As the Tide Turns in Ireland 🌿
Come in, we’re getting salty.
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Welcome to Well, Then, taking a look at the biggest news and trends when wellness and travel intersect.
Forget robes and cucumbers. These Irish spas run on seawater and seaweed.
According to Tripadvisor’s 2025 Trendcast, travelers are leaning into water-based wellness, something Ireland nailed long before wellness was a hashtag. Sure, seaweed may give you the ick when it grazes your foot at the beach, but drop it in a steaming tub and it provides a full-body reset.
Once on the brink of extinction, Ireland’s seaweed bathing tradition is suddenly having a comeback. Packed with minerals that help soothe sore muscles and calm skin issues, this ocean green has been the Irish cure-all since the 1800s. Bathhouses are popping up all along the west coast, offering hour-long steams and soaks that leave you feeling like you were forged in the Atlantic.
Whether you’re chasing relief for something specific or just want to zone out and go mermaid mode for an hour, these spots show you how to spa like the Irish.
Every hotel on Late Checkout is independently selected by us. If you book something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Kilcullen’s Seaweed Baths
Open since 1912 (same year the Titanic sank), Kilcullen’s is Ireland’s oldest continuously operating bathhouse and still run by the fifth generation of the original family. A few steps from Enniscrone Beach in County Sligo, it’s full of charming throwbacks: porcelain tubs, brass taps, wooden steam boxes… the whole vintage-spa fantasy. Choose a single or double room, settle in for your hour-long soak and steam, and let the mineral magic do its thing. Call to book a tub.
Book here, rates from $35.
VOYA Seaweed Baths
Perched above Strandhill Beach in County Sligo, VOYA is the first modern Irish bathhouse to open in nearly a century, and it goes all out. Private seaweed baths and steams overlook the ocean and the surrounding hills, and the menu of treatments features seaweed as the main character in massages, facials, wraps… if it can be infused with kelp, they’ve nailed it.
Book here, rates from $52.
Connemara Seaweed Baths
In the postcard town of Clifden, in County Galway, this bathhouse is all about detox-and-chill. An hour-long soak and steam starts at $58, or upgrade to the Thermal Suite for one- or two-hour sessions. The suite overlooks an outdoor deck on the harbor with loungers, a jacuzzi and plunge pool. Your emails can wait. Your seaweed era cannot.
Book here, rates from $58.
Wild Atlantic Seaweed Baths
If you’ve ever wanted to marinate outside in a massive wooden barrel while staring at the Atlantic Ocean, this is your moment. In the colorful village of Doolin, in County Clare, you can sink into a two-person barrel for $69 and let the ocean wind whip around you like you’re filming an indie coastal documentary. Bonus: alternating dips in the cold-water plunge barrels if you’re feeling bold.
Book here, rates from $69.
Sólás Na Mara
Sitting above a tiny fishing-boat-speckled harbor in Ann Rin, County Waterford, this family-run bathhouse is equal parts soothing and scenic. Choose from single and double rooms or an upgraded suite, with hour-long baths starting at $52. After your soak, hit the on-site coffee shop for tea or a caffeine refill at one of the outdoor tables, for a cozy coastal moment.
Book here, rates from $52.