Ireland?

[Dog]

DD and I are considering a 2 week trip to Ireland next June. Neither of us have ever been to Ireland and really don't know much about it. Not sure of the itinerary or method of travel. I'm not interested in staying hotels and she isn't interested in B&B's (she's a bit of an introvert). I suppose we should check out Dublin and Belfast, but I'm much more interested in seeing the beautiful countryside and coastal areas. Personally, I would love to walk the Dingle trail and have a very casual trip, but not sure if that will appeal to her. We really need to sit down and discuss our expectations for the trip.

Has anyone traveled to Ireland? Any specific recommendations for what is not to be missed or what should be skipped?

 

[Meadbh]

Has anyone traveled to Ireland? Any specific recommendations for what is not to be missed or what should be skipped?

Can I help you? I was born in Ireland and spent my first 29 years there. My most recent visit was two months ago. In order to answer your second question I need to know something about your preferences. What activities interest you? Are you a culture vulture, a sports aficionado, an outdoor enthusiast, an amateur historian seeking your roots, etc, etc?

If DW isn't interested in B and Bs and you are not interested in hotels, you have a problem, because these are the two best accommodation options. You could consider renting a holiday cottage (although it will tie you to one place) or camping (but be warned, it rains a lot), or even stay in a castle (which would not be LBYM). If you want to travel to coastal areas (and I recommend that you do) the best way is to rent a car. Driving in Ireland can be a challenge between driving on the left and encountering some very narrow roads with sheep on them, and GPS does not always know the names of the more remote places, but it can be a fun adventure. Of course, you could take a bus tour if you are not inclined to drive. Trains run between major centres but will not take you to many of the scenic places. You expressed an interest in walking. There are numerous walking and bike routes. There is also a road trip called the Wild Atlantic Way which takes in most of the scenic coastal areas.

 

[DFA]

I have been twice and myself and DW are planning a move there in ~15 months. We just loved it and there is plenty to see and do. Meadbh is correct it is hard to recommend not knowing what your likes and dislikes are. We rented a car and did both the B&B and some castle stays. We traveled in the off season so not many people were staying at the B&Bs pretty much had them to our self. We did not travel to Northern Ireland, but saw a lot of the eastern, central, western, and southern regions.
The people are the greatest I have met around the world and I did a lot of traveling while in the USAF for 20 years. I love the weather, just the right temp and yes it does rain, but for the most part it was mostly misty rain and not downpours.
We went during Oct and Nov both trips and I wore jeans, t-shirt, and a hoodie most of the time and was very comfortable.

 

[Mo Money]

Cliffs of Maher and Dingle Peninsula. The people of Ireland are lovely.

 

[Dog]

Thanks for the feedback and comments!

I still need to understand what DD primary interests are for this trip. We are prepared for the weather - sounds similar to the PNW.

Personally, I would consider a mix of small hotels, hostels and possibly B&B. I prefer a relaxed mode of travel - I've gotten more casual with age Not interested in dressing up and fancy hotels anymore.

I'm interested in checking out the cities, villages, farms and coastal areas. I am open to renting a car, train travel and even some cycling/hiking and possibly bus travel if necessary. I prefer not to rush on this trip, so will probably narrow down our focus to possibly a large city for several days and then make our way slowly to the coast.

Would you recommend Dublin over Belfast?

I was diagnosed with celiac earlier this year and may not be able to enjoy the beer as I had hoped.

Thanks again!

 

[Meadbh]

I had a long response all ready to go, and when I went to check an URL, it vanished! I will start again when time permits. Meanwhile, check out www.ireland.com

 

[45th Birthday]

You don't have to be an extrovert to enjoy a B & B. Quiet or loud, your fellow travelers and hosts will accept you as you come. I think definitely B & B's are the way to go, and I've stayed in everything from the best hotels in Dublin and the nicest castles in the West to quaint B & B's.

Definitely take in Dublin and do the west coast. Driving between is the way to go, although not in Dublin itself. Stray from the more touristy areas and you will find the magic.

 

[DFA]

Thanks for the feedback and comments!

I still need to understand what DD primary interests are for this trip. We are prepared for the weather - sounds similar to the PNW.

Personally, I would consider a mix of small hotels, hostels and possibly B&B. I prefer a relaxed mode of travel - I've gotten more casual with age Not interested in dressing up and fancy hotels anymore.

