites with a very high occupancy rate, we can never take a risk of the following guest having allergies to any remaining traces of any previous animal visitors.

There is complimentary Wifi available in all of the suites. The quality of service is reasonably consistent but can be relatively weak in July and August when there are more visitors on the island using internet.

The aim of the suites is to enhance guests' visit to the island by helping them to best explore the island which is an area of unusual natural beauty. Therefore there are no tvs or dvd players in the suites. There are however bicycles outside each suite door, and in each suite - a baited fishing rod, walking sticks, deckchairs, beach towels, umbrella, wildlife binoculars, maps and nature guides. Included in the rates also is a daily delivered hotpot lunch in a backpack that guests can enjoy out and about during their island explorations.

Yes we are delighted to welcome non-suite guests for dinner. From April to August, dinner reservations are available to non-suite guests on Wednesday to Saturday nights inclusive. However with just 16 seats in the restaurant, around 10 of which are usually reserved for suite guests, reservations need to be made well in advance. Restaurant reservations are launched in mid-January before the following season.

The Restaurant will also be open to non-residents in March, September and October, and dates and nights for this period will be finalised once the Restaurant reservations are launched in mid-January. It is necessary to stay overnight on the island to visit the restaurant for dinner and links to alternative accommodation on the island can be found below. Islanders also frequent the restaurant regularly and a special islander rate is offered.

Yes. There are a few B&Bs on the island and listed below are the ones who have websites and are currently operational for most of the season from mid-March to September inclusive.
http://inismeainaccommodation.ie
https://www.bbinismeain.com
http://coiscuain.com
There are also sometimes further options available on AirBnB.

No. The restaurant offers only a set 4 course Island Dinner that changes nightly and is served at 8pm. Some sample dinners can be seen on the Restaurant page.

While we understand that some guests may need to follow a diet with restrictions for health reasons, or out of choice, and while we would ideally like to be able to accommodate all dietary restrictions, that is not possible given our circumstances. We are a very small restaurant in a remote location with one chef, offering a set 4 course dinner that changes completely every night.

We spend an extraordinary amount of time growing, cultivating, sourcing and preparing food to carefully and honestly deliver a quality product in our own style. As dietary restrictions have increased significantly in recent years it has become beyond our resources to feasibly cater for a large quantity of dietary restrictions over many different guests at the same time, while ensuring the safety and satisfaction of all of our guests.

Therefore we are delighted to accept suite reservations from guests that are happy to try all foods, or have a limited amount of dietary restrictions which are made clear at the time of booking. This is detailed further during the process of securing a suite or restaurant reservation, or please email us outlining the dietary restrictions of the guests in your party if you would like further information.

We take dietary restrictions into account for dinners and hot pot lunches for our suite guests. Our Breakfast Box offers a large range of various carefully prepared foods. While we realise not all of the Breakfast Box will be to all guests' tastes, the idea is that there should be enough in the Breakfast Box to cater for all guests, regardless of any dietary restrictions that are covered in our policy above.

While we are delighted to regularly welcome fellow islanders and other visitors for dinner, we rely on our suite guests to provide a certain amount of custom for the restaurant, as it is such a quiet island with a tiny population. Therefore it is not possible to reserve a stay in the suites without reserving dinner for at least one night in the restaurant.

Children over 12 are welcome in the restaurant, however as there are just 16 seats available in the restaurant, only the full four course Island Dinner is available to all guests.

We prefer to use email as a means of communication for several operational reasons. These include the fact that there is a lot of information to do with reservations, that needs to be explained in detail to prospective guests, due to our unusual location and small scale. We have found that this is more easily done by email.

Also we receive thousands of enquiries for the few hundred bookings we can offer a year and email allows us to disseminate information much more effectively, including the use of auto-response mails referring guests to where the required information can be found.

In addition the small team are involved in a huge variety of tasks during the season in tandem with responding to correspondence, including vegetable gardening, driving to collect guests and deliveries etc., making email the most practical medium for correspondence, particularly as much of this correspondence is done late at night, after restaurant service.

During the off-season we are involved with other projects. For all of these reasons, we thank you for your understanding that email is the best way to contact us.

Guests staying in the suites have a dedicated phone number to contact us on, which is in the literature in their suite.

No. Ruairí is a native of Inis Meáin and Marie-Thérèse, originally from Midleton, County Cork, joined him on the island to help build and open Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites in 2007. They created Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites so that they could live on the island all year around with their two daughters born in 2010 and 2013.

As a small business, the off-season is spent doing all of the things for the business that there isn't time for during the on-season, always working to improve the Restaurant and Suites, pursuing other projects, as well as spending more time with family in the natural beauty of the island that they count themselves fortunate to call home.