The wife and I will be going in a few weeks for a 10 day self drive trip of Southern Ireland.
Anybody got some advise?
How many euros will we need a day for gas, meals, and tourist stuff?
The plane tickets, car rental, and hotels have been payed for.
Petrol is about 1.39 a litre, diesel at 1.42. It cost me 50 euros to fill up my VW Polo last week and I get about 400miles to a tank. How much you will spend on fuel depends on the type of car you have hired, where you are going and how much you plan to travel everyday.
What do you plan to eat?
Pub meals are about 15 euros for a main course, 4 euros for a pint. Budget 10-20 euros per head per meal, not including drinks.
Admission for most tourist things will be in the 5-15 euro per person range. The Cliffs of Moher is 6 euros, and the Aillwee caves and Bird of Prey Centre is 17 euro if you see both- for example. All national museums are free, but that is really only relevant in Dublin.
Where are you going?
Are you flying into Shannon or Dublin?
Do you plan on driving on motorways and main roads as much a possible or are you keen to take smaller, more scenic routes?
With the new motorways you can drive Galway to Dublin in under 3 hours and Dublin to Belfast in 90 minutes, but you don’t get much in the way of scenery.
Will you have Sat nav, or are you going to rely on old fashioned paper maps?
Top tourist tip- look for the brown signs, they will point out everything for tourists, from B&Bs to historical sites.
Be prepared- Irish country roads are the width of the average US driveway, have hairpin bends and pot holes like you won’t believe, and tend not to be well signposted. You will get stuck behind tractors, horse trailers and caravans, and Irish drivers will overtake you on crazy bends at speed.
Driving in Dublin is… challenging. Plan your route REALLY well before you attempt it, accept that the one way systems are not designed for your convenience.
We went to Clare for a few days last week and it was great- the Burren is a fabulous area with lots to see and do.
A friend of mine’s girlfriend runs bone carving workshops in Galway- so, you know, I have to plug that.
I wholeheartedly recommend both Clare and Galway. Both has lots of fantastic scenery, great pubs and restaurants and culture.
Oh yes, if you ARE planning to take the motorways, make sure you have cash for the tolls. The M50 circular motorway around Dublin is gridlocked during rush hour, but otherwise shaves considerable time off any journey where you don’t specifically want to go through Dublin.
As Dublin Airport is on the North side of the city and the main motorway to the West is, well, to the west, it might be something you need to factor in.
You can check the toll rates here. The M50 is barrier-less- you have to pay online or at a registered outlet by 8pm of the day after using the road.
Do you have any specific queries?
Ideas of where you want to go or things you want to do?
If you can give us an idea of where you are staying and any rough itinerary you have it would help.
Sometimes tourists think that because places of interest are only 15 miles apart it means you can get from one to another in 20 minutes and try to cram too much into a day.
Flying into Dublin, then to Limerick, Killarney, County Cork, Kilkenny, and back to Dublin.
We like the scenic route, here in Wisconsin we go camping and use the backroads.
We do not have sat nav, so it’s maps.
What is your opinion on Dingle Peninsula vs. Ring of Kerry if time allows only one of the two?
If you’re in Cork City, make sure to check out the English Market.
We want to see Cliffs of Moher, castles, Newgrange, Powerscourt, The Wicklow Mts, Waterford (?), Blarney Castle ( Worthwhile?).
Basically the more historic the better…any suggestions?
I’d suggest if you visit Newgrange, which is great, that you drive about an hour further north and visit Carlingford, Co. Louth, a picturesque medieval town set on Carlingford Lough.
If you’re hitting the Cliffs Of Moher you could always visit Bunratty Castle too.
Bunratty Castle was on the list, Carlingford is new to us.
I don’t think international tourists go to Carlingford much but I think it’s fantastic. Great food as well, especially if you like seafood.
By the way, as I pretty much say in any of these threads, if you and the wife wanna meet up for a pint while ye are in Dublin don’t hesitate to drop me a PM. We might be able to drag Yojimbo, Ruadh et al out too. 