I'm interested in checking out the cities, villages, farms and coastal areas. I am open to renting a car, train travel and even some cycling/hiking and possibly bus travel if necessary. I prefer not to rush on this trip, so will probably narrow down our focus to possibly a large city for several days and then make our way slowly to the coast.

Would you recommend Dublin over Belfast?

I was diagnosed with celiac earlier this year and may not be able to enjoy the beer as I had hoped.

Thanks again!

We started both trips in Dublin, we took a day trip on bus tours to New Grange and Hill of Tara, also went to Dublin Castle, Trinity College to see Book of Kells. Guinness Brewery and Jameson Distillery are also in Dublin. St. Patrick Church and Christ Church are also great site in Dublin. Can't miss Temple Bar area and walking tours in Dublin.

After we left Dublin we stopped by Powerscourt and Powerscourt waterfall along with Glendalough.

Next stops included Kilkenny castle and town, Rock of Cashel castle and town, New Ross to see famine ship, Waterford for crystal (spent a lot, but they shipped it to the US), Blarney Castle (kiss the Blarney stone), and see the town, Cobh harbour tours, Cork shopping and walking tours, Kinsale (foodie spot in the summer), Killarney forest, Muckross house and abbey (took the cart ride), took bus tours from Killarney on Dingle Peninsula, and Ring of Kerry tours, rode the ferry across the Shannon River to get to Doolin to see Cliffs of Moher, Celtic music spot too, also took the hike on the Burren hills, and on to Galway, we took the open top bus tour of the town, bus tour to Kylemore Abbey, Ashford Castle and some of the local sites of the town.

We did this on two trips. 5 weeks total We stayed in hotels in Dublin around St Stephen's Green and were central to and within walking distance to most site listed above, but a car helps for Guinness and Jamison locations. You also have great shopping on Grafton street. We did stayed at Clontarf Castle on our last two days, great place.

In all of the other locations we used B&Bs, one thing about B&Bs is that the bed seemed hard for me, but the people running them are great and willing to share and talk about most subject and recommend places to go and see. The free breakfast were great which were included in the room. Most B&Bs also have queen size beds, I missed my King size bed.

We used an agency to get the car and they would book places to stay or you can get vouchers and plan your own stays. It ran us (2 person) about $110 a day for car, room, and breakfast, because the breakfast was so big we usually skipped lunch and ate pub food for dinner.

There are a lot of other stuff to see and do, bike rides, hiking, tours of the Aran islands tours, and this does not include the NW or Northern Ireland.

Trains are only available to some of the larger cities so you will need a car or take a bus tour to get to a lot of the smaller areas, which in my opinion are the best.

 

[KM]

I traveled to Belfast for work a few times and took in Northern Ireland during those trips. Then last year, DH and I spent a week in southern Ireland (and a week in London, and a week in Scotland).

You don't really need a car in Dublin or Belfast - both very walkable cities with public transportation. So you could fly into either, spend a few days there, take a bus to the other city (buses run pretty regularly between Dublin and Belfast and are very reasonable), spend a few days there and then rent the car. I, personally, am more partial to Belfast, but I think I am in the minority. From Belfast, you can also easily take a bus out to Derry/Londonderry (a very neat "walled" city not to be missed, imo). If you want greater insight into/understanding behind the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Hoho bus tour or the Black Taxi tours in Belfast is a good idea. They take you into the different neighborhoods, where you see the Peace Wall and the Wall Murals (along with a lot of other Belfast sights).


To see anything else of value, you really do need to rent a car. The beauty of Ireland is mostly along the coast.

Along the northern coastline there is:

• Giants Causeway
• Carrick-A-Rede bridge (may not be open if you are off-season), and
• a variety of castles.

In southern Ireland, you will want to drive

• the Ring of Kerry and
• the Dingle Penisula

The Ring of Kerry seems to be more "famous" - but we enjoyed the scenery along the Dingle Penisula more. Each drive takes a day. You should also get a good guide book (borrow from the library) to note where some of the old abbeys/churches/castles are on the way (ie Muckross Abbey, Staugue Fort, Ballinskellig Priory, Gallarus Oratory, Reasc Monestary, etc, etc.). These places should not be missed, but sometimes you have to take a little side road to get there.

