Looking for a weekend away nearer to home with that little something special? We sent Vickey Curtis on a staycation to the quaint Mayo town of Westport and she got more than she bargained for.

As myself and my pal journeyed down to Westport on a Friday evening, we wondered what was in store for our weekend away. Having never spent any in Mayo, neither of us knew what to expect. On our arrival at Hotel Westport we got one of those great Irish greetings from the receptionist and were then shown to our spacious room, where the first thing I did was jump on the massive bed. Once we’d settled ourselves, we took ourselves out for a little mince around the town.

Hotel Westport is situated right in the town centre, so nothing was far away. We discovered that Westport is an unusually pretty irish town, and there are some great spots for a pint of Guinness.

On Saturday morning we got up for breakfast and where treated to the full Irish. For those not enamored of a fry-up, all tastes are catered for, from sausages to granola, and the feed set us up for a day of activities with Adventure West, which were part of our weekend package.

Adventure West provide a super selection of activites from kayaking and coasteering to hill walking and more. Bamboozled by the amount of activities on offer, we chose rock climbing and abseiling in the morning, and zip-lining and Zorbing for our afternoon activities. Neither of us are that into heights but we chose rock climbing to challenge ourselves.

Well, it was a challenge indeed. I was only able to get a few feet up the rock face before my grip gave up. As I abseiled down the rock face I discovered that it’s way easier going down than getting up and I left the rock face with only a minor bruise to my ego.

We were droped off at Wesport House for our second activity of the day, hydro Zorbing and zip-lining. Hydro Zorbing is all the fun and it’s slightly gentler than Zorbing. Imagine you’re in a giant washing detergent ball that’s filled with water and it’s being rolled down a hill – it sounds extreme but the only extreme thing about it was the laugh we had. Then we zip-lined our way into the afternoon.

Back at Hotel Westport, wrecked from all the fun and frolics, we took some naps in the giant cosy beds and in the comfort of our lovely room.

Hotel Westport has some great facilities, with its own gym, swimming pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. After our naps and a day filled to the brim with activites we took full advantage of these faciliites and chilled out for the early evening, before sitting down to a dinner that was also included in our package.

Dinner was three courses and there was a great selection of dishes to choose from, all using local ingredients. The wine list wasn’t too shabby either. We got a nice bottle of red at a very good price and left the dining room wholly satisifed and went for a quiet drink in the hotel bar.

As myself and my friend had our night caps we reminisced what was a lovely weekend full of adventures, lovely people, great food and good laughs. Hotel Westport’s packages are reasonably priced and I will be recommending Westport to all my friends as a great place to stay for a nice little weekend away, either for couples or a group of pals.

Check out Hotel Westport great range of packages at www.hotelwestport.ie or call 098 25122