Ireland driving vacation
 

My husband and I have booked a 7-night trip to Ireland in mid-June, where we plan to pick up a rental car in Dublin and embark on a driving tour. We would like to have flexibility on when and where to stop for the night. What are our chances of being able to find nice lodgings without reservations? Are we better off to make reservations? We would like to visit the areas of Cork, Kerry and Limerick, then return to Dublin. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated!

We traveled by car throughout Ireland several years ago. I think you are always better off with reservations well in advance. That being said, you can travel without reservations made far in advance. We used a B & B reference guide and called just a day or two in advance. We never had a problem. Waiting to the last minute may limit your choices. Once you have an idea where you intend to be, make your reservation as soon as practicable.

We traveled Ireland without reservations and only had trouble once, but it was spring not summer and that might make a difference.

The ONLY time I ever make reservations anywhere is if I will be arriving somewhere late at night. Otherwise I ALWAYS wing it. I have yet to have to sleep on a park bench.

Most people make reservations, no doubt about that. The primary reason for doing so is of course fear. The primary disadvantage to doing so is being locked in to an itinerary.

Some(most) travellers are tourists in the original sense of the word. Think about it, if you have reservations, then you are in fact on a 'tour'. Whether you book them yourself or travel with a tour company, it's still a tour. On Monday you will be in A and on Tuesday in B etc. That's what 'tourists' do.

But not all travellers are tourists on a tour. If you want the freedom that a tour cannot give you then you cannot book ahead. It is as simple as that. So since you say you want that freedom (which I applaud), there is no point in asking the question about reservations. Forget about them except for the first night in Dublin.

People will try to argue that 'tourist' and traveller' are synonymous but that is true in only one aspect. They both visit places. There are other aspects however in which they differ. A major difference is in having reservations and a planned itinerary.

Here is how the difference works. You are somewhere and speak to someone. They tell you of an event of some kind that really interests you. You respond with either A: 'Oh, that sounds so great but we have a non-refundable within 48 hours reservation in X tomorrow night and so we can't go.' B: 'Wow, that's for us, know any good hotels or B&B's nearby?'

You might never get to Limerick, so what? Itineraries and reservations put blinders on you to opportunities. Limerick (or wherever) will still be there next year. That opportunity you passed up on might not.

Standard answer... As a Couple with no preconceived requirements above a clean bed and a good Breakfast then it's fine to wing it a little

Winging it the t2p way. or how we tour

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.

Of course you don't have to visit every place on your list but having a few numbers is better than knocking on doors ..

dul_sex: You pull out that same drivel over and over. Do you <i>ever</i> get tired of lecturing. We already know how superior you/your way of traveling are . . .

ortola: w/ just a couple you don't need to pre-book in most places. But as Tony says, do some research to see if there are any festivals/special events in the areas during your dates, because that can make a HUGE difference. Some music/folk festivals do book things up months in advance.

I'd definitely book the first night. And the last before flying out.

It is also good to book or at least have a list of possibilities in any towns you definitely 100% want to visit.

But w/ only a two people (and being flexible re amenities/budget/type of room0 you should be fine in most places.

Thank you all so much for your input. I agree that first and last night we will book, and be prepared with some options for the towns we plan to stay in. Seems like a reasonable plan.

I may be in the minority, but with only 7 days I'd have a plan and reservations. I wouldn't want to spend precious time standing in a tourist office looking for a bed.

With a plan, you can roll into town and head right to your B&B. I say this because Ireland is so interesting that you will want to stop and take a look quite often. Just an example: We were headed to Westport, stopped so many places that we didn't get into town until 6pm. It was a relief to know where we were staying, get settled, and head out to a dinner suggested by the B&B. Same thing when we arrived in Kinsale, Kenmare, or Dingle. We could take our time, get lost(which happens a lot) and not have a challenge facing us when we got there.

Cork, Kerry, Limerick is much ground to cover in 7 days---have a plan.

I just saw janisj's comment about festivals/events. When we drove into Westport at 6pm we found our B&B easily. Within a few minutes all the streets were closed for a road rally. Had we arrived a few minutes later we would have had a hard time getting to our B&B much less finding one in a town packed with road rally people.

We learned our lesson about reservations one time in Italy when we left the last night open "to find something cute." The desk girls laughed out loud as there was a race and no accommodations within 200 miles.

Just sayin'!

I don;t think fear is the reason for booking in advance.

There are several reasons

1) Wanting specific amenities
2) Wanting to keep within a specific budget
3) Not wanting to waste limited vacation time looking for a place to stay each afternoon

We always book in advance - why go through the hassle when you're in the middle of a trip.

