Stayed here with my mum who was born just up the road in Spiddle. On the plus side a very nice room and warm welcome. On the minus side the bathroom was small and the one evening meal we took was not very exciting and given that the food was not great it made the design flourishes make it feel a little pretentious. The Bar was very lively with a nice atmosphere and plenty of locals.

The real delight was lunch at Donnelly's which is just two minutes away, terrific quality seafood in a wonderful setting even though it was raining. We ate at Mulberrys that evening which had a very lively atmosphere.

I agree with the other reviewers that Barna feels like a Galway City suburb however Donnellys alone is worth a detour !

I have to stop staying here. There must be more to life. I constantly find myself drawn back again and again to this wonderful place in Galway. Last week they had a whole suckling pig roast and a marvellous BBQ happening outside. Fortunately, it was the one sunny day of our 3 day stay at the twelve.
Anyway, happy to say it is a very special place and seems to be even more enjoyabe each time we return. One word of advice though, book a treatment early as they only have one therapist. The west restaurant is great. I even reviewed that here.
Well, I promise to try really hard not to return for awhile. -Help!

This marked my second return to this gorgeous hotel in less than a year. If you are an admirer of style you'll love this place. The decor is distinctive, and you just know, a lot of thought went into it. Although stylish and upmarket it was no way pretentious. The Twelve is situated in Bearna aprox 5miles outside Galway City you are right on the coast.

On both occasions I managed to get great deals. if you check out their website you'll see that they've come up with some imaginative deals. On both occassions I stayed Sunday & Monday night and got a Suite for €120 per 2 people sharing plus breakfast. Quite jammy I know. Would have been happy to pay €200 as the place is definetly worth it.

On being shown to our room they had a personalised handwritten welcome card & chocolate - nice touch, The suite had a kingsize bed, 2 flat screen TV's and an Ipod doc. also had a fully stocked fridge with all sorts of goodies, coffee maker, microwave, and Bar Counter. Would make a great venue for after pub tipple with friends.

The bathroom was a bit on the small side, and it was only on the second night that I discovered a chain that when pulled trigger sa light show of sorts -colour therapy? Nice I suppose, if you were relaxing in the bath, I felt however that the colour changes were a bit too frenetic to be relaxing - felt more like a rave.

Would say that the decor in the rooms is a bit on the darkside, and had to keep the lights on - even during the day. The light shades being dark in colour throw out very little light - so i struggled when reading my Sunday Papers.

The bar is always busy and again nicely kitted out. Again you are not too far from Galway to dine out and we chose this option out of variety.

Your 2 minutes from Rusheen Bay (on your left hand side as you make your way into Galway City from Bearna) where you can go kayaking on sit-on top kayaks. My girlfriend can't swim - so the sheltered bay was ideal. €15 per hour great value and had a ball. Further north from Bearna you have Spiddal where you can fly to the Arran Islands in less than 7 minutes.

Always love Galway and the atmosphere and quirkiness of Shop Street (main shopping area) in the city. The Twelve Hotel in Bearna just makes it that extra bit special. I will return again & again.

My partner and I stayed at the 12 in May of this year. I fail to see the relvancy of the earlier rant is about the 12 being renovated and sitting on the site of an old hotel?

This is an excellent hotel, very stylish and modern, with a very relaxed atmosphere. The food in the bar is second to none, and the pub grub place across the road is excellent to. Barna is a lovely little village, its about 10 mins drive from galway city. There are buses that go to the city, just ask at reception and they have the timetable.

Other reviews say they found it quite noisy, but I have to say I didnt, maybe it depends on how light a sleeper you are.
I will def stay here again, and would recommend other do to!