Ireland Trip

[COcheesehead]

Just thought of another question...is Uber available in Ireland?

Not sure about Uber, but they have a very efficient bus system that's cheap and comfy with WIFI. It runs all over the country.

 

[spender400]

I'd recommend Kilmainham jail for a tour in Dublin, also Peploes restaurant in Stephens Green. A beer in the Oliver St John's (pronounced sinjins) Gogarty pub in temple bar, +1 for Dingle.

 

[Red Badger]

We stayed in Swords, which is actually where the Dublin airport is located. No idea if you can get there by train, but I think a bus goes into town. Very cute little town and accommodations were cheap there

There's a Premier Inn in Swords - more price friendly than The Grand/Malahide. The "Prem" has decent bar food, and there's good dining in nearby shopping center. Also a Hilton in Swords - but Hilton prices.

 

[Bestwifeever]

My friend's college-age daughter rented a car on mom's credit card in Ireland and crashed it right away. They were surprised the rental car insurance coverage on her card didn't include Ireland (OP probably already knows this, but I didn't). Big mess.

We were in Ireland on a group trip (big bus, strangers) and I have mixed feelings about it. We should go back on our own and try it again. It is beautiful and we had only one day of rain.

 

[COcheesehead]

I can tell you just being a passenger felt unnerving driving on the left side. Your brain is trained for the right side and it feels so unintuitive. The country roads are rarely straight and the Irish drive fast. I've driven in Europe, but I don't think I would want to drive in Ireland.

 

[Luck_Club]

I can tell you just being a passenger felt unnerving driving on the left side. Your brain is trained for the right side and it feels so unintuitive. The country roads are rarely straight and the Irish drive fast. I've driven in Europe, but I don't think I would want to drive in Ireland.

Yes at 100KMH your choices for error are head on collision, stone wall or cliff edge. Usually about 3 foot total error band.

 

[24601NoMore]

One of the things that makes driving much more challenging (than it already is, driving on the "wrong" side) is that many roads - especially in the countryside - are lined with either high, thick hedges or very old rock walls. In essence, you often cannot see what's coming around the bend, be it oncoming car, bus, truck, steep cliff or the occasional wandering livestock. That's the part I personally found most difficult..very "different" experience as you feel like you're driving in a maze much of the time..oh, and the roads tend to be narrower as well, as they in many cases have been there in one form or another for hundreds of years..maybe first starting in some cases as a wagon trail or footpath that's now a "road"..

In other words, good luck on the driving. It's an...ummmm..."adventure".

 

[Red Badger]

OP seems comfy driving there. I'm with those who are not. Spent several months (in ~ 2 week buckets) in Ireland and UK. My thoughts were that: in daylight, with modest traffic, and decent weather, I'd probably be okay.

Most days were lousy weather, early/late driving, and heavy traffic. Glad that I never rolled the dice. Always feared that at a moment of crisis, 50 years of mental conditioning would default to the wrong response.

 

[Retch The Grate]

One other question...

Due to the high prices of accommodations in Dublin, we're considering staying somewhere just outside and taking a train into Dublin for 1-2 days...is this a reasonable approach?

Perhaps the Grand Hotel in Malahide...it's only about $200/night...which is slightly high for us but certainly not out of our price range. Since the trains run frequently from there, considering that for an option.

Totally reasonable. Bus system works great, and if you pick a place near a DART station you've got light rail to get downtown.

 

[timo2]

When we were there in the early part of this century, we ate mostly in the Pubs that had 'carvery lunches'. They were great. (I was counting, and one place actually had five types of potatoes). The other notable place we ate was 'The Purty Kitchen' in Dun Laoghaire, just south of Dublin. Two other places that we liked were Sherkin Island in the South, and Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow.


Actually, we missed many castles and such (we did make it to one castle) because we were on a mission to see how actual Irish Pubs compared to the supposed Irish Pubs in the USA. Our intensive Pub study revealed that there were three types of Irish Pubs: the cave type (rare in Ireland, but Fados in the USA is that style); the fancy type with dark wood; and the local house type. Few of the Irish Pubs we visited had curtains in the windows (by contrast all of the London Pubs we visited had curtains. Also, none of the Irish Pubs we visited had a zillion nick-nacks like the ones in the USA have.

