First trip to Ireland

[Chuckanut]

Guinness is served everywhere. Murphy’s is not as common. I love both but prefer Murphy's so when you see it give it a try.

Aren't Guinness and Murphy's made by the same alcohol mega-corp?

FWIW, I also prefer Murphy's. Maybe its all psychological. Both are great.

 

[euro]

I think it's a national law that all visitors to Ireland, whether traveling alone or with a group, have to go see the Book of Kells; I wonder how many would go out of their way to see it if it was on exhibit at a hometown museum. The Trinity University library housing it was the most crowded place I have ever been in and the lines to get in were very long. Maybe ask your hotel if you can arrange a guide who will take care of entry for you.

We ate a lot of fish and chips, which was delicious. Besides the beer, the gin is amazing and the countryside is beautiful. Have fun!

I visited Trinity to see the Book back around 1978 - walked right in - no lines at all. Times have changed....

 

[Chuckanut]

Do spend some time with Ireland's most wonderful resource - its people.

The best times of my two week trip to Ireland years ago was talking to the locals. One was an old lady in front of her home where we talked about all sorts of things - Ireland, the USA, pubs, etc. It was matched by an evening I spent watching Irish Football being played by young teenagers. I had a chance to talk to the proud fathers. As they said "It doesn't get any better than this".

 

[Bestwifeever]

Geesh! - I forgot about the Book of Kells. It was very impressive. I've never seen such nice handwriting. And the Trinity Library - equally as impressive. Students can look at the old books, but a library person has to retrieve them for them. And I think most if not all are in Latin.

The whole library really is amazing, as is the campus. A very funny student gave us a tour and said the school gives alums have five years from graduation to get married there, and the parental pressure to find a spouse starts right away.

 

[braumeister]

Aren't Guinness and Murphy's made by the same alcohol mega-corp?

FWIW, I also prefer Murphy's. Maybe its all psychological. Both are great.

Murphy's is owned by Heineken.

My personal favorite has always been Beamish, but that's hard to find in the US anymore. But I've only had Irish beer here, so very much looking forward to trying the variety of 'em all in their homeland.

 

[Chuckanut]

My niece spent a year there as an au pair, has been back twice, and at one point wanted to live there. She says the pubs at night are the place to be, they are the neighborhood gathering places.

My first exposure to young children sitting at the bar was in Ireland. At first I was a bit taken back, but I realized that its far better for them to be in a public house with their parents than later sneaking booze behind the barn. It is a public house with a different atmosphere than a bar here in the USA.

Several pubs were what we might call 'family friendly until about 10 PM. At that time the they announced that minors should leave the place, and the music became a lot more risque.

 

[dirtbiker]

Heading to Ireland later this month for our first visit there. Half of my ancestors (everyone on my mother's side) came from there.

I've read every thread on here about Ireland and learned a great deal, so thank you to everyone who contributed over the years. Now that the trip is actually upon us, I thought I might prevail on you to pass on any quick tips that weren't mentioned before.

We're spending nearly a month there, because I want to see as much of the country as possible. Of course, that will still be an overview, so we can learn about places we may want to visit next time. Flying into Dublin, we'll rent a car and spend nearly a week in counties Kilkenny, Waterford, and Cork.
Then we'll go to Killarney, drop off the car and join an OAT tour that will take us through Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal, then on to Londonderry and Antrim, and back down to Dublin. So essentially a complete counterclockwise circuit of the island, both countries. We'll finish with several days on our own again in Dublin before coming home.

I've used all the usual trip planning online resources, but I'd love to hear of things you particularly loved over there. If you have been there in the last couple of years, please pass on your knowledge. Thanks so much.

We were there earlier in the year in February. Our trip was only 9 days. We spent the bulk of it in Dublin, but did rent a car and went up to Northern Ireland for 3 days.

Some of my takeaways

1. We're planning to go back. We've been to a lot of places, but Ireland ranks very high, and we wish we had more time to see more places.

2. We LOVED Northern Ireland. Make sure to take the time to visit there, especially given the Brexit issues and murmurings that there may be some border trouble on the Ireland Island in the future (don't know how much truth there is to that though). Oh, and when you're in Northern Ireland, the Giant's Causeway is a must, as is Dunluce Castle. And if you're a Game of Thrones Fan, that was mostly filmed in Northern Ireland, and there is a ton to see from the show if you're so inclined.

