this is our first trip to ireland and we were quoted 785 includes return on sat & tax. is this a "good" price. we were thinking of going aug 29 returning sept 8. we are 5 ladies who will be renting an automatic car. we havent even researched the car yet. i'm sure that will be at least $300. this is thru our local agent. so i dont know what a consolidator or larger agency can do. appreciate your info

It depends on where you are flying from. If you're flying from a major airport on the East Coast (D.C., NYC, Boston, etc.), then you can do better with the fare, unless it doesn't include a Saturday night stay. <BR> <BR>A rental car will be more than $300 for the week, unless your credit card covers the extra insurance--many don't. If yours does, you'll need to bring proof of this. <BR> <BR>Also, you will need a large car to fit 5 people and luggage, unless you are all very small people. The cars in Ireland are smaller for the most part. You would need to get at least a Ford Mondeo, and I would recommend something larger. <BR> <BR>Call Aer Lingus yourself, and also check with National car rental.

I can't tell if it's a "bad" fare or not without the origination city, but it might not be. Not all fares will be available for 5 traveling together. <BR> <BR>I recommend the following for "window shopping" (or booking) a car rental: <BR> <BR>http://www.autoeurope.com <BR>http://www.its-cars-hotels.com <BR>http://www.kemwel.com <BR>http://www.travelocity.com <BR> <BR>Many people from this site will say rthat the first (of these) is all you need to know about renting a car. I agree that they are very, very good. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

just returned from ireland and we rented a car from Dan Dooley.we rented a toyota corolla, plenty of room for luggage but can hold only four people comfortably.cost for 3 days was 175 dollars, when we got there we paid another 35 dollars for fuel, but you return the car empty.they have an 800 number and a web site as well.

Just returned from Ireland...cost over $700 for a 8 day rental including insurance for a "mini van"...which was a large Opel station wagon..and accomodated 5 + baggage Ok..and 6 marginally...I would think that as far out as September..you may be able to do better on airfare..then again you may not...FYI and for comparison..I had to purchase a ticket from JFK to DUB for my daughter to join us...and with a 7 day advance purchase on American it was still a $900 ticket...Also.. you may check the Aer Lingus website..they had some $349 specials to Dublin and Shannon a few weeks ago..but there were certain restrictions..

Rosemarie - we are traveling to Ireland in July. We ended up buying our tickets on the internet through United. We paid $361 for a flight to London from Chicago and used frequent flier miles for the flight from London to Dublin. We are renting a car through Hertz (booked directly on the internet) and got a price for an intermediate automatic for $255 a week. Good luck with your price search. Kimberly

Rosemarie: Have you looked at gotoday.com? We've used their fly/drive package for Great Britain and found it was cheaper than doing it on our own, they handled all the arrangements perfectly and are really responsive to changes, questions, etc. For example, we didn't realize we'd have to pick up our car at Marble Arch in London and preferred to pick it up at Gatwick. Even though the package details say "no changes," I gave it a shot and called. They immediately made the change and were very nice about it.

thank you all for the suggestions. we are flying out of jfk in new york. the airfare just seemed too high.

1) try hotwire.com You can pick your days and cities, but not times. I used them to get a decent airfare to Florida when my travel agent couldn't find anything cheap. <BR>2) consider flying to London and then taking ryanair from there to Ireland (£9-£19 one way depending upon airport); we did that a few years ago to get the cheap promo fares to London i/o the high fares into Dublin from the East Coast. <BR>3) we rented a *manual* transmission car for 4 (we each had a carryon and a totebag for luggage; the car would have held no more)through autoeurope (a local agency at Dublin Airport, I don't remember the name); it was around $200 for a week - but that was 5 years ago; I suspect you'll pay around $800-$900 or more for an automatic that'll hold 5 people comfortably.

That sounds high from New York, which is usually the cheapest U.S. to fly to Ireland from. <BR> <BR>Kimberly's suggestion is great--I often use frequent flyer miles for the London to Belfast leg of my trip. It's only 10,000 miles (roundtrip), and I'm assuming it's similar for London-Dublin. You can really save a lot of money doing this.

Also, if you're not locked into your dates, consider going a couple of weeks later. Some rates start to go down after 9/15.

still havent found much cheaper. we need auto. as we cannot drive stick. and since there are 5 of us together we want to stick together on the place etc. and no, we really don't want to fly into someplace else. i do appreciate all your suggestions. thank you!

Try Sceptre Tours online. They are located in RVC, NY, and you can purchase just either just the plane tickets (via aer lingus) from them, or you can do a plane and car combo. They are the least expensive I've found so far. We're going in early sept. Give them a try!

Is one member of your group a little adventurous? Maybe a friend or someone could teach her to drive a stick shift this summer. Plenty of time to learn before August and so much cheaper.

If you can adjust your flight days you might do better. When I do the cheap fare searches it is usually cheaper to go T-R then on the weekend. You need to return T-R also. <BR> <BR>The other thing to consider is that you probably only want to have one or two drivers. You will probably have to pay an extra driver charge for each driver and with 5 drivers that could add up in a hurry!

learning to drive a stick shift might not be much of a problem; but compound that with the fact that you drive on the other side of the road and where's the steering wheel. is this all worth it? not to us. its confusing enough watching where your going with the narrow winding roads then to have to worry about all the nonsense with the car. just organizing the trip is a headache.

I am going to Spain in September and the best fares I found were at http://www.1800airfare.com/ <BR> <BR>Phone: 1-800-air-fare <BR> <BR>I called about a dozen places and this was the best. Good luck - let me know if it helps. <BR>

I found a site called www.gotoday.com. They do fly-drive packages to Ireland (NY-Dublin). I think the summer fares were in the $700 range somewhere, and included car rental (for a week). However, I'm not sure how that would work with 5 of you, since you're obviously not going to rent 5 cars. I think you can instant message one of their reps on their site. <BR> <BR>I haven't booked with them, so I can't say if it's good or bad, but the prices looked pretty good.