Ireland Assistance Needed
 

I might be making my first trip to Ireland in August (group of four). Flying into Dublin and trying to see as much as possible without being rushed. Thinking of some type of circle trip through Dublin-Cork-Galway. We are not much on the big city atmosphere so don't plan on much time in Dublin. I want to see Ireland, not a downtown with trendy shops and bars playing American music (so I've heard). Any suggestions, ideas, do's & don'ts?

Are the brewery/distillery tours worth the price?

Best pubs for atmosphere and cheap pints/eats?

Best small towns?

Best castles?

Best scenery?

Stay in a B&B, Guest House, Hostel?

I'll take anything and everything you can throw at me!

August is of course the busiest time (kids on holiday) so you should have booked already. I found the best small towns just by wandering around Ireland. They all have something different. Kinsale is nice for a place to stop for a bite to eat but gets very busy. Kilkenny is the best castle. It's restored. Many of the others need restoring. I did B&B's and hotels, but that was in September, off season. It's nice to roam and book as you go but as I said, August is very busy so you really need to book beforehand.

Do fly in and out of shannon! (or atleast into Dublin and out of shannon)

if you don't want big city...don't stay in dublin, cork, and galway!...or killarney!

Midleton Distillery (we toured on day trip during stay in Kinsale)-do quickly volunteer for the tasting!

Best small towns-Dingle and Kenmare

Best castles-Ross Castle, Glenveagh Castle, Bunratty Castle, ruins-Dunluce Castle and Cahir Castle
not a castle-but liked Muckross House

Best scenic drives-
Dingle/Slea head loop;
Croagh Patrick thru Doolough Valley past Aasleagh falls and on to Kylemore Abbey;
ROK between Killarney and Kenmare thru park past ladies view and molls gap;
Beara Peninsula/Healy Pass

Best all day scenic tour-Gap of Dunloe by jaunting cart to Lord Edward's Cottage (best Irish Coffee!) then by boat to Ross Castle

Best scenic sites-Cliffs of Moher, Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Rock of Cashel, Glenveagh National Park/Castle, Garnish Island, Glendalough, Hill of Tara

historic-Newgrange/Knowth
tour of Kerry/wall and Bogside murals
kilmainham jail-Dublin

garden-Powerscourt

abbey-Jerpoint Abbey

Best B&B-Castle Murray House-St. John's Point, Donegal

Do stay in B&B's and smaller guesthouses...and enjoy those full-Irish breakfasts!

Best Pubs-
Doolin-McGann's and O'Connor's
Dingle-Murphy's, O'Flaherty's, Small Bridge
Westport-Matt Malloy's
Dublin-pub crawls

we also enjoyed all of the pubs we stopped in along the way for a quick bite, pint, or coffee-for the driver...great soups/bread!/mussels/desserts-anything with cream!

Do-get out and walk...bounce on a Bog

Do-watch for pull-outs and get out and explore, plus you will need a break from driving.

Do enjoy as much Guinness (or Murphy's) as you can...it is different/better there!

Do-enjoy music in a pub-get to a pub early and scope out best seat near music...be patient and enjoy pub grub and a pint or two.

Do stay Left!
Do be sure to be careful when crossing the street...you have to look in the opposite directions!

Great list, Chip. My absolute favorites were the Rock of Cashel, Newgrange, and Dunluce Castle. I'm looking forward to going back next summer and seeing more of the things on your list.

Definitely agree with flying in and out of Shannon, or at least in one and out the other. Our recent trip stuck to County Kerry and County Clare, so from that I'd definitely recommend the Dingle area (absolutely beautiful). Killarney's not a big city. It is kind of touristy, but the attraction of Killarney is its proximity to the national park, Muckross House and Ross Castle, not the actual town. (I think, anyway.) Some people recommend Kenmare instead - we drove down for a bit and it seemed really nice. We also stayed in Ennis, which was fine for our purposes - about an hour from the Cliffs of Moher and close to the Burren, and about 30-45 minutes to Shannon airport. Most of the time we spent in town itself was in Cruise's pub for the music.