3. The Trinity Library was probably my favorite single thing to see in the country. Eventually my wife had to drag me out. I could have stayed there for hours. I'm a bit of a nerd, and I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie. lol

4. Do the Guinness tour. Very cool setup. You'll get a certificate certifying you to be able to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. Stupid gimmicky thing... But my wife and I framed ours and have them hanging in our basement bar above our taps. This was one of the last things we did there, but wished we would have done it earlier. At the end of the tour, they take you to the sky bar, which is the highest bar in all of Dublin. It's round with glass all around and you get a wonderful view of the city. Do this early in your trip.

5. Don't rent a big car. If you've never driven on the left hand side of the road, it can be quite challenging at first, especially through Dublin traffic. After a couple of days, we weren't terrified at all times, and almost got comfortable, lol, but it was a very cool experience. We rented a little tiny VW Polo, and were glad we did. I'd hate to have a big luxury car there. Oh, and rent a manual transmission car to make the left hand driving experience all that more complete!

6. The country roads are crazy narrow! See point number 5. Some of the roads are barely wide enough to hold one car, let alone two in opposite directions. You've been warned!

7. Dublin is a very walkable city. We never used public transportation once... It also helped to keep the vacation weight down, because the food there is rich.

8. You always have to ask for your check in restaurants. They'll never stop by and ask if you're ready for your check, even if it's painfully obvious. It's just not how they do it. It's minor, and something I never thought about, but when we first got there, it struck us as odd.

9. Enjoy the pubs! Every one makes you feel like you've gone back in time a bit... And don't just drink Guinness. There are a lot of other Irish beers that are on tap that are fun to try. If you're into high ABV big American IPAs, you'll have a hell of a time finding them. Most everything is low to moderate ABV, and they're expensive. If you like drinking beer on vacation, I hope you budget it in! lol

Enjoy! We had a hell of a time, and are looking forward to eventually going back (after knocking a few other places off our list).

 

[Red Badger]

My $.02 on driving where they do it upside down and backwards. I'm not averse to driving overseas and have done it for years, but only when its done the proper way.

For Ireland and England, I weighed the risks and voted nope. In the countryside on a nice day with little traffic - probably easy peasy. But add in bad weather, maybe heavy traffic, and perhaps darkness, I had my doubts. In my mind, I could see where it would be all too easy to reflexively respond to a problem in the wrong (instinctive) way.

I was involved in a serious accident in a foreign country, and then I was charged by the other driver with criminal neglect (and found not guilty). Had I been found guilty, my in-country lawyer said that I was facing a 2 year stint at the extended stay crowbar motel. From that, I have deep appreciation about what might go wrong.

YMMV!

 

[Cut-Throat]

When I return to Ireland it will be to Connemara area. I will spend time in small Bakeries and Pubs. Eating a lot of Creme filled pastries and drinking Irish Libations in front of a warm peat fire. During the day I would tour the small towns, peat fields. I will stay away from the larger cities. I will dine on a lot of the local seafood as well. One of the best dinners I have ever had in my life was at the Cashel House in Connemara. They also have beautiful Gardens there https://cashelhouse.ie/cms/

 

[COcheesehead]

The joy of Ireland is in the small towns, that is for sure. The cities didn’t do much for us especially in comparison to some of the cities on the continent.
Southern Ireland is especially beautiful. Dingle way, the Wild Atlantic way, Ring of Kerry...stunning.

 

[SJ1_]

Lots of mentions of pubs here. You're people after my own heart.

Love Ireland we only had 2 days there on a cruise but hope to get back.
In Dublin went by a pub that had a sign that read

Five course meal
4 shots of whisky
1 potato

 

[Cut-Throat]

We also stayed here for a week. Fishing Salmon and Sea Trout.


Ballynahinch Castle

 

[Nemo2]

Been 33 years since I was in Ireland, but enjoyed Newgrange at the time:

https://www.knowth.com/newgrange.htm

 

[Fishingmn]

We spent 12 days between Kenmare and Galway 2 years ago.

We highly recommend this tour instead of just doing the regular Cliffs of Moher visit - Cliff Walk Doolin | Cliffs of Moher - Doolin Cliff Walks, Ireland

 

[kaudrey]

We went last June. In the area of Cork, we loved Cobh and Kinsale. Someone else mentioned the Wicklow Mountains - we loved that park -spent a day hiking. Depending on how you travel, I wouldn't worry too much about gaining weight. Maybe it's just us, but we walked or hiked about 6-8 miles a day. My DH called it "DW's Irish Boot Camp". We earned our Guinness! My only other suggestion is: don't feel you have to do everything - we skipped the Blarney Stone to go to Cobh, and I wouldn't change it for anything. You will have a great time!