 

[timo2]

Yes at 100KMH your choices for error are head on collision, stone wall or cliff edge. Usually about 3 foot total error band.

When we were there the Irish blamed the Germans for coming over and driving on the wrong side very fast.

 

[timo2]

Totally reasonable. Bus system works great, and if you pick a place near a DART station you've got light rail to get downtown.

We stayed down in County Wicklow and the DART was fabulous for going into Dublin.

 

[COcheesehead]

When we were there in the early part of this century, we ate mostly in the Pubs that had 'carvery lunches'. They were great. (I was counting, and one place actually had five types of potatoes). The other notable place we ate was 'The Purty Kitchen' in Dun Laoghaire, just south of Dublin. Two other places that we liked were Sherkin Island in the South, and Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow.


Actually, we missed many castles and such (we did make it to one castle) because we were on a mission to see how actual Irish Pubs compared to the supposed Irish Pubs in the USA. Our intensive Pub study revealed that there were three types of Irish Pubs: the cave type (rare in Ireland, but Fados in the USA is that style); the fancy type with dark wood; and the local house type. Few of the Irish Pubs we visited had curtains in the windows (by contrast all of the London Pubs we visited had curtains. Also, none of the Irish Pubs we visited had a zillion nick-nacks like the ones in the USA have.

There are a few nick nacky ones in Dingle, but it’s crap from a hundred years ago along with a bunch of whiskey options. There was one that would even make you a custom belt while you cocktailed.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Yes at 100KMH your choices for error are head on collision, stone wall or cliff edge. Usually about 3 foot total error band.

When I was there for a summer program in high school I spent a week living on a rural dairy farm. At night we'd drive to the pub at 90km an hour on roads that were pretty clearly only 1.5 cars wide, with giant grass berms on either side almost as tall as the car, then once folks had a few pints in them, we'd drive back at 90km an hour, still on roads that seemed impossible for two cars to fit through at the same time. We fortunately never ran into anybody at a spot where we couldn't pull over, but there certainly seemed to be plenty of places where that would have been disaster.

 

[Retch The Grate]

My ex-gf got back to me with the itinerary, we did:
Dublin, Academy Hotel 2 nights
Kilkenny, Alcantra B&B 2 nights
Kinsale, Sea Breeze B&B 2 nights
Killarny, Algret House B&B 2 nights
Doolin, Churchfield B&B 1 night
Galway, Ballynahinch Castle 2 nights
Navan, Newgrange Hotel 1 night
Dublin, Trinity Capital 3 nights

We were pretty darn happy with the trip, we tried to only do the 1 night stay in places that were in the middle of going from one hub to another. Every place we stayed was great, though you could easily switch in many other choices in the area for them and it would have been equally lovely. I'm sure there must be bad B&Bs out there, but I've never personally encountered one.

 

[Souschef]

Actually, we missed many castles and such (we did make it to one castle) because we were on a mission to see how actual Irish Pubs compared to the supposed Irish Pubs in the USA. Our intensive Pub study revealed that there were three types of Irish Pubs: the cave type (rare in Ireland, but Fados in the USA is that style); the fancy type with dark wood; and the local house type. Few of the Irish Pubs we visited had curtains in the windows (by contrast all of the London Pubs we visited had curtains. Also, none of the Irish Pubs we visited had a zillion nick-nacks like the ones in the USA have.

While in Dublin, we stopped at the Capstan, which was supposed to be the oldest continually operating pub in Dublin That is DW with the owner

 

[Finance Dave]

Thanks everyone for the excellent insight! I got the plane booked today and all the hotels. It was a marathon planning session lol. I still have to book a car and then flesh out the activities a bit more...but I think I got the hard part done.

I think I am going to book the falconry walk as someone mentioned.

What is the tipping custom in Ireland?