As far as where to stay, we found plenty of b&bs in those areas for €35 pp/night - about $50 each, give or take. We did stay in a hostel in Killarney (the Railway), but it was cheap enough that we got a private ensuite room.

Excellent advice noted above.

Another vote for Newgrange and also one for Dingle.

Best sure take advantage of any opportunity to hear local Irish music. A special bonus of Ireland.

Thanks for all the info....keep it coming.

Are the Guinness, Beamish, Jameson tours worth it or overpriced?

Been looking into ferry crossing to: Inishmore/inishman/Inisheer
Isle of Man
Whales (Liverpool or Holyhead)

Any info on these?

I thought I had seen a super ferry to Liverpool that took 4 hours instead of 8 but cannot locate what I thought I saw.

Are you thinking about doing Wales in addition to Ireland? If so, how long do you have for your trip? If you want to cover most of the country (it sounds from your original post like you do), I'd stay there if your trip is only a couple of weeks.

If you do decide to go over to the UK, will you have your own car? If not, I'd definitely look into flying to the UK rather than taking a ferry. Ryanair flies from Dublin to Liverpool, and you might have other options (other airports in Shannon, Cork, Kerry, Galway). However, unless you're taking a very long trip, I'd stick to Ireland since you sound like you want to cover so much of it.

We did the Guinness tour in Dublin (St. James Gate, I believe) and did not find it overpriced. The view from the top of the tower and the pint of Guinness you get while up there are worht the price fo admission alone! Didn't get outside of Dublin on my first visit, but next time I plan to visit Bushmills and maybe even stay there as I've heard very good things about it.

The trip would only be about 7 days, give or take.

What about crime?

Found this info from the Ireland Embassy:

Although Ireland has historically had a low rate of violent crime, it is increasing, and there have been a limited number of incidents in which foreigners and tourists have been victims of assault, including instances of violence toward those who appear to be members of racial minority groups. In addition, there have been several reported incidents in Dublin of persons severely assaulted by small, unorganized gangs roaming the streets after the pubs close. There is a high incidence of petty crime, mostly theft, burglary, and purse snatching in major tourist areas. Thieves target rental cars and tourists, particularly in the vicinity of tourist attractions, and some purse and bag snatching incidents in these areas have turned violent, especially in Dublin. Extra caution should be taken to safeguard passports and wallets from pickpockets and bag snatchers.

There has been an increase over the last year in the number of crimes involving credit cards and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). The use of skimmers to record credit card details has increased, and these recorded details are being sent elsewhere to program false and stolen credit cards.

Each year some 200 Americans report their passports stolen or lost in Dublin. Many are the victims of pickpockets operating in areas frequented by tourists, particularly museums or crowded bus and train stations. In the center of town, the area along the banks of the Liffey river is popular with pickpockets. Well-dressed pickpockets also stalk their prey in hotel restaurants and lobbies and in pubs.

Goodness. Well, I haven't been to Dublin in about eight years, but none of our group (about 40 college students) had anything stolen then. I would imagine it's like any other large city - be aware of your surroundings and keep hold of your stuff, don't leave your passport lying around, etc.

The only time I ever felt unsafe on our recent trip was when the tour busses and I were attempting to drive on the same narrow road. No attempts at pickpocketing, mugging, etc. - nothing whatsoever. Actually, come to think of it, I've never felt safer travelling.

With only 7 days, definitely stick to Ireland, and actually I'd stick to just one general area. I like to pack things pretty full, but we did some of County Kerry and County Clare in six days and that was all I'd feel comfortable with. It sounds like you're not all that enthused about Dublin anyway, so what about flying in and out of Shannon?

Thinking of flying into Shannon now. Of course, I'd like to see Dublin but I don't want to spend a lot of time there

So, getting from one place to another in Ireland is not that fast?

