printcat

We are headed to Ireland in September and my husband does not want to drive. I am hoping there are small week long tours to see the sights in southern Ireland. We do not usually travel on tours but I do want to see the sights and am looking for alternative ways to travel. Any help is appreciated.

janisj

look at CIE and Rabbies tour companies. Both are well regarded -- CIE uses larger buses, Rabbies are small groups.

https://www.cietours.com/us/ireland/...r/default.aspx

https://www.rabbies.com/en/ireland-tours

greg

It depends on where in Southern Ireland you are heading to. Tiny few are accessible by train, more by bus, and other by local day tour companies and you can also book a transfer or a taxi. The last option seems expensive, but if one needs an automatic, the rental price skyrockets, so booking a transfer with negotiated stops can be competitive with someone renting an automatic for a one way rental for a few days.

Macross

We do nothing but public transportation in Ireland now. Five of my friends went last trip and we took the train to Westport. Not one of us wanted to drive a big car to carry us and luggage. We hired a cab company that charged us 30 an hour and we planned where we wanted to go one day. I found stone circles by Cong and he knew where they were. He took us to Ballintubber which I had never heard of but loved. We went all over county Mayo that day. He was great. He picked us up and took us to the ferry to go to Clare Island where he arranged for a women to meet us and take us to some really cool places on the island. We got a cab to Crough Patrick, pub called us one when we were finished climbing. We had planned to rent bikes but the weather was horrible so stuck to Westport and saw a few things there we wanted to see.
We then based out of Dublin and took two day tours which we liked. We took the dart train to Howth one day and another day we went to Dalkey. There are always day tours somewhere and buses. I have done NI the same way.

When we are on vacation we drink so would never drive a car and no one wants to be the designated driver. I don't think we have ever missed out on some out of the way place.

Tony2phones

Public transport between key locations and then local tours or possibly taxi options.

Depends where you want to go what you want to do? shouldn't be a problem unless you are really looking off piste in which case an organised tour wouldn't work anyway and you might be considering the expense of a private driver.

printcat

Thank you for your suggestion of Rabbie tours. It is odd that there are very few recommendations on trip advisor or on their website. I am wondering about why that is?

Macross

https://www.rabbies.com/en/ireland-t...rer-3-day-tour

Macross

Sorry, you already had the link. There are a lot of day tours. I like Wild Rover, they have a driver and a guide. Rabbies takes you to Galway from Dublin or another city so that is a plus. The price does not include accommodation but they say they can help you out with that. If you go on your own Galway Tours are good from Galway. You can go to Galway by bus or train easy.

Macross

http://www.fahertytours.com/aran-islands.php He picks you up at the bus station, takes you to ferry, has a van waiting to tour the island and brings you back to Galway. He lives there so always enjoy his knowledge. It was around 40 euro but included everything. The cliffs there are better than the cliffs of Moher. I did not want to leave.

elberko

This TR includes my description of a Rabbies tour:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-hebrides.cfm

Tony2phones

Rabbies have not been doing Ireland for long (3 yrs?)and they don't "entice" people to go onto TA and write reviews .. Take the reviews that just say how good the driver and guide was and you almost wipe out any tour reviews on that forum. You will see that I regularly thank people for joining just to leave such a glowing review of **** tour company.

mocha_dolce

We are also going to Ireland later this year and plan to use a combination of public transportation (train: Dublin - Killarney; train: Galway -Dublin) and private chauffeur tours. The former seemed very reasonably priced with the early booking discounts, helping to compensate for the expensive private tours. I also know people who enjoyed the Rick Steves tour that included Ireland, but we wanted to choose our our schedule, itinerary, and hotels. If you are fit, wake up early, and don't mind carrying your own luggage, that might be another option for you.

PalenQ

Check these sites for possible info on trains and buses - https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-ti...d-rail-passes; www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Trains will take you to some railheads for places along the awesome west coast - like Tralee (Dingle Peninsula- Ring of Kerry) - Cork -a neat town (Blarney Castle few miles away)- Galway - Connemarra-from these towns you can get short guided tours or do as others say above high a chauffeur taxi -

http://www.ireland.com/en-us?gclid=C...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

janisj

>> It is odd that there are very few recommendations on trip advisor or on their website. I am wondering about why that is?<<

Rabbies has been running in Scotland for AGES - but are relatively new in Ireland and places like Cornwall. They are extremely well regarded.