I am likely going to be flying to the UK in August, I’m thinking about either flying in early or staying late and going to Ireland for a bit.
What will it be like in August? Should I wait and see if I have to go again in the Autumn (not too unlikely.) Is Autumn better?
What is the can’t-miss trip to take in Ireland?
August is officially in the middle of Ireland’s Monsoon season, which starts on 1 January and ends on 31 December. Within that, you might get the odd day or two of blistering sunshine but predicting when those might be is impossible.
September or October would be slightly better because there will be fewer tourists. In about 1995, I spent 10 days touring around in early October and experienced 9 of the finest, driest, sunniest days’ weather I’d ever seen in these islands; on the other one, I was foolish enough to take a trip to Inis Mor and nearly drowned.
Weather will be better in August but there might be more stuff going on in Autumn. For instance the Dublin Theatre Festival is in October I think.
We honeymooned in Ireland 10 years ago in mid-August, and we had sunny, clear, beautiful weather with no humidity the entire week, with the exception of one day. That was the day we drove the Ring of Kerry (:mad:). But otherwise, it was great. YMMV.
You’ve got a good chance of having pleasant whether in Ireland during the summer lately. And tourism is way down, so I wouldn’t worry about crowds. We were in Dingle and Killarney in June and they were both dead. Normally in Dingle in the summer (we go every year, sometimes twice) the town is packed. This year it was practically deserted.
We were there for 15 days. It didn’t rain at all for the first six. Over the next nine, it rained once or twice a day for less than an hour. I wouldn’t let the weather deter you. Even when it rains it’s a great place to be.
Glendalough in Co. Wicklow is pretty special, it is easily accessible from Dublin.
A tour of the Northeast coast including the Giant’s Causeway, Bushmill’s distillery et al setting out from Belfast is meant to be great (I think I’m doing one in a couple of weeks).
Any tour in Counties Mayo, Galway, and Clare are to be recommended too.
Weather in August is usually nice, but of late it has rained here (a bit) nearly every day so be prepared for rain even if the day starts out sunny or sun is forecast.
Surprising fact - Dublin is one of the driest cities in northern Europe, in terms of frequency of rain at least, with 139 wet days per year by the definition below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT003910
Well Dublin is definitely drier than the western seaboard but it still rains frequently enough as to put a dampener on many’s a holiday plan.