Isle of Man queries please

[moonagedaydreamer]

Hi
We're a couple off to the Isle of Man for the first time in mid September.
We generally prefer to stay in small B&Bs/ guesthouses or pubs with rooms but I'm struggling to find any.
Does anyone have any recommendations or info we can check out?
Also, we're planning on doing a lot of walking so we're hoping to stay in a couple of different places. Where would be the best towns to stay. We're going to stay in Douglas for a day or two but is Port st Mary better than Port st Erin for example?
Any other tips or advice is very gratefully received.
Thank you

Bump

The hotels are small and there's lots of b&b's too. Look on any tt accommodation chat to get hints

Hiya, have holidayed in the IoM loads. Not sure about BnBs and Guesthouses as we always stay in self catered cottages.
In terms of best places to stay:
Peel is a lovely little town, it’s got a big museum (house of mananan) and v interesting little museum (the Leece museum), a fantastic restaurant (the Boatyard - you have to book) and when we were there in late July there was a fab little fish van selling super fresh fish & queenies (little scallops) on the seafront. It’s also got the castle. There is a great coast walk up from the castle to the beacon Corries folly. You can follow that coast path further than that but never done that.
Port Erin is a great place to stay. Quite a few little foodie gems: Forraging Vinters for booze & BBQ style stuff, theres a great pizza place on the seafront (forgotten name) and some nice little cafes on the beach. Also a good deli opposite train station.
walks from Port Erin - would really recommend a longer, all day walk; up to Cregnaesh, then to the chasms, then round the coast path to the Sound, and then carry on on the coast path back to Port Erin. It’s about 5 miles but amazing views. Another classic Port Erin walk is up to Bradda Tower - not a long or taxing walk but well worth the beautiful views.
The coast path is very beautiful generally but sometimes not as well maintained as you’d like - eg overgrown with gorse ( the path from Fleshwick back to port Erin eg is like this but still doable).
other great walks: the walk to the beach at Dhoon Glen. Go on a sunny morning as the beach is east facing. The walk through Glen Maye is unfortunately closed in the upper part due to a landslide. But you can take a detour along the road and the final stretch is lovely, through a gorge onto a beautiful stony secluded beach. You could pick up the coast path from here going north and walk back to Peel.
There’s a lovely walk along the west coast from Eary Cushlin along to an old hermit dwelling - again path is a bit overgrown in places but it’s still lovely. Also a great walk along the “ridge” to North Barrule. On top of there you can get views of England, Scotland, NIreland & Wales on a clear day.

I know the south much better than the north. Have rarely stayed in Douglas so know nothing about there really. Visited Ramsay on our recent trip, it’s a bit down at heel but there’s a great park if you have kids.

i love the Isle of Man - feel free to ask any other questions - hope you have a great trip!

Thank you so much Nicest mouse for such a lovely post. We are very flexible about this trip and I've seen the Go explore cards for public transport.
What we might do is stay in one place and venture out each day using buses and trains.
Could you tell me which sites you use for self catering stays?

https://www.visitisleofman.com/stay/b-and-b-and-guest-accommodation

Thank you 😊

Agree about the Boatyrd, it was a lovely restaurant…. To be honest we were unlucky with the weather which really hampered any fun; but yes Peel, Castletown are lovely. I didn’t think much of either Douglas or Ramsey, they both felt kind of seedy and run down.

We struggled to find decent food, everything seems to be geared towards the TT market so loads of burgers and beer joints…

You can definitely stay on one place and still see everything, it’s not a big Island and with variable climates, you’re best to have some flexibility! We used AirBnB.

The most recent place we stayed in we found on Air BnB but then looked up on islandescapes.im

The Isle of Man tourist website has a lot of links to cottages.

I think Port Erin would be the best place to stay if you’re using public transport to get around and there are so many nice walks from there.

Couldn't disagree more on Port Erin. It has decent enough access to walks like the Sound and Bradda Head but it is a run down dump of a town.

Castletown or PSM much better. Both on the same bus route as Port Erin for the Sound, both have their own train station but much more picturesque.

Peel is lovely.

I'd stay a night or two in Laxey. Walk up from the beach, to the village where you have the Laxey Wheel and can continue up to Snaefell if it's a nice day.

I used to live there and still regularly visit family so I'm not much use in terms of accomodation.

To be fair I’ve never actually stayed in Port Erin, but it’s always top of our list to visit purely as it’s a very special place to us. We have stayed in Port St Mary which is also very nice! I just love the views out West from Port Erin and the sunsets are stunning!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to help. I've got some good ideas now.