Rock of Cashel (on the way from Dublin to Ring of Kerry) is also worth a visit.

On the western coast:

• Cliffs of Moher and
• The Burren can be done in a day together. At the Burren, you will find the Poulnabrone portal tomb, dating back to 4000+- BC. It's a neat place to see.

Car rental in Ireland can be pricey, as few credit cards will cover your liability, so you have to buy the CDW etc. And if you do have a card that covers it, you must bring a letter and most rental companies will charge you an "adminstrative fee" anyway. If you do rent - be sure to shop around and thoroughly understand exactly what is and is not covered for each price. I don't know if I can recommend a company on this site - but we had a good experience with a pretty well known Irish company. If you want the name, feel free to PM me.......

Driving in Ireland isn't for the faint of heart - but we had no trouble. Got onto a few "narrow roads" (try to avoid any route number with 4 digits.....pretty sure the more numbers in the route, the narrower the road....and the 4 digit roads were barely wide enough for 1 car.) - but all in all it wasn't that bad. We bought the Garmin Europe map chip for our GPS and had minimal problems. BUT - I also loaded all of our "destinations" (including our hotels/B&B) into our GPS before we left the states. That way if I couldn't find it initially in the GPS - I had time to figure it out.

If all this seems overwhelming - there are Ireland tours. Don't know anyone who has gone on one. We loved the freedom of coming and going as we pleased. We bought food and ate breakfast and lunch along the way and then enjoyed a good pub dinner each night. Just drive slowly and carefully. For the first day - the passenger should just remind the driver to "STAY LEFT" at least once every 15 minutes

We went in late October - off season is a good idea, as there are fewer tourists like yourself on the road .

Lots of fun and the Irish people are wonderful.

P.S. Sorry this was so long - but as you can see, Ireland has so much to offer. We just scratched the surface.

 

[KM]

One other thing of note - if you do both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (aka southern Ireland), you will need both euros and pounds for currency. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and (like of the rest of the UK) does not use euros. I could be wrong - but I don't think they are accepted anywhere in the north? You must use pounds when you cross the border between the two regions.

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

We are headed to Ireland the first week of Sept. We are doing just one night in Dublin, then training over to the west coast to do the Dingle half marathon. We should have flown into Shannon, but I had already booked the trip before we found the race. After 3 nights in Dingle we are just going to wander, and se where we end up. This is the first trip I haven't micromanaged to death.

 

[timo2]

DW and I really enjoyed the carvery lunch at various pubs. In fact our two week self drive trip ended up being a nice tour of carvery pubs in south and south-east Ireland.

 

[Meadbh]

Lots of good suggestions above. In addition, there are many historic homes and castles, some in better repair than others, that are worth a look, and some if them have B&Bs. An example is Bantry House. Another historic house is Fota, which has a great wildlife park attached (it's the open part of Dublin Zoo). (These are both in County Cork, which is where I come from, but there are many more). There are far too many places to see and I think you and DW really have to decide what is most important to you.

RE: guides
Bord Failte (tourist board) has offices in most towns and they will have all the local information including maps, suggestions for places with free WiFi, etc.

RE: communications
Irish people enjoy meeting people from other countries and checking out six degrees of separation. In rural areas, they will often talk the pants off you. Be warned, Irish people swear a lot!
The Dingle Peninsula is one of the Gaeltachtai (Irish speaking areas) but most people will converse with you in English. Traditionally, Kerry people are said to answer every question with another question!
Consider avoiding roaming charges by purchasing a simple prepaid phone. I found one for 30 Euro, including 10 Euro worth of calls.
Bring an international adapter/converter. Irish plugs look like British ones. Voltage is 230Hz.

RE: driving
M1, M2, etc indicate motorways
N21, N22, etc are national routes
R333, R334, etc are rural roads
L4444. L4445, etc are lanes or boithrins.
Be prepared for lots of roundabouts on national routes and farm animals on boithrins. N roads or lesser may be very twisty and require careful driving. Journeys take longer than you expect on these roads.
Rent a diesel car. Diesel is cheaper than regular petrol (gasoline) and fuel costs are significantly higher than in the US. You probably won't need A/C.

RE: diet
Gluten free baked goods are stocked in major supermarkets, e.g. Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Superstore, Lidl, Aldi.