 

[BigNick]

Heading to Ireland later this month for our first visit there. Half of my ancestors (everyone on my mother's side) came from there.

If you can identify a grandparent who was born in Ireland, you are entitled to Irish citizenship. I know because I did it (it's my Brexit Plan B).

 

[COcheesehead]

We went last June. In the area of Cork, we loved Cobh and Kinsale. Someone else mentioned the Wicklow Mountains - we loved that park -spent a day hiking. Depending on how you travel, I wouldn't worry too much about gaining weight. Maybe it's just us, but we walked or hiked about 6-8 miles a day. My DH called it "DW's Irish Boot Camp". We earned our Guinness! My only other suggestion is: don't feel you have to do everything - we skipped the Blarney Stone to go to Cobh, and I wouldn't change it for anything. You will have a great time!

We hiked all along the coasts south and southwest of Cork. We avoided the touristy things like whiskey tours and the Blarney stone. Instead we went to the local distillery and brewery in Dingle and hung at the pubs after our hikes. What a lovely country. Here are a couple pics from our trip.

 

[Retch The Grate]

The odd thing for me was being on Air Lingus and getting all the announcements in Irish first, and then in English. You're not in Kansas anymore!

-ERD50

Aer

 

[Retch The Grate]

We hiked all along the coasts south and southwest of Cork. We avoided the touristy things like whiskey tours and the Blarney stone. Instead we went to the local distillery and brewery in Dingle and hung at the pubs after our hikes. What a lovely country. Here are a couple pics from our trip.

Blarney Stone is quite skippable, though Blarney Castle itself is decent. No shortage of other really nice castles to go check out instead, however.

 

[pdxgal]

Another driving tip: allow twice as long as you think it will take to get anywhere. The roads are mostly two lane and winding, so often you can't drive safely much above 30-40 MPH.

For example, when we'd see the distance from Dublin to Derry is 200 miles (for the sake of argument) we'd think we could get there in about 4 hours. Took more like 8. Part of the delay was waiting 10 minutes for a herd of sheep to pass by!

That was 12 years ago, so maybe since then more major roads have been built. At the time there were really only two highways, between Galway-Dublin and Dublin-Belfast. But it's a relatively small country, and why hurry anyway? That's much of the charm of Ireland.

As for lodging, we really enjoyed some of the youth hostels. Very modern and comfy, cheaper than B&Bs and a great way to meet both locals and travelers from around the world.

Have a great trip!

 

[Retch The Grate]

That was 12 years ago, so maybe since then more major roads have been built. At the time there were really only two highways, between Galway-Dublin and Dublin-Belfast. But it's a relatively small country, and why hurry anyway? That's much of the charm of Ireland.

My last visit was 9 years ago, the GPS we brought didn't know about the brand new motorway across the middle of the country, it was convinced we were driving through fields, definitely cuts the time to get from the west coast back to Dublin down dramatically.

 

[Ronstar]

^ and gps navigation doesn’t work if you’re taking the River Shannon ferry.

 

[braumeister]

If you can identify a grandparent who was born in Ireland, you are entitled to Irish citizenship. I know because I did it (it's my Brexit Plan B).

I’ve actually considered that but only my great-grandparents were born there. Thanks for the tip though.

 

[dirtbiker]

Blarney Stone is quite skippable, though Blarney Castle itself is decent. No shortage of other really nice castles to go check out instead, however.

We skipped the Blarney stone as well, due to not having enough time to do it all. But we used to laugh and call it the herpe stone. I couldn't imagine kissing this stone that millions of others before me had. Not unless I wanted a cold sore.

My last visit was 9 years ago, the GPS we brought didn't know about the brand new motorway across the middle of the country, it was convinced we were driving through fields, definitely cuts the time to get from the west coast back to Dublin down dramatically.

We downloaded the offline area of the entire Island of Ireland on Google Maps on my phone before we left. We used that as GPS, and it worked perfectly.

 

[COcheesehead]

We skipped the Blarney stone as well, due to not having enough time to do it all. But we used to laugh and call it the herpe stone. I couldn't imagine kissing this stone that millions of others before me had. Not unless I wanted a cold sore.



We downloaded the offline area of the entire Island of Ireland on Google Maps on my phone before we left. We used that as GPS, and it worked perfectly.

Somebody told us the locals pee on the stone too. So there's that.