Ireland last minute recommendations
 

Hey everyone. I leave for Ireland in 16 days and am taking last minute recommendations for anything!!

I have never been to Europe before so I am not for sure as to what to pack that would be different from my last vacations. (ie: cruises, trips in the US, etc.) I know I need to bring a European wall plug.

Here is our itinerary:
Night 1: Dublin
Night 2: Cong
Night 3: Galway
Night 4: Killarney
Night 5: Cork
Night 6: Cork
Night 7: Kilkenny
Night 8: Dublin

The tours we have booked so far are: Guinness in Dublin, Kilmainham Gaol Tour in Dublin, and Falconry in Cong.

The tours were interested in booking are the Jameson Whiskey tour, horseback riding in Killarney National Park, Dunmore Cave, Titantic Experience, Blarney Castle, Muckross House Tour.

We have our rental car booked through Europcar and ensured we get a GPS with the rental.

Any must try restaurants at one of our stops, must do tours, packing/travel tips are so appreciated!

You'll need a UK plug adapter, not a European adapter.

Elberko - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000Y...KZ2WOXS5&psc=1

That's what I'm looking at buying. Will it work?

Sure, it has a UK plug.

Personally, I prefer 2-3 simple/cheap plug adapters:
https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/uk-power-adapter

I usually have a few things I want to plug in at the same time.

I just ordered 3 of them. Thank you very much!!

One thing you might hear love is that you're going to be packing and unpacking a lot on your trip. I had a 13-day trip planned back in 2013 and I think I might have booked 5 different places. Ok that's changing places every couple nights.
Unfortunately I can't give you very much advice because my trip didn't go quite as planned. I was in a car accident on the fifth day and spent 11 days in the hospital. I ended up spending 47 days recovering in Kilkenny which was actually really awesome haha
Do you have your lodging booked for Kilkenny already?

Civiclx- Sorry to hear about your trip! Bummer about the car accident but awesome about your extra time! (Not sure if you were able to enjoy it at all...)

Yes, I do have my hotel in Kilkenny booked. It is refundable though, so I could switch it if wanted. I booked the Spring Hill court hotel. I tried to find hotels that had free parking to limit the amount of $ spent on parking. All but one hotel has this! This hotel in Kilkenny also offers free breakfast, which is nice.
Do you have any recommendations for what to do? We are lookin at doing Kilkenny castle, dunmore cave, jerpoint abbey, Kells priory, and possibly smith wick. Have you done any of these? We haven't booked any of those tours.

And about your packing and unpacking comment, I did expect that. We won't be able to "settle" into any place but that's ok for me. I'd prefer to experience more of what Ireland has to offer than stay in one or two major cities. Bonus is I don't usually unpack on my one week trips anyways :)

Hi! Thank you but to be honest, it turned out to be an alright trip. I LOVED just being in one place for so long and not having to get up early and go rush off and do any touristy things. Most of my days I would just walk around and I loved taking a book up to the castle park or to one of the cafes and read and people watch. I would order a dessert and a diet coke or a hot chocolate and just relax :)

I did do Dunmore Caves and a tour of the Castle while I was there and both were cool. I had actually gone to Kilkenny the day before my accident but I didn't do a lot while I was there. Little did I know that I would be back haha

Yeah, I'm pretty easily entertained so I thought the castle and the caves were cool. I'm not a very experienced traveler and I went solo so I didn't have a real good itinerary planned out even before my accident. I did see Glendalough which I really enjoyed.

I don't know that hotel but I'm sure it will be great. I stayed at the Bridge View B&B the whole time I was recovering and I really enjoyed it. By the time I left, I was calling the hostess my Irish mom haha I wish I could be more helpful as to what to see and do but I just kind of had fun doing everything and I was there and didn't have any schedule so I didn't have to worry about managing my time or making sure I did only the best things.

Where are you from?

Muckross House Tour. No need to book. Do this on Day 4 in the afternoon.
http://www.muckross-house.ie/ You might not have time for horseback riding.

