Hello Everyone,

We have flights scheduled for Ireland November 25 into Dublin and out of Shannon December 4th. We are planning to spend our time as follows:
1 day in Dublin
1 day in Cashel
2 days in Killarney
2 days in Dingle
1 day in Ennis
2 days in Galway

I have found a bed and breakfast voucher plan for $1,000 (total for both of us) including car rental. This sounds like a great deal but I am not sure if we should go the voucher route. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for other lodging at about $100 a night (for 2 people) in the areas we want to explore? We are also thinking about renting a house for the week, this sounds like it would be cheaper to do. Has anyone done this? If we stayed the week in Killarney would we be able to see the towns I mentioned above? We are excited about our trip but did not realize it would be so expensive! I have been reading the board almost everyday and have learned so much from all of you. Any suggestions you may have are greatly appreciated.

Things have gone up since last year when we were in Ireland. Or maybe the dollar is just weaker.
Anyway, our eight nights and car cost us about $1000. We rented an automatic car and I think that ate up more of the budget.
We rented an apartment for three nights in Kenmare, spent one night in Doolin, two in Galway and one in Quin near Shannon.
The most expensive room was in Doolin and I think it was about 80 Euro. And it was wonderful.
So, I think you will be able to find lodging. We like self catering. For two, you could do with a nice apartment and wouldn't really need a whole house.
A budget will probably not allow you to stay in castles, but you will can find nice lodging.
So many people on the board know Ireland, you will get lots of help.
Have a wonderful trip.

Whether the voucher/car deal is a good one requires some research. In November B&Bs should run between 25-35 euro per person. Not all are open then so choices will be limited by time of year. Vouchers can further limit where you can stay. In Dublin there are few B&Bs that accept vouchers and those are mostly in the suburbs. An upgrade to a guest house or hotel might be best for Dublin unless you plan on staying near the airport.

I just got a small manual car rental for 13 days in October for US$180 total. You can do much better in November for nine days.

One self-catering rental would not work for the various areas you plan to see. They are too far apart. Also, most rentals are geared for more than two people and are usually more economical when traveling with children, other family members or another couple.

Personally, I would skip Ennis unless there is a specific festival or something else you want to do there. Others will disagree with me but Ennis is a rather ordinary town. I would add the extra day elsewhere.

It's been a year and a half since I was there but we easily found B&Bs for under €60 for both of us - and that was in August. I would think they'd be less in November. There are several websites that are very easy to use to find them. Just google B&Bs and Ireland and you should get several. I pre-booked mine but again, it was high season. I think you'd be able to wing it if you felt like it.

I also agree about Ennis.

What time is your flight out of Shannon? Galway is further from the airport, so you might want to spend the night a bit closer. Bunratty is a popular choice with many highly recommended B&Bs, or this might be a good night for Ennis.

The price for our B&B choices this month ranged from 28E to 35E per person. We rented an automatic for 9 days for $225 from Hertz/O'Scannlain.

Hope this helps some.

Thank you all for your replies. You are all so helpful. We really appreciate your comments.

Sher, do you remember where you remember what apartment you rented in Doolin or where I can find such lodgin? So far we have only found B& B or self catering houses for a large group.

IrishEyes, where can I find these great deals for B&Bs, so far the least expensive I have found 50 Euros per person. Do you have any suggestions where I can start?

Isabel do you remember the name of any B & Bs where you stayed. I have not found any under 100 Euros for both of us.

Allisonm thank you for the suggestion, we do have an early flight out of shannon and we will look into staying closer to the airport.

I think we will skip Ennis.

Once again thank you to all of you and please provide me with any names of affordable B & Bs or apartments you may know of.

Call Tourism Ireland free at 1-800-223-6470 (US & Canada). They will send you the following B&B, guest house and hotel books free:

Town & Country
Farmhouse B&B
Be Our Guest

One that they will not send you can be accessed online and that is Family Homes of Ireland. Many of these B&Bs are lower cost than the others (though not all). You can also access the other guide books online.

Those books and websites will give you thousands of B&Bs to choose from. There are also a few excellent Ireland only websites that provide info, recommendations and reviews for good B&Bs. And you will find info here too if you do a search.

We rented an apartment in Kenmare and it was over the book shop. I think it was called the bookshop apartment.
We were in www.thegrangegalway.com in Galway. It was about 50E for a double (I think the last time I looked it was 55E) I would stay there again in a minute. It was clean, right in the middle of Galway, the breakfast was very good.
Kenmare is like Killarney, except smaller. And not that far distant from Killarney.

Carrigeen Castle B&B - €55 for two people www.tipp.ie/butlerca.htm
(20 minutes from Cashel and Cahir Castle is very worthwhile itself, the B&B is not really a castle but sort of looks like one, there have been lots of discussion of it on this forum if you search under it's name you should find it). Five minute walk from the B&B to the center of Cahir and Cahir Castle.

Laburnum House, Kenmare, €60 B&B for two, www.kenmare.net/laburnum/index.html
Kenmare is easyaccess to both the Ring of Kerry and the Beara Penninsula. And Kenmare is a nice medium sized town. You might want to consider staying there instead of Kilarney which is larger and more touristy (not that Kenmare is untouristy).

