ptables

My wife and I will be traveling by car in Ireland for 8 days from July 7. We have a general itinerary planned, but we can be flexible. We will not be driving in Dublin. When we have done this, we do not have lodging reservations so we seek local suggestions in the places that we wish to stay a day or two. We have traveled elsewhere in Europe using this method but we hope that someone here could give some advice that would focus our task.
1. Upon entering a city or a town, what are the best places to ask about reasonably priced lodging? We like to find a room first, before sightseeing, in order to avoid leaving luggage in the vehicle.
2. One poster on this site wrote about using a laptop to check websites for deals, etc. Is this method worth the effort and risk of loss of the computer?

nytraveler

First of all you will be traveling in high season - and B&Bs, unlike hotels, rarely have deals or discounts. If you are looking for hotels rather than B&Bs I would really reserve in advance rather than risking having to 1) stay in a place you don;t like or 2) having to break the budget every night - unless you're budget is unlimited.

For larger towns they will often have a tourist office - and I would definitely have the address and phone number of those offices with you. But smaller towns may well not have one - and you may find yourself asking people in pubs (not a way I would reco).

Is there some reason you can't identify places to stay in advance and call them the day before you are ready to head to that town?

Also, before doing this I would do a test run in one town - to see if the places you are interested in still have availability now - never mind the day of.

elberko

"Locals" would know about restaurants, because they eat there, but how many locals stay in hotels in their town?

Tony2phones

Winging it the t2p way. or how we did Ireland before we moved over.

Book the 1st and last nights. Pin a Michelin 712 map on an empty wall. Decide any must see places and pin them. work out some stepping stones(towns) on a rough route. get a list of 3 guest houses and 1 hotel for these potential places. email the hotels and ask if there are (1) any events or festivals locally on your possible dates. (2) if the hotel is doing any special offers on your possible dates. Talk to your host and ask in the local pub what's worth seeing. Phone ahead at breakfast for the evening accommodation. Only book one night at once, if the place is good or there's things to do and see within a 30mile radius book an extra night.

Tourist Information Bureau are great and will always find you a bed for the night. Provided there is one available and of course provided they are open! not much fun knocking on doors at 6pm.

Padraig

I'm a local for where I live. I have not stayed in a hotel or B&B anywhere within 20 miles of home. Sure, I can tell you where they are, but I can't tell you what they are like, nor do I have a clue about what they charge.

allisonm

Ptables, for the past several years I have taken a Netbook or iPad with me to Ireland and brought it home safely.

That being said, I could not comfortably go to Ireland in one of the busiest months of the year without reservations. If you will be staying in small, off the beaten path areas, you may be okay, but that would just add too much stress to my trip.

At the very least, do as Tony suggests!

Tony2phones

I might be the odd one out here but as a Culchie living in a traditional cottage, 12 miles from the nearest main towns. Most decent local accommodation is known to us. What would we do with visitors who don't want to pitch in the caravan across the yard? It's sometimes cheaper to get a B&B than a taxi home after a night out.

Whilst I stand by my earlier recommendations most B&B hosts will have numbers for others if you just knock on the door of a house displaying a B&B sign. What this means though is that you are judging a book by its cover (or nicely painted exterior) rather than what it might actually be like to stay.

ptables

Thank you all very much for your sound advice. I'll be adding more structure and a laptop to my travel plans.

flpab

One trip we went with our local Irish pub. We ended up with twenty and a couple of people joined us for several days in Doolin. We contacted a B&B that we knew was great and Maeve got us two more that were close by her and it all worked out. The locals help each other out imo. I think they might have been related but it all worked out well. This year there were three of us wanting a triple room in Galway and I had the worse time booking two months in advance. It was Arthur Guinness day and the Oyster festival. I am glad I booked in advance so make sure you don't pick a twon that has a festival. We have winged it. Found a place in Greystone once and I didn't want to leave. It was a quick train ride into Dublin or just a ride away to the countryside. I loved it. We ended up staying several nights. That was a May trip and shoulder season. Tony2phones, we live in a tourist town and we know where to stay and not also. We get a hotel if we are going to party on the beachside. Not worth a dui.

renthemighty

i have found this great resource for finding hotels really cheap. i did a quick search for Dublin, Ireland and got this: http://bit.ly/L6hz9H you can hone down to villages and get a complete list

Dawn3333

Hey, just read your thread because I am travelling to Dublin too and needed accomodations information....Anchor Guesthouse in Dublin at website renthemmighty suggested. AMAZING!!!! I am booking there for sure!!!! Thanks.