Thank you for the kind offer, a message will be sent after we get closer to the trip date.
We are going for our 25th wedding anniversary. My wife is a nurse and I am a journeyman machinist, I hope we would have some common ground.
What country do ye hail from? I’d say we’d be fine. I’ve got references from other dopers if you need them.
We live in a field stone foundation, hand hewn timber framed farm house a few miles from Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.
Just so that doesn’t sound so la-de-da, this old shack leaks so bad my basement is unuseable, my kids would hunt for salamanders down there .We had these big blue ones with spots on them that would live down there.We had one that made it’s way all the way up to a light fixture on the first floor, and then died from the heat. I changed the bulb, and was wondering what was the dried up “stick” was in the fixture.
Ah deadly, I’ve been in Wisconsin before and some of my best friends are Wisconsinites.
Right, Cliffs of Moher means you’ll be in Clare and can drive over the Burren- the views are fabulous.It will be quite a drive from Limerick, but worth seeing. Best leave an entire day for it.
I can recommend the Aillwee caves if you want to squeeze something else in (you’ll probably spend 2 hours at the cliffs max, tours of the caves last 35 mins) the bird of prey centre there does great falconry display.
The caves are on the road from Ballyvaghan to Kilnaboy (R480) which goes over the Burren and passes some Neolithic cairns and tombs and a picturesque ruined church which you can stop off and see.
You could go Ennis- Inagh-Ennistimon-Lehinch-Cliffs of Moher- Lisdoonvarna-Ballyvaghan- Caves- Kilnaboy-Corofin-Ennis.
Alternatively, drive from Limerick to Galway, spend the day in Galway and see the cliffs on your way.
I personally like the Dingle peninsula, mostly because you can have the terrifying roller-coaster experience of driving over the Conor Pass as a free roller-coaster first!
Garnish Island is nice if you like boat-trips and plants.
If you’re going to the Cliffs of Moher, stop by Doolin for a pint. The pubs are good craic at night.
My recommendation is to swap Killarney (tourist trap) with Dingle (another tourist trap but nicer) and the Dingle peninsula. The peninsula is a wonder of the natural world, simply amazing, and there’s a cute dolphin in Dingle Harbour called Fungi that you can take a boat out to say hi to. And there’s good craic agus ceol in the pubs.
Re. driving - it will be a lot cheaper if you can drive a stick, as automatics are quite rare. While it only takes about 20-30 minutes to get used to driving on the left, there is a danger if you get distracted - e.g. by missing a turning and turning round in the street - that you will set off on the wrong side of the road. I’ve done it a few times in the US, and my dad wrecked my old car doing this too. Some American friends of mine did this in Connemara and ended up in hospital for a week after having had a head-on collision on a tiny country road. One helpful idea is to bring a big arrow label and stick it on the dashboard. Or just have a ritual where your passenger says “LEFT” every time you start the car.
A trip from Dunquin in Dingle to Great Blasket is amazing - great walks - and I second the Conor Pass. The west of Ireland is simply amazing so I’d budget most of my time there, though Dublin has a few days of stuff to see too.
One thing you need to also factor is in driving in ireland can be very frustrating- and slow. You will encounter farmers in tractors towing turnips or such. Drivers do stop for a chat- particularly in smaller places.
Thanks all for the help.
Whats the deal with tipping in Ireland? Who, when, how much?
Waiting staff in a restaurant, leave a couple of Euro. If you get wonderful service maybe more but you’re not obliged to give anything so it’s entirely at your discretion.
Some people figure out a percentage of the bill, especially in swankier restaurants but I rarely bother.
I suppose if you’re in a bar and order odd/time consuming drinks you might also tip. If you do any of those guided tours they encourage tipping but again it’s up to you whether you want to tip or not.
By the way, when you’re visiting Newgrange it’s worth having a look at Monasterboice too, it’s just off the main motorway in that area. We passed it earlier and I thought of this thread.