Take Gap of Dunloe tour on Day 5.
http://killarneydaytour.com/our-tour/gap-of-dunloe/

https://teelingdistillery.com/the-experience/

Jameson will be closed till just before St Patrick's day, they are doing a remodel. Teeling is good though and they really make it there not just a museum. Make a reservation though because they are busy.

You do realize that the car steering wheel is on the right side and you drive on the left side of the road. A right turn is like our left turn. It takes a while to get used to. I hope the driver has a good passenger to help the driver keep on the correct side of the road, especially on right turns. The back seat passengers can keep their eyes closed in order to not keep screaming. Good luck!

If you do not like big cities, stay in Kinsale instead of Cork. Also I think night 5 is better spent in Killarney.

Civiclx- thanks for all the tips! It can be overwhelming planning a European trip, especially since I've never been before! I am from the Chicago, IL area.

Dugi_otok- Thanks! I won't pre-book muckross house then. I would be bummed if we didn't have time for horseback riding. It looks beautiful.
And yes, we do know that the driving will be different up front. Hopefully my boyfriend can get the hang of it fairy quickly. I double checked with him numerous times before booking a rental car that he felt comfortable enough to drive. We want to experience a lot of what Ireland has to offer though, and that means moving around to different cities!
Why do you think 2 nights in Killarney rather than Cork? I'd be open to change it if necessary.

Macross- I did see the Dublin location is closed till St. Pattys day, but the Cork location is open! Is this still a good location to go to? Where is Teeling? I haven't heard of that one yet.

"St. Pattys day" you might want to avoid that statement.. Its St Patrick or casually St Pat. never given a girls name.

https://teelingdistillery.com/where-we-are/

If in Midleton then do got see the tours there.
Cork has a lot to offer imo. You can go to Midleton, Ballycotton, Cobh, Blarney and explore the city of Cork.

>> Why do you think 2 nights in Killarney rather than Cork? I'd be open to change it if necessary. <<

The activities in Killarney:Killarney National Park and Gap of Dunloe with jaunting cars, pony carts, horseback riding, Mucross House Tour are worth a whole day plus. And that does not include the famous Ring of Kerry with its' fabulous ocean and mountain views which is worth a half to full day.And then there is the singing pubs(do not know about wintertime) that deserve two nights. After a long drive from Galway to Killarney you won't have much time to do anything that day. Blarney Castle can be toured the morning that you leave Cork for Kilkenny. So nothing against Cork, but your itinerary can only have one two day stop. I recommend that be Killarney.

tony2phones - Thanks for the tip. Want to ensure I don't oftend anyone there.

Macross - I'll look into Teeling, too!

dugi_otok - Ok! I do agree that both places have so much to offer. I struggled picking which place to do overnight two nights in a row, since we only do that once on our trip.
You think it is worth the hassle of getting both hotels refunded and rebooking them?

Dugi_otok - I just went ahead and canceled my hotels for killarney and Cork and rebooked. So Day 4&5 are now in Killarney and Day 6 is in Cork. Thank you so much for the heads up. I looked at drive times/distances while planning my trip but it must have spaced me on how long of a drive it is from Galway to kilkarney, and we will obviously stop along the drives too.

What would you do on day 1 in Killarney and day 2 in Killarney?

I'm looking at booking my cliffs of moher online a head of time to skip lines and save money.
Should I just book the $7 standard ticket? Has anyone done the cliffs and cruise? It is $20 for a one hour cruise and a visit to the cliffs of moher?
I don't see a place to book that online.
I'm trying to book as much as possible before hand to save money and limit out of pocket expenses on our trip

>> What would you do on day 1 in Killarney and day 2 in Killarney? <<

I am assuming that the day that you are driving Galway to Killarney you are stopping en route at places such as the Burren, Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty, Adare, etc. and therefore will not arrive in Killarney early enough to sightsee in Killarney. So on the next day(your only full day) I would tour
Killarney National Park- Mucross House and Abbey,go horseback riding, some gap of Dunloe,Torc Waterfall, possibly Ladies View, Moll's Gap, Knockrere Demesne, Ross Castle etc.

