hello all experienced travelers. please give me your best estimates on how much money a couple will need to enjoy themselves in Ireland. we already have room and car paid for and it includes a big Irish breakfast. i am thinking we will by lunch out of the market and dinner in the pub. I dont expect we will do any kind of tourist attraction that needs to be paid for.

It did not have much going for it in 2006 - most expensive for EU apparently - http://www.finfacts.ie/bestbuys.htm

But another Fodors post might be more helpful - http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...d-scotland.cfm

And of course just how much you get a liking for guiness.

Depends on where you are going, how many are going, and what your main points of interest are. Reasonably done you should be safe with 25 euros per person per day for food eating one meal out without drinks. Gas is expensive (sold by the liter and 4 liters is little more than a US gallon). Do you plan on shopping? You can get crystal other than Waterford that is quite nice.

"<i>I dont expect we will do any kind of tourist attraction that needs to be paid for.</i>"

I find that very hard to believe/understand. You are going all the way to Ireland yet aren't prepared to pay to see anything? You make "tourist attraction" sound like a dirty word. What about the Rock of Cashel -- €5.30. Cliffs of Moher €8 plus whatever other bits you want to see. Muckross House - €12. Dunbeg - €3. Just a few example.

Dinner in the pubs will probably cost you &euro;15 or so, excluding alcohol (based on my experience two years ago). What sort of "market" are you referring to for lunch? If you mean open markets, I didn't see any of those in Kerry or Clare, although perhaps they're more common elsewhere and I'm not aware. What we did was to eat the b&b breakfast (almost always very filling), dinner out, and picked up some snacks at a supermarket every few days to keep in the car or room for "lunch." We just weren't usually very hungry after the big breakfast.

And as janisj pointed out, there can be hidden costs in seeing some things. Technically the Cliffs of Moher are free to see, but if you're parking a car you'll pay &euro;8. That sort of thing. You'll need to budget some extra for that.

thank you thank you! when i said tourist attractions i meant things like theme dinners and such. i will not be convinced to see any kind of show that has a large fee. there will be be and my wife and when i said market i did mean a supermarket or store of some sort. lunch meats bread and cheese. the most costly think i think will be our tremendous love for Guiness. i have never been into shopping for trinkets while overseas. so with all this said, do you think we could get by on $150 a day for the two of us.

No one (or practically no one) would recommend going to schlocky tourist traps. But just the castles/heritage centres/gardens that are a must for most visitors can add €10 or more per person per day.

You might want to buy a Heritage Card - €21 per person.

Most supermarkets, even in smaller places, will have/ make sandwiches or subs. Same for gas stations which esp. in smaller places often work as the place to grab something to eat around lunch. Expect to pay around €4-6 for a sandwich.
Outside of Dublin's tourist trap pubs, the pint should be around €4. Not too much to keep me from having 3-4 per night. Try to find a pub that has Murphy's instead of Guinness.. the better stout IMO

cool, does the Heritage card work all around Ireland or just in Dublin. and i agree Murphy's is a better beer. i have not thought about it since i was there last, thanks for the reminder.

Frankly, you will be shocked by prices of almost everything in Ireland: food, drinks, fuel, admission, souvenir. If you know the prices in UK, add around 20% (except fuel, 30% for drinks). You will be hard pressed to find a hot dish (e.g. Irish stew, roasts) in a pub for less than 10-15 euro, plus 4 euro for a pint, and you are spending almost 20 euro. Snacks and sandwiches from the shops are cheaper, but you will make bigger saving by buying ingredients for a picnic - you have a car anyway - in a supermarket. In villages many of them are attached to fuel stations (Centra, Spar etc), while you have a wider range in towns, including Tesco (good range of goods), Dunns Stores and Aldi (discounter). A budget of 30 euro per person should cover your food bills. If you want a sit-down meal in a restaurant with wine, reckon at least 30 to 50 euro per head, except fast-food places (pizzas etc).