travel

Take a break: Killarney surprises with glacier lagoons, mixed grills and a hydroponic farm

Tradition and innovation mix to restore our reviewer’s faith in one of the country’s flagship tourist towns

A chef harvests salad leaves from a hydroponic growing tower at the Killarney Urban Farm, which supplies the bars and restaurants in the O’Donoghue Ring collection of hotels and venues

At O’Donoghues in Killarney, I’ve set myself the task of counting the number of walk-in customers the staff are having to turn away due to the lack of space. I give up once I get to forty. Unbeknownst to ourselves, we appear to have bagged a table at one of the hottest spots in town.

We are tucked in between a group of Spanish hillwalkers downing pints after a day in the mountains, and a ...