I went to Scotland a few years ago and had a lot easier time picking our base-camp and destinations during our stay. For some reason I am having a hard time figuring out what I want to do/see and what routes/areas we should hang around.

The roads in Ireland are such that swift travel in most areas is not feasible, although native drivers certainly zip along with ease. For the average tourist, 30-35 mph is about average. You have to keep in mind sheep, farm equipment, other tourists, weather conditions, other livestock, road construction, narrower than average roads abutted by hedges and rock walls, blind ingresses/egresses. large lories/buses, etc. The drive times that they show on the road planning sites are usually highly optimistic. A good rule of thumb, take the distance and divide by 30 or 35 for your actual driving time.

Your B&Bs in most area will run the equivalent of a Hostel or a little higher.

Shannon is better for navigating in, out and through. If you fly in/out of Shannon you might be better to stay west and North, Galway/Westport/Donegal/Ennis. As you would have less crowds and phenomenal scenery.

Slan Beo,

Bit Devine

Agree with Bit. ViaMichelin.com is a good tool for directions, but based on my experience and things I've read here, it's best to take the estimated time they give you and double it. This is because VM assumes you'll go faster than you do and doesn't account for road works, sheep, tour busses, getting lost, etc.

My advice is just to pick one area, probably either Galway/Connemara or Kerry, and stick with that. Just to give you some ideas, we flew into Kerry airport on a Thursday night, did the Gap of Dunloe in Killarney National Park on Friday, then drove part of the Ring of Kerry and up to Dingle on Saturday. We stayed in Dingle two nights, driving the Slea Head Sunday. Monday was a long driving day when we went from Dingle to Ennis. Tuesday we visited the Cliffs of Moher, took the Cliffs cruise from Doolin, and drove back to Ennis via the Burren. Flew home Wednesday morning. (I'm working on a trip report.) Ennis was the biggest city we were in, and it's not that big. The trip was heavy on scenery and nature, and it was great.

I haven't been to Galway or Connemara, so I'll let others advise you on that if you like, but hopefully that at least gives you some starting points. Try looking at guidebooks, searching for photos on Flickr.com, that sort of thing.

I would recommend getting a copy of the Eyewitness Guide to Ireland and a big road map. Sit down with the other people, go through the book and see what appeals. Then, plot your places of interest on a map and see what makes sense.

I just got back from a week in Ireland in May. I'd been several times but my husband hadn't. I knew what I wanted to see (Clonmacnoise being high on my list) and I knew what types of things he would enjoy (driving through The Burren). I highlighted them all on the map (I color coded by priority) and then made my decisions on what we were going to be able to fit in.

Just my two cents.

I got back a few weeks ago after 13 days in Ireland. We stayed in Enniskerry (25 min train ride south of Dublin), Kilkenny, Killarney, Dingle, Galway, Cong and Bunratty. I liked staying outside of Dublin and enjoyed the view of the coast while taking the DART into the city. We did the Guinness tour and I really didn't care for much of the "self guided" tour but I agree with kireland that the view was worth it.

We saw a mix of larger cities like Dublin and Galway and small villages as Enniskerry and Cong but in all of them I never had any concerns about my safety or crime. On the contrary, I felt very welcomed by everyone I encountered there. I was amazed at how helpful everyone was when I would stop for directions, I've had bartenders draw maps and one grocery owner walked out into the road to point out the specific roads for me. I think Bit had advised me to spend more nights in Kilkenny (which I should have listened!) We were there one night, just enough to see Kilkenny Castle, Kytelers Inn and a little of the town. It is a lovely medievel town. I would totally recommend the tour of the castle.

I felt that we encountered more American tourists in Killarney than in any of the other towns but it is a good location. Killarny was my 21 year olds favorite town probably because it had so many restaurants and shops within an easy walk of our B&B. I second Chips best scenic all day tour being the Gap of Dunloe...the views were breathtaking.

