My husband and I have the - unexpected - opportunity to travel for a week the end of February. We are thinking about going to Ireland...is this crazy?

Any other suggestions?

We need to make arrangements within the next week and don't want to pass up this great opportunity!

Definitely not crazy. I went to Ireland Jan '03 and had a great time. The country is beautiful and the people are friendly. The off season is the best time to travel to Europe. Dress warmly and you'll be fine. Don't ever pass on a chance to go to Europe. I've made 10 trips and each trip has been great. Enjoy your trip!

Go for it!

Last year we went to Ireland for an extended weekend: end of February to the first of March to take advantage of AerLingus' great fares. We flew over Thursday and back the following Tuesday. We didn't do much travelling in Ireland: from our 'base,' a B&B in Ennis we did day-trips to Galway and to Doolin, the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. We are a couple of Seniors who both enjoyed it very much.

Weather was cool (40's) but bearable and there was lots of hoarfrost on the roads until about 9:30 AM

I don’t think it is crazy either; due to its proximity to the Gulf Stream, Ireland does not have severe winters like other places on its same longitude and latitude (there are palm trees in Dublin). Take a look at weatherbase.com and worldclimate.com for historical average temps and rainfall. Things will not be crowded and there will be some Lenten and pre-Lenten activities going on as well. Besides, wet chilly weather is a great excuse for hanging out in the pub. . . .

Days will still be on the short side that far north in February, sun will rise about 8 am and set by 5:30 pm, so bear this in mind when planning your day.

Nope, not crazy, as others have said. If you do live in Buffalo, it will be a lot warmed here than at home for you. Rain is never far away (don't believe the poster who keeps saying that it only rains 6% of the time in Ireland.), but we do get some dry spells (1-2 days!), and when it does pour, it's a great excuse to spend the day in the pub.

Be careful driving at night. It's very very dark on the roads, and sometimes slippery in the winter, as we get a fair amount of ice. Again, just get into the pub about 5-5:30 and stay there.

Have a great trip.

Go!! We went last yr end of Jan & had the time of our lives. It was very cold & rainy but we just hung out in pubs, drank beer & sang with the locals. Very quiet & often we were only ones in restaurants. I was just telling my husband I am ready to go back!!!

Excellent! We are thrilled to hear your encouraging words about traveling in the off-season. Other than Alaska, is anywhere colder than Buffalo this time of year??? ;0) What were we worried about?!

We'll be booking tickets to fly into Dublin and have 7 full days (not counting our travel days) to visit. I'll check out the other posts but, would love to hear some suggestions for itineraries...

We are in our early 30's - will rent a car and have traveled to Europe quite a few times. We've found we like to stay on the move and see as much as we can when we travel. Our price range will be high-mid.

Thanks again!

If you are truely mobile minded and intend to tour during your visit, I would stronly urge that you fly 'open-jawed'. Fly into Dublin, and out of Shannon. That way you can see a lot more of Ireland without "wasting" one or two days recovering the same sights, in order to get back to Dublin.
We have done the oposite ( in at Shannon / out of Dublin ) two of our last six trips.
Generally the difference in ticket price is minimal, or the same as regular, round trip.
We did a Feb. trip in 2002, in at Shannon, drove to just outside Cork City for a family get-together for a couple of days, then drove to Galway City.
Next day, we drove through the Connemeara, past Kylemore Abbey to Westport and spent the night in Crossmolina (Mayo). The next day we toured Ballina and Killala and drove to Sligo, before turning back south and spending the night near Longford. Next we drove through the Bog of Allen, spending the night in Kildare Town. Then we drove to Malahide (just north of Dublin) and checked into a B&B. We rode a city bus into Dublin for a whirlwind, 4/5 hr tour and then flew out the next day.
Don't necessarily recommend that particular itinerary, but it shows that you are only limited by your limits you set.
Let us know what you are interested in and we will be more than happy to recommend itineraries.

Thanks Itallian_Chauffer. Your advice to fly open-jaw was great! I did some research this afternoon and there is no difference in the price to fly in to Shannon/out of Dublin. That will save us a lot of valuable time.

Tentative Plan: Dingle, Galway, Dublin

(AR - Shannon)
*Dingle; 2 nights (Sun/Mon), 1 full day (Mon). Leave Dingle early Tues and see Cliffs of Moher, The Burren on the way to Galway.

*Galway; 1 night (Tues), 1 day (Wed). >>>THOUGHT...is it realistic to spend Wednesday touring Galway (What is there to do in Galway?) and make it to Dublin to eat/sleep Wednesday night?