And June might be crowded in some places - check for specific festivals or activities that may be happening when you want to be somewhere.

I love planning the vacation almost as much as the vacation itself!

I like the planning, also. Plus my arthritic knees appreciate b&b's with ground-floor rooms, and we often try to find triple rooms. Hard to do on the fly.

This is why as my regular recommendation for winging it...

Book 1st and Last nights.

Have a list of Accommodation with More than 5 bedrooms (A Guest House in Ireland is a B&B with 5 or more letting rooms)

Find out if there are any Festivals in Potential locations.

If moving on Phone around Breakfast for that nights accommodation. (you will have a list of phone numbers)

Planning is part of the fun agreed.. Over planning is a curse and some of us actually like a bit of spontaneity..

Of course the danger is that some people will arrive find the 1st place that all their neighbours have photo's of and just rather blikeredly think its the only place in Ireland worth seeing... (and there was I not aiming to talk about Dingle)

How ever many reasons to reserve people come up with, none of them have anything whatsoever to do with maintaining the freedom to decide what to do on a given day at will.

People are always quick to say why they think you should reserve and then totally ignore why you might not want to. There are advantages and disadvantages to anything.

If you book, you lose freedom. If you don't book, you might indeed spend an hour finding a room. The question is which is more important to you.

If you are a typical tourist who plans to follow a 'tour' then reservations won't affect that negatively at all. So go ahead. But if you wish to travel freely without any restrictions on what you decide to do each morning when you wake up or when you come across something along the way, then reservations WILL indeed adversely affect that.

Funnily enough, you all seem to see festivals/events as possibly being a negative in regards to spontaneous travel. My experience has been just the opposite.

If I arrive somewhere and some event is going on that is of interest to me, that is a prime reason to decide to STOP. If you are enroute from A to C and come across an event going on in B, you can't stop. You have to get to C because you have a reservation. That is the negative in my opinion.

If you travel with reservations, you may have an opinion on what travelling without them would mean but in fact it's just an opinion based on NO or little actual experience. I always travel without reservations and my opinion is based on a LOT of experience doing so. There is no hassle as far as I am concerned.

I will say again, I've never had to sleep on a park bench in decades of reservation free travel. If you want to give up the freedom an itinerary imposes on you then that is your decision to make but don't try to say it is BETTER than having that freedom. That's ludicrious.

Being free to decide what to do on a whim is always going to be better than any self-imposed restriction you put in the way. That simply isn't arguable. That you don't believe you can do so is another story. Yes nytraveler, it is indeed a fear, an unsubstantiated fear of the unknown.

"Being free to decide what to do on a whim is always going to be better than any self-imposed restriction you put in the way. That simply isn't arguable. That you don't believe you can do so is another story. Yes nytraveler, it is indeed a fear, an unsubstantiated fear of the unknown"

While I don't think ortola will have any problem travelling around Ireland and winging it your comment here is a bit of an exaggeration. There are times when reserving ahead (not just late arrival) is the best way to go and not because of unsubstantiated fear. For example: I'm visiting the Cuckoo Fleadh in Kinvara on the upcoming May Bank holiday weekend (May 2nd to the 5th). I knew I wanted to stay in Kinvara for three nights to fully enjoy this festival. I also knew that if I waited too long and didn't reserve well in advance I might not have a place to stay. So I reserved lodging well in advance and sure enough once it got to within a month the place is banged out with not an available room to be found. That is not an unsubstantiated fear it is a very real fear at times. I can think of other examples.

So once again you've got an overall good point but take it a bit over the top.

I LOVE travel planning; poring over guidebooks and TripAdvisor, etc. is a huge pleasure for me. I also plan my driving days to be very short (3 hours max) so that I can stop whenever the whim overtakes me, and still be sure of having a reserved, comfortable place to sleep that night. I don't think that makes me a "typical tourist", or a fearful one, for that matter, as dulcius seems to imply.

Try finding a room in Dublin when Garth Brooks is concerting! Or the Nota Dame Games are on,, And Dublin isn't exactly short on accommodation. So Yes Festivals and Events do need consideration

First, let us agree that the OP can carry on planning their trip to Ireland with no need for reservations beyond perhaps the first and last night simply for convenience.

It that is the case then we can carry on a debate with 'no harm, no foul' to the OP.

Markan, you say there are times when reservations are a necessity and give your example in Kinvara. Now tell me how you know that the 'place is banged out' nearly a month before the event?