If I only had 7 days, I probably spend it on the west coast. The mountains were beautiful. I loved Dingle, we stayed right on the harbour and could walk to everything in town. If you're not big on cities, you may also enjoy Galway over Dublin.

We stayed in B&Bs most of the nights and I would definitely recommed it over staying in hotels. Sorry I think I got a little long winded on this post...

Hi Chip You mention the Gap of Dunloe Tour-was this a guided tour? I'm interested in a tour when I'm in Kenmare in August. Also does anyone have a recommendation for a B&B in Ennis? Thanks!

daydreamer - we did the Gap of Dunloe tour a couple of weeks ago. It's not a guided tour; you meet at the Deros office in the town centre (well, if you're taking the Deros tour), and they drive you to Kate Kearney's cottage. You then either walk through the Gap or pay a jaunting cart driver €20 to ride through the Gap to Lord Brandon's cottage. With the Deros tour, you met at Lord Brandon's and took a boat ride through the three lakes to Ross Castle, where they picked you up and took you back to town.

We stayed at Glenomra House in Ennis. It was completely fine - the rooms could use some updating, but otherwise, no complaints. Mary and her family were quite warm and helpful, fixing us and several others an early breakfast our last day (we were flying home from Shannon). It's about 1km from the town centre, so walkable. There are plenty of choices in town, though.

The best option is to land in Shannon and depart from Dublin. This way you'll cut out the round trip.

If you decide to stay in Dublin don't bother with the Guinness brewery - it's very overpriced. For views over Dublin visit the Smithfield Chimney instead.As you'll probably just stay 1 day/night the best way to see the city is by taking a walking tour www.walkingtours.ie or the hop on/hop off bus tour www.dublinbus.ie.

The best small town in the West Cork area is Schull. I would reccommend staying here. It's on the way to Mizen Head, the most southernly point in Ireland and a good basing point for the Beara Penninsula. It also has some great atmospheric pubs - Newman's and Hackett's. Good food at the Waterside Inn restaurant and Adele's.

Definitely try and fit in The Burren, Cliffs of Moher, Slea Head/Ring of Kerry, Molls Gap/Killarney, Breara Peninsula (Healy's Pass), Kilkenny town/Jerpoint Abbey, Glendalough and Newgrange.

Connemara is beautiful I don't think you'll have enough time to really appreciate it if you want to see Killarney, Cork, Kilkenny & Dublin. Maybe save the Galway/Mayo/Sligo/Donegal area for another trip.

I think its a bit exaggerated the warning about crime in Ireland. I have never encountered wandering mobs looking to rob people after pub closing...just the usual people heading home trying desperately to get a taxi.

There are pickpocket EVERYWHERE in Europe just bring a bag that zips and don't be lazy with your belongings. Most crime here is non violent against tourists. i ahve been oickpocketed at a tourist place (Kilkenny shop waiting for lunch in Dublin) but my bag was not a zip one and I had it down by my side so I was to blame for not being careful. I would never take your passport with you leave it at the hotel or in the room safe. Just bring a photocopy if you feel you need this.

OK.....my wife and I are leaving for Ireland the first week of October.

Flying into and out of Dublin. Thinking of fitting Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Galway/Shannon area in. We'll be there for a week.

I've been told that it takes a long time to drive between places. I am assuming most people will say that this is too much. I want to see the best Ireland has to offer.

Things we want to do/see the most:
Cliffs of Moher
Blarney Stone
Giant's Causeway
Brewery Tours

The best you will see is the blur of the Irish countryside from the inside of your car or train. Yikes!

Please, pick no more than three (two is better) bases and use those as day trips. If you had three weeks, you could hit all three corners of the country, but not in one!

You're going to want to stop and explore those standing stones you see on the side of the road, that ruined castle, that lovely pub, the beautiful church. You can't do that and still get each place. And why would you want to? Please, slow down :) I've been to Ireland three times, so I'm far from an expert, but I do know that the pace of life is slower, the sites are WORTH hanging around and exploring, savoring, and enjoying.