The next day I would consider driving the Ring of Kerry (counter clockwise)exiting at Kenmore. Then I would proceed to Cork.

>> I'm looking at booking my cliffs of moher online ahead of time to skip lines and save money.
Should I just book the $7 standard ticket? Has anyone done the cliffs and cruise? It is $20 for a one hour cruise and a visit to the cliffs of moher?
I don't see a place to book that online. <<

I have not taken the cruise.I would just book the standard ticket and spend the time in the Burren.

Ok. I'll just book the $7 ticket for each of us. I think that'll be enough.

This is my first European trip so I have had a little difficulty figuring out when to do what I want to, basically I want to make sure I'm doing things in the proper order to avoid back tracking

What time should I do the horseback riding?
The options are 10, 11:30, 2, 3:30, 4:30.
That should be on Day 5 in Killarney, right?

Sorry for all the questions!! First time traveling to Europe and I'm stressing I'm not going to plan right. ��

No need to be sorry. This form is all about questions. First time to Europe can seem overwhelming. But nothing to stress out about. There will be no right or wrong choices now. On your first cruise vacation you had to make a lot of decisions. What cruise line, what ship, what cabin,what ports, what port activities, etc. Same here. In this vacation you will be sharing the experience with someone you want to be with. You will be meeting friendly people,seeing beautiful scenery, history, architecture,arts,Irish activities etc. It is all good. Just bring some warm clothes or buy an expensive sweater in Ireland.

>> What time should I do the horseback riding?
The options are 10, 11:30, 2, 3:30, 4:30.
That should be on Day 5 in Killarney, right? <<

I would select 10am on Day 5. Have you selected Killarney Riding Stables one hour ride? Looks great!

There is always a danger of second guessing, over thinking and fear of regret. A holiday is about enjoying what you can do and not thinking about the things you might be missing.

Set arrival and departure, fix a route then fix how long in each place along that route. book your accommodation. Once the points are set what happens between and at the points can be played with. Don't plan a military schedule but have a basic plan. Ireland will slow even the busiest down to the pace of the island.

Don't worry about the Cliffs cruise because the boats might not even be running on St Patrick's day,, usually they don't run until the End of March beginning of April and are weather dependant.

Dugi_otok - I do appreciate all of the tips and help! Yes, we are doing Killarney Riding Stables! We will choose the 10 AM one.
I am going to order a waterproof jacket to bring but other than that I think I have everything I need. I am super excited! Everyone talks about how amazing Ireland is.

Tony2phones - I know! I dont want a plan for everything. It is just hard booking tickets and stuff online a head of time for some things because they want specific times. Which is hard because we kind of just want to go with the flow of things. We'll skip the cruise :)

Anyone have any recommendations on places to eat in the towns I'm visiting?

They do not have the 10 trail ride available. So we will have to do the 11:30.

>> They do not have the 10 trail ride available. So we will have to do the 11:30.<<

What to do in the morning. How about doing a two hour trail ride at 9:30am instead of the one hour trail ride at 11:30am?
Another possibility is a jaunting car ride for one hour before the horseback ride.
http://killarneyjauntingcars.ie/

After your horseback ride I would do a tour of Muckross House. It is about a 4 mile drive from the stable.You can take a jaunting car ride from the parking lot to Muckross house. There is a cafeteria there for a light lunch. After the house tour you can tour more of the National Park.

We like to have light lunches at Deenagh Lodge across from St. Mary's Cathedral.

Dugi_otok - I just contacted the jaunting cars company about a tour that morning. I looked for prices and didn't see any online. Do you know how much a tour is for 2 for an hour?

Jaja - I will check them out. Thank you!!

I do not recall what 2 of us paid. We just paid what the "jarvey"(driver) asked. Haggling is allowed. They are like cab drivers.

