I’m a 26 yr. old female planning to visit Ireland alone in September. Any suggestions on places that I might want to avoid and places that would be friendly to visit? I’d like to take in the pub life too, any thoughts on single female going to the pubs? One last thing, I don’t eat meat (seafood is fine) will it be difficult to find restaurants that serve vegetarian meals? Thanks for your help!

Hello Jess, I am 25 and travelling to Ireland by myself this summer. I have had only positve feedback on travelling alone in Ireland. Just keep your wits about you--like in every Country. Are you in North America? If so there is a toll free number you can call (and it gets re routed to Ireland) and they will send you a ton of great information for Ireland and N. Ireland depending on your interests. Go to the site http://www.ireland.travel.ie/ and you will find the number there. the site was down when I tried to find the number for you. Hope this helps a little bit. I am just in the process of planning for my trip. please keep in touch and let me know how your plans are going. oh yeah--do a search for Mina on here--she did a trip to Ireland a few months back by herself and had a wonderful time. take care

Hi Jessica (and Sarah!)<BR><BR>You are going to have a wonderful time. Ireland is just amazing for a single gal...perfect really (although I have yet to try Scotland!) I was absolutely floored by the hospitality of the people I met there...some literally went out of their way for me; from getting up out of chairs and bringing it over for me in pubs to skipping work to drive me around for hours. There were times I was really speechless! <BR><BR>About pub life: a lady who posts here by the name of Ann said something I think is very true...that a misconception that many Americans have is that as soon as they will walk into a pub, they will make tons of new Irish friends. She said that the only people that happens to are people who go into bars in the US and can make friends easily. That being said, I think you have a huge advantage in pub life being a solo gal. People are more apt to approach solo travelers anywhere!<BR><BR>Pubs are intimidating at first (going into a bar as a solo female is always a bit unnerving, in my opinion.) Don't go sit at a table...go sit at the bar. Sometimes it takes longer than others, but sooner or later, someone will start &quot;chatting you up&quot;. Always offer to buy a round. I found though, that I had a really really hard time buying men rounds, even younger men (forget about older men, although you should still offer...virtually impossible in my experience). I tried to insist at least once but if they refused, I thanked them, and that seemed to be fine. I managed to buy a drink once for a man (after he bought me a few, and I only managed because I insisted the bartender take it when the man wasn't looking) and he genuinely looked dismayed. After that, I stopped insisting after one time (although it's hard accepting all the time, being an independent woman, you know? ;-) ) Most nights, I'd buy one drink for myself, and after that, it was hard to buy...it was unexpectedly the cheapest vacation I have had to date because of this.<BR><BR>Ireland has wonderful seafood, so you should not have a problem. I ate seafood more than meat! Try mussels...they're often wonderful. If you like goat cheese...wow...just tons of good choices there. I did think that good veggie choices in restaurants were in short supply, but I'm a big meat eater, so I didn't really look hard. Maybe someone else can offer help in this arena.<BR><BR>I went to Galway, Doolin, Dingle, Kinsale, Adare. I'd say skip Adare. Go to Kinsale if it strikes your fancy, but just know it's a bit more expensive than some places. If I had to do it over again, I'd do the first three places, and also go up to Sligo or Donegal. For someone your age, I do highly recommend Galway. A college town, it's got a young vibe, and you can hang out very late. There's even a burger joint open 24 hours if you're hungry! (Not McDonald's, by the way, although there is one in town). Fly in and out of Shannon, unless you really want to see Dublin.<BR><BR>Definitely drive - unnerving at first, but fun. September is a good month! Hopefully it will be like this past Sept, when it was the driest September in umpteen years! Please let me know if you have more questions...I would love to help where I can.

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Jessica,<BR><BR>I think Ireland would be fine for a solo female traveller. One suggestion might be that you take a Paddy Wagon tour from Dublin. Lots of people do it alone and its a small minibus that does 2-7 day trips across the country. It's a good way to have company on your travels and in the pub. Not sure if they stay in Hostels but I hear its fun.<BR><BR>In Dublin I think it may be more intimitating to be in a bar/pub. Just use your common sense like in any place in the U.S and it will be fine. Try the Musical pub crawl or Literary pub Crawl. I've taken business colleagues rfrom other EU countries and they really enjoyed it. They are entertaining and you have a drink along the way in each pub. You may end up with a crowd afterwards to have a pint with.<BR><BR>Have a great trip!<BR>

just wanted to thank you for the great info!