Besides, you want to be doing all that driving after some pints???

Dragon...

So, what areas do you recommend hanging around since you've been there three times?

Is one of our sites worth dropping over others (cliffs, giant, blarney)?

Which coastline/areas are better in late September/early October?

We had also wanted to do some canyoning, coasteering or caving while in Ireland and all the companies do these types of tours in Northern Ireland.

I haven't travelled to the Blarney or Cork areas, so I can't comment on those, but if you're flying in and out of Dublin and only staying for a week, I would choose to stay in Northern Ireland and some of the more northern counties within the Republic (Donegal, Sligo, May).

My husband and I recently came back from 2 weeks in Ireland, and that was essentially the route we did (though instead of looping back to Dublin, we continued south and flew out of Shannon). We followed the coast basically the entire time.

Our favorite part of Ireland was the North Antrim Coast. The scenery is spectacular and there is plenty to do. We were there for 3 days and only covered the major sites (Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-rede, Dunluce Castle, Bushmills, Kenbane, Torr Head). We did not spend any time in Belfast or Derry, and I wish we had been able to.

For such a limited time, I wouldn't try to stretch it out too much. We did find the roads in Northern Ireland to be better than those in the Republic and were able to travel between places much faster than we were expecting to. Our expectations were based on all the warnings I had read on this board about the slow driving and it taking much longer to drive between places than you would think. However, we're both used to driving in New York City and might be more aggressive drivers than typical tourists (though the locals still managed to fly by us).

To be perfectly honest, I would skip the Cliffs of Moher if we went again. It has become too much of a tourist site - it was swarmed with people while we were there, and the way the walls are now you can't get a good view. I much preferred the Slieve League cliffs in County Donegal.

My only uncertainty with recommending a focus on Northern Ireland for this trip is the weather. We were there at the end of July, and typically wore jeans and long sleeve shirts. I'm not sure how cold it will be in October. I'm sure someone else could provide info on the typical weather during that time of year.

I agree with tmac above - concentrate on the wonders of the north this trip, especially if you are going repelling or cliff diving :)

Save the south and west for another trip. There will be another, Ireland is addicting!

Bundle up warm - it's cold up there in October.

I doubt I'll ever be in Ireland again. We hardly ever go somewhere twice unless they are short trips within the USA to our favorite places. There are so many other places in the world to see, I'd rather see those places instead of going back to a country/area I've already been in. I don't think I'll ever go to Iceland or Scotland again, even though I enjoyed both. I just got back from doing Southern Utah and many Fodorites were telling me that I'd be back there again someday so no need to fit too much in. Many of them have been back numerous times. I can say with 99.99% certainty that I'll never be in the Southern Utah area again. We did what we wanted to do/see there. Hope I don't sound bitchy, don't mean to...we just try to fit as much in a possible because you never know if you'll make it back someplace.

Isn't the northern part of Ireland the green Ireland you always see or hear about? I thought I read that the southern part is the dry and less colorful section.

I find the southwestern part to be the greenest, but that's just my opinion.

And northern Ireland isn't the same country as the Republic of Ireland (southern) so it really isn't the same place. It's the same island, but then again, visiting Australia one week and saying you've seen it all and will never visit is just as silly, IMHO.

:)

All of Ireland is green. Maybe what you are thinking of is the more rocky Connemara region? But it's still beautiful and green. Seven days is just not that long to see a whole country. I know what you mean about not necessarily going back--I know it will be a while before I go back if ever, but I did spend a full three weeks really getting the flavor of the place.

I have been to Ireland in October plenty of times. I do not consider it cold. I was in Northern Ireland last October and wore a long sleeve shirt most of the time with no jacket and was perfectly comfortable. Someone with thin blood who lives in Hawaii or Florida may feel the cold more. I find that they tend to feel cold if the temps go below 80.

Jedivader, Everyone has given you their well intentioned advice about not trying to see the whole country in a week. I would take that advice myself. Even so you are resisting the thought of not doing it all. You will never return to Ireland and want to see what you want to see.