I don't want to hear you looked online and can't find a bed to rent. I want to know how you KNOW there is not a bed to rent and will not be when the event is going on.

The fact is you THINK there will not be a bed to rent. I think there will. Can you PROVE I am wrong any more than I can prove you are wrong? You can't ask someone to prove an unknown.

I'll say again, if people have little or no experience of travelling without reservations they can have an opinion about what that will mean but it's simply an opinion. I have a lot of experience of travelling without reservations and my opinion differs from your opinion.

You don't have to agree with my opinion but you cannot say, 'there will not be a room to rent'. Your opinion does not translate automatically into a fact simply because you believe it.

I could be wrong in my opinion and there will not be a room to rent but I CAN say, it has never happened to me yet. By the way, a quick look right now for Kinvara on May 2-5 on Bookings.com says there are rooms available (4) in the Merriman Hotel in Kinvara and countless others within 20km. Check for yourself if you like.
http://www.booking.com/searchresults...st_id=-1503980

I can't help what you believe to be true. I can only tell you what I have experienced.

Tony2phones, tell me you're kidding when you say you believe there is any night of any year when there is not a room to be found in Dublin whether Garth Brooks is concerting or not.

Wow, that's a ridiculously long link. But it works. LOL

goo.gl or tinyurl.com is your friend :)

Here is a thread from another forum that is about the planning/not planning question. You might find it interesting markan.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntr...-travel?page=1

There are some rooms in Dublin during Garth Brooks at a huge Cost even the Premier Inn out by the airport Doubles the price for a night those 3 days.. And No there was not a central room on the day of last years Notra Dame Game. or in Ennis a couple of nights during last years Fledh, Clifden Trad Fest changed its dates so as not to clash with the Golf a couple of years ago as there was just not enough accommodation for both when clashing with Galway Oyster Festival..

dulciusexasperis, you searching on Booking.com is inaccurate because you only checked for Friday night. The festival starts on Friday night and runs through Monday. If you change your search to May 2nd to May 5th you will find nothing available within 5 miles. Yes I did this by searching various websites like Booking.com. Can you recommend another way of finding out? I thought the best way to see if a place was fully booked was to first check online.

The fact that there is a fairly popular festival going on in the town that weekend and everything (from an online view anyhow) within 5 miles is booked would seem to indicate to me that it was wise to book in advance.

Now is there an outside chance I could wing it and show up on Friday and manage to find a room for three nights. Yes I admit that is possible. Highly unlikely but possible. But why take the chance? Why not just book well in advance and be certain we'll have a place to stay?

I really cannot believe that you would advocate to me to just wing it and show up in Kinvara on May 2nd and hope for the best. Surely you cannot really believe that is the best approach for someone that really wants to stay in town for that festival.

So in conclusion you may be right. There may be a bed to rent when I show up. I can't prove there won't be. But that isn't my point. My point is that isn't it better to just reserve in advance since I KNOW 100% that I want to be there May 2nd until May 5th?

Also what my example is trying to prove is not whether or not there will be a free bed to rent in Kinvara on May 2nd to the 5th. You're right I really can't prove that from where I'm sitting. But what I am suggesting is that winging it is NOT always the best approach and sometimes booking in advance is not because of "unsubstantiated" fear but out of a very real concern that there may not be something available. I think that you attempting to argue about this is really a stretch attempting to defend your indefensible opinion.

Here's an idea. Why don't you show up in Kinvara on day one of this event, doesn't have to be this year, and see if you can find a room in town for 3 nights. Let us know how you make out.

Another few, SMALL considerations that has NOTHING to do with fear:
If you want to stay at a SPECIFIC location, it only makes sense to book into that place.

From a tourist standpoint, there is a HUGE difference to staying IN town, rather than "within 20 kilometers" of town.

When I travel to Ireland (usually once or twice a year), I often leave in a few open (and unscheduled) days -- but, MOST of my nights are pre-booked for the very reasons that I just listed. Typically, an 'average' visit, for me, is three weeks.

For the typical tourists from North America, however, a 7-10 day trip, with VERY specific goals is more the norm. In that case, if you KNOW that you will be visiting Points A, B and C, why wouldn't you Pre-book into 'vetted' accommodations, rather than spend part of each day 'Hunting'?

"Here is a thread from another forum that is about the planning/not planning question. You might find it interesting markan.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/gap-year-round-the-world-travel/topics/unplanned-travel?page=1"


I did find it interesting thanks. And reading it I realize you and I are talking about two different things. I'm talking about a "vacation" and you're talking about "travelling". I don't see the need nor have the desire to wing it since I'm going on a vacation. Enough said.