Ocean View B&B, Dingle, €42 B&B for two, www.oceanviewdingle.com One of the cheapest and also one of our favorites, fantastic breakfast, even by Irish standards.

Dunaree B&B, Bunratty, €64 for two
www.dunaree.com

Before this trip I had always insisted on ensuite rooms but lots of Irish B&Bs are not ensuite (of the ones I listed, Ocean View and the Castle were not, the other two were). But with small B&Bs like these you are only sharing a bathroom with one other room, and it really is like being in someone's house. It's not like staying in a hotel with a bathroom down some long dark hall and having to share with who knows how many others. So don't let that stop you.

Try checking this website: www.tandctrade.com. I have been using it for years to look at places, it will give you an idea of what's available. NOTE: this morning I cannot seem to access the site, but keep it in mind for later.

Also, try www.irishfarmholidays.com

In Killarney we stayed at Carriglea Farmhouse for 30E per person, huge old farmhouse run for many years as a B&B.

In Kenmare we stayed at Seanua, a couple of miles outside of the town; I think they were 32E pp in October. They are fairly new with large bright rooms.

You can do a search here for Dingle B&Bs (or any town) for some reviews. We stayed at Cill Bhreac for only 28E and liked it, but a couple of people here didn't care for it.

This is wonderful. Thank you all so much. I will certainly look all of these up.

Do note that the website tandctrade.com lists B&Bs from the Town and Country book that accept vouchers only. If you are not using vouchers get the "complete" Town & Country listing, which has over twice as many B&Bs listed.

I also suggest a Google search inputing words such as "good ireland b&bs" or "ireland great places to stay" or "where to stay in ireland". By doing that you will find reviews of good B&Bs. You might also do a Google for "ireland travel forums". There are several interesting ones out there dedicated only to Ireland. And use the search box here to input each place you want to stay. You will find lots of recommendations for B&Bs in each town.

Ref B&B costs - I paid 30 -35 Euro PP per night was in Ireland 9/21 - 10/14 and you will be going in Dec. so I would guess that you are not going to pay anymore than that - dunroman in dingle (4 mi out of town on main road)virginia's guesthouse Kenmare _wonderful people - have the cashel blue cheese and pears breakfast - on main street in Kenmare - would stay there rather than Killarney (just my persoanl preferance) - 4 seasons galway - five minute walk from eyer square- very nice - why stay in Ennis - Doolin/ballyvaughn only 1 - 1/2 hr drive - thornbrooke house Cashel fvie minute drive to city centre couple more minutes to rock - if you get up early you can do Cahir/rock in one day -they just opened new highway at cahel - don't know about B&B in Dublin - I usually stay at hotel on temple bar cost a little but then I can take aire bus from airport to Trinity college and two block walk to hotel - get car when I leave dublin
hope this helps you some
lizard
PS Went from Dublin to Cashel as you plan - recommend you go through Kilkenny - easy drive Dublin to Kilkenny to Cashel - I used Hertz/o'scannlain and thet have an office on south circular road (10 euro taxi from temple square) road right to hwy to Kilkenny - you going south most of traffic going north - this was in morning right after breakfast- easy 15 minutes and out of Dublin

I second VIRGINIA'S GUEST HOUSE in Kenmare-very friendly people and GREAT breakfasts! We stayed there this June and I think the rate was 40E /person-so it must be less in the off season. We also stayed at the FOUR SEASONS B&B in Galway-WONDERFUL Hosts!and its about a 10 minute walk into town.They really go out of thier way to help you out-its not fancy but the people make it a nice experience-that place was 28 E/person.
In Dingle we loved EMLAGH LODGE B&B www.emlaghlodge.com. It is 30E/perperson very clean and nice size rooms all over looking Dingle Bay its only about a 5 min walk into town.

Thank you all so much. We really really appreciate it.

Lizard, do you take a taxi from the airport to hotel and rent a car out of dublin? I was planning to pick up the car at the airport. I think I read somewhere that you get charged an airport pick up fee so is it cheaper to pick up the car in the city? My husband drives a stick shift but is afraid of driving one on the right. Did any of you have a problem with shifting with your left hand? Once again thank you all for your help. You are all so helpful.

My husband also can drive stick. He was really surprised at how quickly he picked up switching gears with the left hand . The first few days I would remind him to stay on the left when turning. This helped him. His only complaint was that he sometimes felt he didn't get to absorb all of the senery that I did when he was driving due to the fact you need to concentrate fully on the road. BUT we drove alot and covered alot of ground. I think the next time we visit Ireland we will stay in one area 2-3(preferably 3) nights at a time.

do not drive in Dublin - it is a bad city to drive in - if you are flying into Dublin take the aire bus to town(5-6Euro) pick up your car when you leave Dublin - since you are going to Cashel you might check to see if other rental cars are in the south circular road area or other similiar easy out of dublin locations - I would not go back uo to the airport to get a car - I was very pleased with hertz/o'scannlain - also no driving on the left and shifting with the left hand is no problem - by the end of the first day you doing it like an old pro -
have fun
lizard

dafniscarranza

Your trip is in TWO DAYS! I hope you are all set up and have a wonderful time. And I hope to hear all about it when you get back. This Board can always use some extra tidbits about Ireland in the off season.

Safe travels,

Wendy