Barber1586

Hello. My wife and I are planning on going to Ireland in October. It's our first trip so we were going to take an escorted motorcoach tour. Any comments:

1. Is one tour the same as another? Is there a difference between CIE, Globus and Brendan?

2. What is the general age of people that take these tours?

3. Are there any castles within 30 minutes of Dublin?

I had posted this under "October trip" and someone was kind enough to say that that wasn't specific enough. So I am trying this way. Thanks in advance.

jame

Globus and Brendan are very similar, as far as I know. I haven't been on a CIE tour, but I have heard very good things about their tours of Ireland. I think the average age on these tours is probably in the 60s.

mford

My husand and I just got back from our 1st trip to Ireland. We took the 4 day Grand Atlantic Tour through Rail Tours and I can't say enough about how fantastic it was. We were a small group, about 10 people ranging in age from mid 30's to mid 50's. The sites visited were great and our guides were very pleasant and personable. If interested, you can check out the various options thru www.irishrail.ie\home\ Click on "Breaks & Trips" in the orange bar section. There are several options from one day tours and up. We took the Grand Atlantic Tour. Hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did.

bob_brown

I went with Insight and regretted it.
The huge number of commercial stops was a downer. We saw two castles, both part of commercial stops.

Also there was a large number of "tour options" for extra money. You had little to do except stay at the hotel or wander around if you did not go.

I would not go with Insight again, ever.

I toured Wales with Backroads Touring Co.
The group was small, no commercial stops, and we went to the most interesting places. I recommend Backroads. The driver/guide truly takes you down the roads less traveled to the most interesting places.

The drawback is that a small group means more cost, but I do not begrudge a dime I spent on that tour. We got to see what we hoped to see and enough time to see it. There were plenty of opportunities for pictures as well.

Go Backroads, you will see the country side and not just highways!

Email me and I will tell you the name of a first class travel agent who has taken many of the tours herself and knows well of what she speaks. She will put you on a tour best suited to your specifications. And some of Backroads tours, if you can get six people approximately, can be tailored to your specifications within the limits of the tour framework.

wojazz3

Backroads sounds nice though I have no idea why you would want to contact a travel agent to make arrangements when you could just as easily contact the company and eliminate the middle man. I found them online at:

http://www.backroadstouring.co.uk/

Bill