So let's look at this in the context of a US trip.

Are you happy if you pull into, say, Florence, South Carolina, without a reservation and have a choice between Motel 6 or the Red Roof Inn?

Yes, they have rooms available; yes, you preserved your flexibility to visit South of the Border, but is this a happy outcome?

I have not traveled through Ireland but have had my share of mildewed rooms in England and Scotland. I am here to tell the tale. But I would prefer to minimize those experiences if I am spending the money to go abroad

Sigh, I did not "advocate to just wing it and show up in Kinvara on May 2nd and hope for the best" markan. If someone is only going to ONE place for a given period of time and they choose to pre-book I see no problem with that.

I've been known to book a package holiday to a beach for a week. But that is NOT what the OP is doing here and not what I was writing about.

You got it right, most people are talking about a vacation and I'm talking about travelling. But if you look at my first response on this thread you will find, " But not all travellers are tourists on a tour. If you want the freedom that a tour cannot give you then you cannot book ahead. It is as simple as that. So since you say you want that freedom (which I applaud), there is no point in asking the question about reservations. Forget about them except for the first night in Dublin."

The OP specified they wanted the freedom. So the only question is whether they can go without reservations or not and of course, the answer is you can.

If I got to Kinvara and the festival appealed to me, I'd find a room. Whether in town or 10km out of town doesn't matter to me. Close enough.

I never KNOW where I will stay or why or for how long Itallian_Chauffer. That is the whole point of travelling without a plan. You stay where you want, when you want for as long as you want. When you are ready and not before, you decide which direction to move on in next.

YOU are the one who imposes on yourself the limitation of having to get to a SPECIFIC place. I don't care if I go to that place or another place. What I care about is whether or not I enjoy each day.

I really don't know how else to say it. Winging it always has been more valuable to me than the security of a reservation. I like not knowing where I will go next. Occasionally, I'm a tourist going to A for a week of sun and sand or whatever and then back home. But usually, I'm a traveller going where the road takes me, there is no destination I have to get to.

That's what the OP asked if they could do, not what YOU would do. The OP doesn't need reservations to travel.

I come from a different place

Sorry Ackislander, missed your comments which I take it are addressed to me.

OK, your example is fine as far as it goes. If I arrive in Florence and all there was is a Motel6, it will depend if I am on my own or with my wife (I'm being scrupulously honest here). If I'm alone Motel6 is fine. It's just a bed for a night. I'm not gonna stay in Florence for a week or more.

If my wife is with me then Motel6 is not fine. We won't stop in Florence, SC. Simple as that. We'll simply go somewhere else. I'll look at the map and say, 'hmm, there's a Hampton Inn a couple of miles south down the road in Effingham. But hang on a second, there's a Fairfield just to the north in Hartsville and look, the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge is just up past that. What about checking that out tomorrow. There's a lake up that way too, Lake Robinson, wonder what's like?'

The assumption is always that someone wants to be in a specific place. Why?

On a recent road trip we decided we wanted to visit Bandolier National Monument. We were in Santa Fe when we decided. Bandolier is just a few miles away. We did not leave home planning to go to Bandolier. We weren't even aware it existed.

So we drove up there, parked at the visitor centre and took the shuttle bus into the Monument. After a half day hike around the main loop it was clear to us that we would like to spend more time in that area. So we went back to the Visitor centre to our car and drove across the road to a Hampton Inn. Very convenient.

When I asked if they had a room the desk clerk asked 'for how many nights?' As they do right. I said, 'I don't know, let's say a week and if we decide to leave before that I'll let you know the night before.' No problem. We ended up staying 5 nights and then leaving.

Have you heard of Bandolier, Valles Caldera, Chaco Canyon Ackislander? I'd heard of Chaco but not the other two. Now I've been to all three. I didn't plan to go to any one of them.

Now if someone plans to go to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Arches National Monument, do you think their week's experience wil be any better than mine was?

Trust me, I've been to GC, Monument valley and Arches. They aren't better or worse, just different. No matter how many places you go to there are always others just as good that you didn't get to. So why care which you do go to?

The ones you find by chance rather than off a 'top ten attractions' list are in my experience often far more rewarding anyway.

After all these comments I'm going back to my previous post----with only 7 days, I wouldn't want to waste time.. I'd make reservations.
Other than that I have no strong opinions on the subject!

Good luck and have a great adventure in Ireland.