I say do what you want. See it all from your car window. Spend each night in a different spot so you can fit it all in. It is your trip and if that is what you want to do - go for it. Some people are perfectly happy with a glimpse of Ireland. Canyoning is out. No canyons in Ireland. There is a cave you can tour near the Cliffs of Moher south of Ballyvaughan called Aillwee. There are caves near Doolin.

As far as Ireland being dry, I believe they had 54 straight days of rain this summer. Ireland dry? ROFWL!!! Where do people get such information?

I would hate to be the other couple along for the ride!

IrishEyes wrote: "Ireland dry?"

Our humour is.

Padraig, It certainly is! I love the Irish sense of humor. It may be the only dry thing in the country.

jedivader,

Why don't the four of you get on a tour bus for your green blur. At least the driver would see the blur. Yes, I said green, I got a good laugh on that.

You've gotten some really good advice here and I hope you use it so you can enjoy your one time visit. Also, get some travel books to read about Ireland.

Joan

jedivader,

Please don't let the driver get so tired, you have a wreck.

Thanks to the ones that gave legit advice, screw the rest (irisheyes & chatham).

I thought this was a place for assistance and suggestions, not a place to practice your smart-ass remarks and rip on people.

This board has the feeling of an AOL chatroom full of idiots and teenagers now.

No one was resisting advice, I was giving my ideas/thoughts/hopes.

If you don't have something useful to say, just shut-up and let others respond.

I had already decided not to offer any further advice or assistance to jedivader because I am simply not interested in his or her approach to visiting a place.

But if I was still on the field, I would walk off now.

Hi jedivader--
Welcome to Fodor's. I'm a little perplexed at some of the exchanges above; I think you've been honest and clear about what you're trying to see on this trip. I do think some of the posts on this particular thread are rude; advice is needed, not judgment. However, your comment generalizing these boards doesn't really reflect some of the very good advice on this thread.

That said, here a few posts with Western Ireland itineraries...some of them are older but I think you'll find them helpful:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35050224
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34633374
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34692473

So because you don't like my approach to visiting a place, trying to do as much as possible, you don't want to assist.

What the.....!

All of a sudden, I post telling people that I'll probably never get back to Ireland and that I don't like going places twice and some posters jump on top of me and others decide to not post anymore advice....ridiculous.

Thank you to the posters that provided assistance and not attitude.

With only a week, there's really not a lot of time. I understand your thoughts of not going back to a country once you've been there - my husband and I also have a long list of places we want to go, and we generally don't want to duplicate. However, we only covered the north and west sections of Ireland. We will go back to see the south and east sections. We consider them to be very different. We probably won't be back in the next 3 years, but we will be back.

That being said, I would consider the following route.

Dublin
Belfast
Ballycastle
Donegal or Ballyshannon
Dublin

Bushmills Distillery is located up near Ballycastle and I thought it was a great tour.

Cornlough, on the coast road between Belfast and Ballycastle is a great little town - picture perfect.

There is a large castle in Carrickfergus, just north of Belfast.

When we were first researching our trip and looking for some more 'adventurous' activities, there seemed to be a number of places based in Bundoran (near Ballyshannon) that organized such activities. We did not end up having time to do any, so I can't comment on how good any of those places are.

I would highly recommend getting a guide book of some sort (we used the DK Eyewitness Guide) to start getting an idea of what sites would most interest you. We can offer recommendations to you on this site, but our personal taste may be different than your personal taste. There is so much to see in Northern Ireland - more than enough to fill 1 week.

Katie H...

In my posts, I did thank the posters that provided advice without judgement. There was good advice given until it turned ugly.

tmac....thanks!

My wife and I decided last night to stick to the northern half of Ireland. We actually only have six full days. We were thinking:

1: Dublin
2 & 3: Belfast area
4 & 5: Somewhere around Galway/Central Ireland area
6: Dublin