RE: bathrooms
Not all accommodations supply washcloths. Bring one in a Ziplok bag.

RE: weather
Bring rain gear, no matter what time of year you visit.

RE: Irish music
Dingle is a good centre for ceol (music) agus (and) craic (fun). Ask about seisiuns (gigs) in local pubs wherever you go.

RE: shopping
The price includes all taxes. When buying things you intend to export, make sure to ask for the VAT rebate. Many touristy stores have a card which can be used to register all your purchases. If not, get the receipt. Allow time at your departure airport to visit the kiosk to process your VAT refund (about 20%).

If you have specific questions that you don't wish to post there, please feel free to PM me.

Enjoy!

 

[RunningBum]

I was there last month, though only for a long weekend as the bulk of our trip was in Scotland, and part of the Ireland trip was to run a marathon in a non-tourist area so I don't have much tourist info to share. Lots of good advice here. Somebody had suggested getting the Sygic app for navigation and that worked well for us. We actually also got a wifi hotspot with our Hertz rental so we could just use Google maps in Ireland, and Sygic in Scotland. It was a lot cheaper than getting a GPS with the car. If you have your own GPS getting the Ireland map may be the way to go. I drove on a few R roads, and they were plenty narrow but I got the hang of it. The M roads are easy like an uncrowded US interstate though it took me a long time to get the hang of looking up and left for my main rear view mirror, rather than my side mirror. I scuffed the hubcaps a bit on a narrow city street in Athlone but luckily when I nervously asked the guy at Hertz returns what he was looking at he said he was trying to make the scuffs look older so I wouldn't get charged!

I thought a lot about what to do about my phone, and finally realized I was going to make few if any calls, so I just decided I'd pay the international rates if I had to. Check your provider to make sure that's an option. I never did make a call. GPS makes it less likely you'll have to call to ask directions. B&Bs do like to know if you'll be late, but we managed to stay on time.

 

[donheff]

I have been to Ireland a couple of times and loved it. Traveling by car was fine since I have no problem with riding on the left or windy, hilly, narrow roads. I would echo the comments on B&Bs and small hotels. If that doesn't work, how about choosing a few base points (Dublin, someplace in Kerry like Listowel, etc) and getting an apartment or small house for a week through VRBO. Then make day trips from your bases and get to know the local scenes. If you go that route you need to do the research to pick places in areas you want to see with good access to a variety of attractions and a nice pub nearby .

 

[2B]

Two weeks is a decent length for an Ireland trip but you won't be able to see it all unless you want to be a road warrior. I recommend the Rick Steves' book to get an overview of the principal tourist attractions. His book is somewhat limited but I've found the other books too inclusive. Their themes are usually "do it all" which is impractical on a typical trip.

Driving is the only way to go. Trains go between Belfast, Dublin and the bigger cities in the south. The smaller cities can only be visited by bus and service can be spotty. It's a two day trip to get to Dingle unless you time things just right and it involves multiple busses depending on where you start.

Tell your DD to "get over it." The B&Bs are the way to go. The Irish people are wonderful and friendly but they don't intrude on people staying with them. The B&Bs are also located in wonderful areas that may not have hotels close by.

I could give you a list of wonderful places to go but you need to do your own research and decide what to do. If you go to Dingle, there are trad concerts/performances at St James Episcopal a couple times a week that are nice. Consider the Republic of Ireland's OPW card for discounts in admissions to most tourist sights. Going to Newgrange and Knowth (north of Dublin) just about pays for the pass unless they've raised the price. One sight Rick Steves' omits is Clonmacnoise which is off the main motorway between Dublin and Galway. It was one of our favorite sights. The best of Ireland is typically the scenic locations. Dublin has some decent museums but isn't on par with most other European capitals. It's worth 2 or 3 days at most.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I made a first visit to Ireland in early October 2012. Loved it and it is high on my list of places I would like to visit again. I traveled with a small group organized by the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater. It was a 12 day trip styled as a Literary Tour of Ireland, the highlight of which was attending four plays in Dublin during the annual theater festival. We landed in Dublin and made a beeline to the Guinness Brewery for a tour and tasting, even before we checked into our very nice O'Callaghan's Hotel on St. Stephen's Green. We did a walking tour of part of the city, visited the James Joyce House and also the home where Oscar Wilde was born. We also visited Trinity College (the library and the Book of Kells) and St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Other places of interest were a visit to Newgrange, Belfast (Titanic Museum, walking tour of the city given by a great-granddaughter of one of the Titanic builders, play and tour of the Lyric Theater). We also visited Derry/Londonderry, Coole (estate of literary lady Lady Augusta Gregory), several ruined castles along the coast, Yeats' grave, Cliffs of Moher, Giants Causeway, Galway (another play and walking tour of city), Listowel and tour of Kerry Writer's Museum. Oh, and a tour and tasting at Bushmill's distillery. Our leader was the director of the Pittsburgh Theater and he had lots of contacts. In Listowel, our last night, we went to a pub after dinner owned by the son of some famous modern Irish writer and were entertained by another writer who came to recite. We flew home out of Limerick.

