Ireland Guidebooks
 

We are planning our first trip to Ireland for July 2003. Any recommendations for Ireland travel guides would be appreciated. There are the Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Rick Steves, etc., just wondering if anyone has found they prefer one over the other. <BR>We are parents traveling w/ a 15 yr old boy independent of a tour group.<BR><BR>Thanks!

Suzanne,<BR>There's a web site you should look at. Do a search on &quot;Irelend with Pat Preston.&quot; This woman is amazing -- it seems there isn't a place she hasn't been to. And, if possible, she'll try to answer individual questions. She also sells a guidebook.

Dear Suzanne,<BR><BR>I enjoy Karen Brown Books &amp; Itineraries (karenbrown.com) and Rick Steves has a great driving tour of the Dingle Penisula - which I highly recommend.<BR><BR>You need more than one source.<BR><BR>Have fun,<BR><BR>Nancy

Suzanne, Another wonderful site that has a forum, Ireland info and a fantastic guidebook is Michelle's at www.irelandyes.com. Found the guidebook there very easy to use and down to earth.

Well, what do you want from a guide book? Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet,&amp; Rick Steves give good recommendations on B&amp;B, hotel, and tourist sites. <BR><BR>If you want only itineraries let me suggest &quot;55 Daytrips, Ireland&quot; by Pat Preston. We used it on our trip last March. It gave a good tour of the Burren, and was well designed &amp; thought out. If you want recommendations on B&amp;B, hotel, and tourist sites you can visit her website and get it free at<BR>http://www.ireland-withpatpreston.com/

Another vote for Pat Preston's site. Although I think she remarried and changed her name. She has great info' and the messageboard/forum there is great. People love to give good info.

Thumbs up for Michelle Erdwig's forum at www.irelandyes.com. It has good answers, interaction with many people, and is easy to use.

I guide I myself have been using for some time is Bed and Breakfast Ireland by Elsie Dillard. We have always found that the places we stayed at recommended from this book were great!

I guide I myself have been using for some time is Bed and Breakfast Ireland by Elsie Dillard. We have always found that the places we stayed at recommended from this book were great!

Thanks to all that responded. Your time and advice is truly appreciated. I will research all the good advice given!<BR><BR>Suzanne<BR><BR>

One to avoid: A Dummie's Guide to Ireland. I picked one up the other day just to have a look, and noticed that in Belfast it listed one restaurant that has been closed since 1998, and another that closed in 1997. So I continued looking at the info for other towns with which I'm familiar, and I saw a huge amount of errors and misinformation. I've never seen such a bad guide.

The '100 Best Places to Stay' and '100 Best Restaurants' guides to Irish<BR> b+b's and restaurants are an absolute must-updated yearly and include all the old reliables aswell as some new places each year.

Thanks hilary.

Dear Suzanne,<BR><BR>Your question is a good one, especially given the large number of guidebooks on Ireland.<BR><BR>Having seen most of the widely available guides to Ireland, I can strongly recommend the &quot;100 Best&quot; series of books published by Bridgestone. Authors John and Sally McKenna live in Ireland and, as far as I can tell, have a comprehensive knowledge of that country's ever-changing accommodation and restaurant scene. I've used their annually-published guides for the past several years and I find them highly reliable. Better yet, their guides aren't influenced by money, meaning there is no money exchanged in order for a particular business to appear in the guide. (Karen Brown can't claim this.)<BR><BR>Another very reliable guide is the U.K.-published Alistair Sawday's Guide to Ireland. The book is updated yearly.<BR><BR>Finally, for my money the best overall guide to Ireland is the British-based Rough Guide. It's updated every two years, and it provides the traveler with a well written, candid, and very comprehensive guide to Erin. Most impressive is the context the book offers on the countless sights on offer in Ireland. If you're a serious and independent-minded traveler to Ireland, don't go without the Rough Guide.<BR><BR>Best of luck.

David, the places listed in Alistair Sawday's Guide to Ireland must pay to be in it just like Karen Brown's books.

Dear Jennifer,<BR><BR>I appreciate your point. As with the Sawday guide, I've had good luck with Karen Brown's guide, and I do believe both guides represent good investments. Still, there remains something to be said for journalistically honest guides, like Bridgestone, that review accommodations and restaurants without the influence of money. It's something worth considering when you're planning your next Irish vacation.

David, I have used various guides and tend to shy away from ones that want payment for inclusion although I do have Karen Brown's book. I did not find out till afterward that listings were paid for. I will try Bridgestone next time though I hear that they concentrate more on the element of food and that accommodation is slightly more secondary in importance. I liked Best Little Guide to Ireland and it states on the first page that no one pays to be listed. It also comes out every year. The AA book is generally good but Ireland is only a small part of it and most of the listings are in Great Britain. I intensely disliked a book on B&amp;Bs by the Sullivans. Some of the listings were just word of mouth and not personally visited by them. The sketches and maps in that book looked like they were drawn by drunk monkeys. A B&amp;B owner told me that he wrote his own description for the book The Hidden Places of Ireland. It makes you wonder which descriptions are actually written by the writers of the books!!

Jennifer,<BR><BR>Thanks for mentioning &quot;The Best Little Guide.&quot; Just when I thought I was familiar with all Ireland travel guides,along comes your posting. I'll be on the lookout for it.<BR><BR>As regards Bridgestone, it's probably fair to say the authors, John and Sally McKenna, are &quot;foodies&quot; first and foremost; but don't let that keep you from investigating their &quot;100 Best Places to Stay&quot; books. (Check out their website at bridgestoneguides.com) I've used them for the past four or so years and find their recommendations helpful and accurate. Moreover, the writing is colorful and entertaining; the format is easy to follow. There are some drawbacks, however. The guides are modestly produced and there are no photos of the accommodations.<BR><BR>Before I sign off, allow me to suggest a few other helpful guides, all of which I've used and will often turn to:<BR><BR>&quot;Georgina Campbell's Guide to Ireland&quot; (In 2001 it was published under the heading Georgina Campbell's Jameson Guide Ireland 2001)See www.ireland-guide.com<BR><BR>&quot;The Hidden Ireland&quot; - Subtitled Accommodation in Private Heritage Houses, this guide is updated annually, and features about 40 homes of distinction. Some are quite expensive, others quite reasonable. All are worth investigating. Visit www.indigo.ie/hiddenireland/<BR><BR>Finally, &quot;Friendly Homes of Ireland&quot; Less upmarket than &quot;Hidden Ireland,&quot; but many more places to choose from and always worth a look. See www.whynotireland.com<BR><BR>Best of luck.

I was just looking at my shelf for the books I used for our family vacation early this year. I agree with Pat Preston's web site as being helpful. I found her book plus Rick Steve's book most helpful in planning out tour. I liked Karen brown's book best for places to stay. Sawday's book proved less useful. Frommer's was good for Dublin.

David, Thank you for your other suggestions. I will look them up before my next Ireland trip. I got the Best Little Guide to Ireland off the Internet. I do not know if it is in book stores. Just do a web search. How often do you go to Ireland? You seem to know a lot.