I’m going to Ireland for the two weeks surrounding Easter. Herewith soliciting recommendations of places to go/stay and things to do/see, particularly (1) things off the beaten track and not in the standard guide books; and (2) opinions about things in the guidebooks that might be worth a pass.
Gonna rent a car. Planning on touring around, not staying in any one place too long (although could be persuaded otherwise).
Any recs welcome, but a couple things I’ll have to factor in: (a) My 80 year old mom will be along. She’s fit and a hardy walker, but mountain climbing would be a bit much; (b) also on board will be my 10 year old daughter, so kid friendly things also appreciated.
My wife and I are going to Ireland for two weeks this summer, and she wants to spend a night in a castle. I looked up the prices for Ashford Castle. Somebody owes me a new monitor, because I had made the mistake of taking a sip of coffee while the site was checking the availability. At 1,550 Euros a night, I don’t think we’ll be staying there!
Can you recommend any castles for around 120-150 Euros?
We’re landing in Dublin and will spend a couple days there. One must see for me is Newgrange and vicinity, which should be an easy do on the way out of town. The only other have to pass through so we can say we’ve been there is Bandon, down near Cork (personal reasons).
Other than that, the road is open. Minus airplane days and Dublin time, I think we’ll have about 11-12 solid days of touring. So, where will I be staying? Point me somewhere!
My one and only visit to Ireland was 23 years ago, so my recommendations about sightseeing may be somewhat out of date. That said, if beer interests you at all, while you’re in Dublin, visit the Guinness brewery.
Overall, what I’d recommend is to stay in bed-and-breakfasts, rather than hotels. At least back when I visited, B&Bs were everywhere, and our experiences with them were nearly always tremendously positive. The owners nearly always seemed to operate on the assumption that we were distant, long-lost American cousins of theirs.
I concur with both Dingle and the Ring of Kerry, and Newgrange was very cool, as well.
I agree with all of the above. When we were there, you could still tour the Waterford Crystal factory, which was really the only reason we swung that far south; the city itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy or charming, as I remember it.
I was in Dublin last summer. The Guinness Brewery is a waste of time and money. Take a day trip to Giant’s Causeway. It is a UNESCO Heritage site and unbelievable. We did a day bus trip to Belfast to the Titanic, then on to Giant’s Causeway. Outstanding.
I went September 2016 to the Ga-Tech : Boston College football game. We had a great time. One of the highlights for me was taking a Ferry to the Aran Islands because it allowed me to see the Cliffs of Mohr from the water. It was incredible.
We took a trip with someone who grew up there, so we had a good mix of touristy and local. Dublin was too big of a city for me as far as my “Ireland Experience” goes; I really liked Waterford for walking around. As far as awesome castle sites, I really liked Kylemore Abbey. It was built in 1868, so it’s not that old relatively speaking; but it’s pretty amazing.
One of my for favorite touristy things was The Merry Ploughboy Pub. Really entertaining music and dancing.
Different strokes, I guess. I really enjoyed Waterford. I thought it was a nice walking-around town. I toured the Waterford factory. Some of the church architecture is pretty amazing. One example, Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, built in 1793 and has the distinction of being the oldest cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.
I will second this. We did a similar thing, arriving around lunch time, having lunch in the castle, and doing the Hawk Walk in the afternoon. I will also second NewGrange and the Cliffs of Moher.
Do drivers in Ireland still drive on the wrong side of the road? If so, you need to adjust your brain when you get behind the wheel. When we went there, and rented a car, I depended on my wife’s constant correcting me to “get over!” during the first few days. Helped avoid a head-on collision several times. This started while exiting the rental car lot, and really did not end until we returned it.
When we visited, we rented cars, too. At least at that time, renting a car with an automatic transmission was prohibitively expensive (as was renting a large car, as there were six adults on the trip), so we rented two small Opels, with standard transmissions. As disconcerting as it was to be driving on the left side of the road (and on the right side of the car), it was the gearshifting that turned out to be the most difficult adaptation.
In my head / muscle memory, first gear isn’t “up and to the left,” it’s apparently “up and towards me,” second gear is “down and towards me,” etc. When you’re shifting in a right-hand-drive car, those “towards me / away from me” directions are effectively reversed. I put the car into 2nd gear, when I was trying for 4th, a lot.
I lived in Oz for a while. What foiled me was that the turn signal and wiper controls were opposite. When I first started driving, I’d move to signal a turn, and I’d turn on the wipers. The bloke I bought my used car from, while I was test driving it, thought that was bloody oath hi-larious.
Back to Ireland. Someone mentioned there’s B&Bs quite frequently. Dya reckon it’d be practical to find them on the fly, rather than book all the accomdations ahead of time? I’d rather not lock us into a tight itinerary, leaving some room to go with the flow. But then again, I don’t want to panic every evening scrambling to find a decent place to bunk.
There’s quite a lot of demand for hotel accommodation in Ireland at the moment, especially in the cities, leading to the possibility of inflated last-minute prices at busy times of the year in places like Dublin and Galway. If I were you I would book at least the first two nights and take it from there.
Also if you are staying in and around Dublin for the first couple of nights, consider not hiring a car until you need one. A car in the city is just a nuisance.
Recommended place to stay: The Mustard Seed for dinner, bed and breakfast (the food is the star); visit the nearby village of Adare, which is pretty.
Recommendations for places to go/see:
Glendalough (day trip from Dublin)
The North Coast
The Aran Islands
Somewhere along the west coast to experience the remoteness and scenery (e.g. one of the peninsulas of West Cork or Kerry, Connemara or Achill).
A lesser-known sight worth stopping off for en route to the south-west:
Rock of Dunamase
In Dublin, go for a walk in Bray or Howth if the weather is fine.
You said you are going to Newgrange/Boyne Valley, if so consider including the Hill of Slane and the Hill of Tara in that trip (can be done as a day-trip from Dublin).
Cities: I would recommend Kilkenny (very small, manageable and attractive city with historical interest). And Belfast, which is also quite manageable and has interesting things to see and do (Titanic Quarter).
In Dublin I recommend the Chester Beatty museum.
Once you get off the motorways and onto country roads in the west of Ireland, be prepared for journeys to take much longer than you are used to. Allow for double the time you would normally expect and you’ll be fine.
Don’t let the name fool you. They start in a pub and walk around the centre of Dublin with two actors giving performances and stories. There is a 15min break in another pub and it finishes outside a pub. A non drinker can go and have a ball as well.
Kilmainham Gaol (Jail)
Radioactive with Irish History. From the Famine to the War of Independence/Civil War. This is where the 1916 rebels were executed and the tour is very good.
I don’t think you’ll have a major problem getting a B&B in Ireland on the fly. I’ve done it most times I’ve gone, including in July and August. There are plenty of them around. I’ve a friend that lives there and we will go out one day and just find a place to stay when we arrive. I do think the bigger cities like Dublin or Galway you might want to find a place, but outside of that I’ve never had a problem in Limerick, Westford, Aran Islands, or Achill Island. Going in April I can’t imagine you’d have any problems.