Loved the food in Ireland: the breads, the soups, the pastries, bacon, seafood, anything with potatoes. In Dublin we had some dinners on our own and my cousin and I tried two most excellent Indian restaurants (she's a vegan). We both developed a liking for Smithwick's ale as it was not too heavy Found it interesting that we met so many young Eastern Europeans working in the service industry.

 

[DFA]

Car rental, since we were staying in Dublin for a couple of days when we first got there we delayed our pickup of the car until we were ready to get on the road, there was a pickup spot a couple of blocks from our hotel, that made it easy. We used the buses, taxis, walking, and metro trains to get around.

 

[2B]

One other thing to consider is to fly into Shannon and out from Dublin (or the reverse). That let's you drop your car off early before going to Dublin or picking it up after you've done Dublin. You could take the train to Belfast from Dublin and pick up the car there.

The roads are small and its easy to scratch up the car. The typical credit card car insurance doesn't work on the island (ROI or NI). This is a good place to get the full CDW for the car.

You won't be able to see everything in 2 weeks so plan for what interests you.

 

[Meadbh]

If you decide to focus on the southwest, you could consider flying into Cork airport and skipping Dublin altogether. However, you would need a connection in Europe as Cork does not have transatlantic flights.

 

[Fermion]

We spent 3 months in Ireland on a company paid work trip. We stayed just outside of Dublin but on the Luas line (by far the best way to get into Dublin proper).

On weekends we traveled around the southern parts of Ireland. Favorite places were Galway (go to the Cupan Tae there for tea/snacks), driving the ring of Kerry (scary), and walking this very cool cliff/sea path starting in Bray (IIRC).

 

[Dog]

Wow...lots of great ideas and suggestions. Very helpful ...thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Schutzie]

We just got back from Ireland. We flew into Shannon and rented a car. We took a bus to Dublin and flew out of Dublin.
Absolutely cliffs of Moher, and just exploring Western Ireland is well worth the effort. Literally, just drive where the whim takes you. Hard to pick wrong.
One thing;
The Irish drive on the wrong side of the road, and they drive like they stole it. Really. One kind native explained; right of way is decided by determination, speed and size unless you are a Guinness beer truck, then even the Queen's motorcade will give right of way. And, they love round abouts. Round abouts are a good place to check your courage and meet people. Mainly irate people, but still.......... Driving in Western Ireland was mainly an adventure, we didn't drive in Dublin; I would not suggest anyone but a suicidal manic depressive race car driver even attempt it. Dublin has nifty hop on hop off buses that take you just about wherever you want to go.
We didn't get North or South, just cut right through the middle, so I guess we'll have to go back.
The people are friendly and helpful. I think we saw more Americans in Dublin than we did in New York.
We managed a "private" tour of Parliament, probably the highlight of our trip. The museum right next to Parliament is worth at least half a day.

 

[Fermion]

The people are friendly and helpful.

^This. We took the train down to Rosslare in order to board a ferry for a trip to Normandy. During the walk from the train station to our B&B we had six pedestrians ask if we needed help with our luggage (we were each lugging two bags).

Didn't get quite the same response in France.

 

[David_X]

Dublin is great and well worth a visit. I'd ship the hostels and look for nice small hotels. Driving in the city is tough, but easy between cities. Remember you'll be driving on the other side of the road and most cars are stick shift. Nevertheless, driving beats the train. Enjoy your stay!


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum