- Park Hotel Kenmare opened Landscape Spa designed by Jo Nagasaka with Joe Collin
- Six poetry-inspired suites named after Irish poets including Eavan Boland and Patrick Kavanagh
- Features include glass-fronted sauna, outdoor mineral bath, Japanese-style tubs and cold plunge
- Treatments start at €45 and low-season suites from €1,025 per room for two
- Wellness curator Katie Clare Cummins oversees sessions with Esalen Institute experience
- Landscape spa measures 900m₂ and represents significant development in hotel’s 129-year history
- Stone Bath outdoor warm mineral bath centred around stone from Dromgarriff Rainforest
- Six new suites feature floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Kenmare Bay
- Spa includes five treatment rooms, cold plunge, steam room, sauna and lap pool
- Overnight stays in Landscape Suites from €1,025 per room including treatment and breakfast
Park Hotel Kenmare has opened its new Landscape Spa and suites, designed by Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka of Schemata Architects with local input from Joe Collin. Owner Bryan Meehan drew inspiration from poet John O’Donohue’s reflections on landscape while driving the Macroom bypass. The development replaces the former Sámas spa and adds six poetry-inspired suites named after lines by Irish poets such as Eavan Boland and Patrick Kavanagh. Features include light oak interiors, a glass-fronted sauna with lake views, an outdoor mineral stone bath centred on a rock from Dromgarriff, Japanese-style tubs, a cold plunge, Pilates studio and wellness technologies including PEMF mats and light therapy.
Wellness curator Katie Clare Cummins, with experience at Esalen Institute, oversees sessions. Treatments start at €45 and low-season suite rates begin at €1,025 per room for two including breakfast. The spa is open to residents and day visitors. The design marks a departure from the hotel’s traditional roots, shifting the wellness focus toward an immersive connection with nature rather than standard detached treatment rooms. The philosophy treats the wild Kerry environment as the actual healing therapy rather than just a view. The six new Landscape Suites are lined with local Irish limestone and oak, with each room taking its name from lines of Irish poetry.
The new development replaces the hotel’s former Sámas spa with striking indoor-outdoor features. A communal mineral bath heated to 38°C sits open to the elements and frames views of Kenmare Bay through an original stone window layout. Single and double bespoke ceramic baths are designed for quiet isolation or shared moments. Guests can transition from a high-heat sauna and steam room into a cold plunge pool or a traditional bucket drench.
The hotel describes it as one of the most significant developments in its 129-year history with the opening of Landscape, a 900m₂ spa and wellness destination built on the belief that relationships to the land, water, nature, ourselves and one another determine how well we live. The spa, designed by Jo Nagasaka of Schemata Architects, Tokyo, together with Bantry-based architect Joe Collins, sits alongside the Victorian hotel as a deliberate companion, representing a new chapter in the property’s evolution. The interior design, the work of Tara Meehan and Simon Paul, features six new Landscape suites that look out into the woodland and over Kenmare Bay through floor-to-ceiling windows lined in Kilkenny limestone and oak, with each suite taking its name from lines written by Irish poets.
At the heart of Landscape sits the Stone Bath, an outdoor warm mineral bath open year-round to the elements and the Kerry sky, centred around a single great stone from the nearby Dromgarriff Rainforest with a poem inscribed at the water’s edge. The spa includes five treatment rooms, a cold plunge, steam room, sauna, lap pool, fitness centre and pilates and yoga studio equipped with both Reformer and Cadillac equipment. Treatments have been developed with brands Susanne Kaufmann and Seabody, while the spa will also offer significant tech-delivered optimisation experiences advised by Dr Mark Hyman, including programmes with LED masks, lymphatic suits, light panels and IHHT. Landscape is open to hotel guests and day visitors alike.
Owner Bryan Meehan has described the spa as being grounded by the extraordinary landscape, the elements and Ireland’s literary tradition, built on the idea that rural Ireland itself does the work of transformation. General Manager Grace O’Connor has described Landscape as offering guests another way to experience the beauty, culture and spirit of the remarkable place while creating a wellness destination that the local community, as well as guests, can enjoy. An overnight stay in one of the new Landscape Suites, including a spa treatment and access to Landscape with breakfast the following morning, starts from €1,025 per room.
Bryan Meehan shared “We wanted to create something that was truly of this place. We are grounded by this extraordinary landscape, the elements, and our literary tradition. “The philosophy treats the wild Kerry environment as the actual healing therapy rather than just a view.”
Grace O’Connor shared “Landscape represents an exciting new chapter for Park Hotel Kenmare. It offers our guests another way to experience the beauty, culture and spirit of this remarkable place, while also creating a wellness destination that the local community, as well as our guests, can enjoy.”