Also anyone know what the smoking laws are in Ireland?

I will use my credit card for most transactions, but where is the best place to purchase a small amount of Euros...I know the airports are crazy expensive but I live in a small city and no major banks here.

 

[Cortina]

Thanks everyone for the excellent insight! I got the plane booked today and all the hotels. It was a marathon planning session lol. I still have to book a car and then flesh out the activities a bit more...but I think I got the hard part done.

I think I am going to book the falconry walk as someone mentioned.

What is the tipping custom in Ireland?



Also anyone know what the smoking laws are in Ireland?



I will use my credit card for most transactions, but where is the best place to purchase a small amount of Euros...I know the airports are crazy expensive but I live in a small city and no major banks here.

Not sure that we exactly have one : Nothing if unhappy with service , 5 to 10% would be considered generous if happy with service


Yes



Cash points (hole in wall) in all major towns and cities .... even most minor towns. Use card to withdraw cash (eg debit card)


Oh ... you want to know what smoking laws are ? : No smoking in public places / inside buildings . food eating places. look for designated areas , or just get out into the open. S Ireland was one of first places to ban smoking in bars etc ... seems a long time ago now !

 

[Fishingmn]

We are fans of slower travel and like to do a minimum of 3 nights in a location. When in Ireland 2 years ago we flew in and out of Shannon and did the following -

Kenmare - 3
Dingle - 3
Galway - 3
Ennis - 3

We really liked the small towns so if doing it over we would have stayed in Clifden instead of Galway. Did pubs and music every night which was quite fun.

Our favorite lodging (B&B's) was Greenmount House in Dingle

Favorite activity was the Cliff Walk Tour to Cliffs of Moher. The guide, Pat, was fantastic - Cliff Walk Doolin | Cliffs of Moher - Doolin Cliff Walks, Ireland

Another favorite activity was a Sheep Dog demonstration. DW got to give calls to the dogs which was great.

Ireland is great - my biggest advice is to not try and fit too many places in. With your 8-10 nights I'd only stay at 3-4 locations max.

 

[bmcgonig]

Just thought of another question...is Uber available in Ireland?

No. It's not. Taxis only. However there's an app called MyTaxi that is like Uber for taxis. Worth downloading for Dublin.

 

[bmcgonig]

If you're renting a car at the airport and decide not to use their insurance, which is expensive, and use your credit card instead, here's some tips.

Have a printed out letter from the CC company that states that coverage is valid in Ireland.

They will then put a €5000 hold on that card. I've see some poor folks show up and that particular CC didn't have 5k credit left on it.

Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty will charge you €7/day for the privilege of not buying their insurance. Sixt doesn't. Don't know about the others.

Take photos of every part of the car before leaving the lot. Even if you don't see anything, sometimes you just miss it.

I use Kayak.com to rent cars in Dublin. Always seems to spit out the best prices.

I get the smallest car I'm comfortable in. Country roads are narrow and parking spots are undersized. "Compact" has always been my choice even though I'm tall.

 

[Ronstar]

Country roads are so narrow that some of the roadside hedges have horizontal grooves in them at car door rear view mirror height. The mirrors overhang the road carving a notch in the hedges.

 

[Nemo2]

Country roads are so narrow that some of the roadside hedges have horizontal grooves in them at car door rear view mirror height. The mirrors overhang the road carving a notch in the hedges.

We followed a bus on one such road...the bus brushed against the foliage on both sides.....I tucked in behind it and let the driver run interference....and the bus was booting it.

 

[big-papa]

Country roads are so narrow that some of the roadside hedges have horizontal grooves in them at car door rear view mirror height. The mirrors overhang the road carving a notch in the hedges.

Indeed - the whole time I was driving down those roads, I kept saying "Use the Force Luke", then I pretended to launch the missiles. My wife just rolled her eyes...

 

[gailwinters]

I highly recommend a visit to Inis Oírr. It was my favorite part of our trip. We did the horse and cart ride around the island and got a lot of info from the driver. The ferry ride back offered a spectacular view of the Cliffs of Moher.