*Dublin; 3 nights (Wed/Thurs/Fri), 2 full days (Thurs/Fri)
Thurs: Full-day to tour Wicklow Mtns w/Wild Wicklow Tours.
Fri: Guiness Brewery, Temple Bar are musts.
>>>THOUGHT...among the following, what would you recommended we see? (Can we see all???) National Museum, Kilmainham Gaol, Trinity Library, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Number twenty-nine Georgian House, Grafton Street and O'Connell Bridge/Street

-We are planning to drop the car off once we reach Dublin. Most of the rental companies I've researched will allow us to drop the car off in Dublin - either city centre or at the airport. My initial thought is city centre will be more convenient for us; does it make much difference?

hi buffalonian - you should consider county donegal in the northwest of ireland for part of your stay. there's lots of fabulous scenery and places to eat and stay. you can check my website for other details on donegal and ireland. www.welovedonegal.com

regarding you car, i would suggest leaving it to the hire company in the city of dublin rather than taking it out to the airport. the roads can be very busy and the time taken to get there as a result, can be lengthy and eat into your valuable time.

some restaurants i would highly recommend in dublin - they're all fairly central (you'll find them all on the internet for further details): patrick guibalds (french, high class dining); one pico (beautiful restaurant with great food and great service); the unicorn (absolutely buzzing little italian restaurant in a pretty little mews just off stephen's green).

also give the store, brown thomas a run while you are in grafton street. it is a lovely store with lots of pretty things. ireland's top department store. go too to powerscourt town house - packed with little shops and some fabulous antique jewellery outlets too.

make sure to wander along the little side lanes around grafton street - some great little shops and cafes.

hope you have a great stay in ireland!
the fitzwilliam hotel is really handy for grafton street (one minutes walk) and the restaurants i have mentioned above. it is very modern and we find the rooms very comfortable.

Buffalonian - Galway is a cool city, and it's worth spending a day there, but you'll have a hard time making it to Dublin if you want to stop for pints/music, although the M highways are not tedious driving like the country roads. Trinity Library and college are musts to see the Book of Kells. The last night you could stay at Belcamp Hutchison (a restored 1700's manor house), 10 minutes from the airport, and Doreen, the owner, is most accommodating, even of early flights. Have fun!

I just went to the Kilmainham Jail yesterday on a whim. We were driving by on our way home and decided to stop. I would recommended it highly but wear warm clothes its a bit chilly!

AS for restaurants and places to stay what is the price range. welovedonegal gavel nice places but they are mostly in the higher end of the price range. There are great early birds at places like chapter one and Dobbins which are upmarket but great value for early meals. Also there are many places with good food at cheaper prices.

Galway is also a great place to visit and but one day and then drive to Dublin is a bit hectic and exhausting.

Let us know some price range and we can be more specific!

You may just get a lovely warm spelll and it will definately be warmer than buffalo!

Buffalonian writes: "... planning to drop the car off once we reach Dublin. Most of the rental companies I've researched will allow us to drop the car off in Dublin - either city centre or at the airport. My initial thought is city centre will be more convenient for us; does it make much difference?"

Airport pickup/dropoff usually entails a surcharge. I don't know if dropping your rental car off in Dublin center city will eiminate that. You might even consider dropping your rental car off in Galway.

There's a (private) Airlink bus service from Galway Tourist Office to Dublin (Center City or Airport), in case you don't care to drive the 4 hours it will take. It used to run about hourly. Last time I used it, it was 15 Euro O/W, 25 Euro R/T.
BTW
Galway: beware the knit woolens from Nepal many of the vendors in the open marketplace sell. We went to Lahinch on 1 Mar 2004 and the ITB shop there had 30% off everything. He also filled out our VAT Rebate forms so we could get those rebates in cash at the airport.

I believe if you EITHER pick up or drop off at an airport, you get the airport charge. The bus would certainly be a possibility and you would have to see where the drop off would be in Galway. If it's at the airport, you would have to get back to the tourist office in the city center I suspect. I would drive personally. Your concern might be finding your way around the city center. I think it's easier to pick up a car and leave than arrive in town and find the place. I would drop at the airport and take one of the buses into town.

As much as I love Donegal, I fear a trip there with so little time would be more driving and less sight seeing than it is worth. It's a pretty long drive from anywhere.

Have a great time!

Bill

It's official! We are flying to Shannon and out of Dublin.

Bill, I think you are right...Donegal seems to be out of our way this trip. (I guess we'll just have to go back!!!) However, www.welovedonegal.com is a great site; I'll be checking back for updates.

Any suggestions for places to stay? (We're comfortable paying on the high-end but, would still like to feel like we are in Ireland...) I have been using http://www.familyhomes.ie/ but, I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the options! ;0)

Dingle, 2 nights
Galway, 1 night
Dublin, 2 nights
(We're going to do our best to make reservations for the third night at Belcamp Hutchinson. tjans, this was an excellent suggestion since we'll need to be at the airport around 7:30am the next morning and it looks lovely! Thank you.)