My husband and I are planning a trip to Ireland from March 9-19. We will fly into Dublin, rent a car, and plan to drive over to Galway then to various stops in South/West and then back to the East and back up to Dublin for March 15th (my 30th BDay) and St. Pats (our 10 year wedding anniversary). We have our hotel reservations for the Dublin leg of our vacation (where my best friend whose stationed in Italy and her husband will be joining us) but we are trying to decide where to stay during our "road trip" portion.
We have looked into the tour packages that include a rental car and "vouchers" for Bed and Breakfasts (B&B's), however, we've read that "some B&B's have become frustrated by the voucher system and are not accepting them." Does anyone know how widespread of a problem this is? We wouldn't want to purchase a package and receive vouchers only to have a terrible time finding a B&B that will accept them.
We are thinking we may just forget the package and just book B&B's ourselves (the car rental was pretty reasonable by itself). Our other question is....Should we pre-plan our nights (where we want to stay) and book our B&B's NOW before we actually get to Ireland or would we be safe to drive / be flexible and decide when we get there where we want to stay, then find a B&B from there? It's difficult to decide where you want to stay when you are going on this type of road trip and we may get a better "feel" as to where we wish to spend more time (stay the night) once we are actually there......but obviously we don't want to get to Ireland and find everything booked and have no place to stay (and resort to getting overcharged for a last minute hotel stay). We are staying in a hotel the second part of our trip in Dublin and we really like the idea of having the local B&B experience. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? Thanks 
Ireland in March B&B Question.....
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I haven't used the vouchers but have read what you've read - they don't sound that great. In March you don't need to plan ahead but I think you'll enjoy the trip more if you do. You'll find a room but it takes time out of your day to track it down & it may or may not be great. If you use the internet to plan ahead you have the advantage of reviews and recommendations to help choose.
One year in April we had 2 nights without reservations. The first day we spent a half hour at a visitor center calling and ended up in a completely mediocre place, not very comfortable. The second night we spent 2 hours going from hotel to hotel, then ended up at a splendid place. It's truly hit or miss.
I went during that time period 9 years ago. We made no reservations but just picked places from the 'Town and Country' guide i purchased at the airport tourist office
Rosetravels, thank you very much for your reply!
Thanks for sharing your experience, it helped!
I think you are right and I would rather take advantage of other's reviews, seeing pictures, and not spending the extra time it will take to find a B&B once there. The prices seem pretty similar and who wouldn't rather stay in the nicest place possible for the same price? You've convinced me...we will research and book online. Seems like the places we are wanting to go are pretty close (in distance) anyway and we can find a room for a few nights in one area base ourselves there and then drive to our attractions/landmarks. I think I'd prefer that also rather than trying to stay in a new place everynight (moving luggage, etc). That would have us staying at about 3 different B&B's but would also allow us a little more time to get to talk to the hosts/owners/locals which is why we wanted to stay in the B&B's in the first place.
If anyone has any recommendations (or a place to stay away from if any) for a B&B in Galway area, maybe Kenmare area, maybe Cork area, maybe Kilkenny area we'd appreciate it. We are going to firm up where we are spending each night tonight and then we will be online researching from there. I've been looking on travelireland.org. Thanks!
Thanks Bigtyke I will check out town and country I think they have something online (I've seen on some B&B's websites the Town and Country logo). Thanks!