Here is another company. It usually is a day before thing for booking I think.
http://killarneyhorseandcarriagetours.com/

Here is a post I found:
bean11 on Sep 20, 12 at 8:22am

"We did a Jaunty car in October of 2012. This was their slow season. We were advised to negotiate a price with the driver which we did. We stayed at the Killarney International Hotel which was across the street from where several drivers were parked. I forget the actual price (15 euros person for 4 of us?) but we worked out all the little details (which part of park to see by car, would he wait for us while we toured Muckross House, etc) Bottom line -- I would wait and negotiate. By the way, the Jaunty Car was worth the money and the experience (romantic too!). My drivers name was Mike (forgot the Horse's name -- Rusty I think). He was a third generation driver."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz9iwVr5HWU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Ocpu36smY

I don't know if you are allowing enough time for some of your drives. On a map it won't look too bad, but many areas have narrow twisty roads, often with big busses bearing down on you from the other direction with barely enough room to squeeze by. This all will slow you down. It took longer than we thought when we went a few years ago.

That being said, you have some great things planned. We took a boat/jaunting cart trip of the Gap of Dunloe which was wonderful. We also did a Aran Island/Cliffs of Moher cruise out of Doolin and that was definitely worth it. Your horseback riding sounds like a lot of fun. It's worth planning a few things out in advance to be sure you don't miss your most important things to do.

You might get some pointers out of my trip report:
IRELAND - the driving is great: east to west, south to north!

Dugi_otok - I touched base with the company. They are asking 26 Euros each, for a party of 2 for an hour. So about 60 USD. Do you think this is a fair price? Or should we just wait to book it when we get there?
Could I negotiate price in e-mail? Or does that come off rude?

Kwren- we have read that driving in Ireland takes much longer than expected. We are just wanting to see a lot of what Ireland has to offer. If we come back it won't be for many years as we have many other places on our bucket list to visit. So in the event we do not get the chance to visit again, I want to see as much as we can. I know that it might not be as relaxing of a trip as a cruise might be, but I do believe it will be a once in a lifetime trip. There is so much to see and do, I know we will not have time to do everything we want to.
I think we will be stopping along the way at things we discover on our drives, which will take even longer. Hopefully I planned appropriately and we will enjoy ourselves.
How do I find your trip report?

I totally understand wanting to get a lot in. When you see my trip report, you'll see we did the exact same thing...and were very happy doing so!

To find my trip report, tap on my name and scroll to the bottom of my profile to the trip report section. Scroll till you see this title:

IRELAND - the driving is great: east to west, south to north!

You could also google that title and that will also pull it up.

>>I touched base with the company. They are asking 26 Euros each, for a party of 2 for an hour. So about 60 USD. Do you think this is a fair price? Or should we just wait to book it when we get there?
Could I negotiate price in e-mail? Or does that come off rude?<<

Now you have a good reference fixed price. I would wait till you get there. You will get a fair cheaper price by approaching a driver parked with his jaunting car(no middle man to pay). No need to lock down a time now. Remember though, the driver is an honest guy trying to make a living, feed his family. So don't bargain too hard. A euro to him means more than a euro to you.

To get kwren's trip report. Type kwren Ireland in the Search The Forms box above, press Go and some of her posts will appear including her Ireland trip report.
I did it for you.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...h-to-north.cfm

Thanks dugi! No way she won't be able to find it!

Got the trip report! I will make sure to read it this evening, as I am sure it contains a ton of helpful information for me.

I will also wait on the jaunting ride and book when we go to do it.

Where is the best place to convert USD to Euros? I read not to do it st the airport because the coversion rate is higher. My credit card has no foreign transaction fees so I plan to use that a lot of the time because it converts to USD automatically. However, I do want some Euros for tipping and such. How much do you recommend having?

You need a debit card(ATM) in addition to a credit card. I use the credit card wherever I can except where there is an extra charge for using it.To get euros use your debit card in any bank ATM even those at the airport are OK. Do not use independent ATMs from Travelex, Euronet, Cardpoint, and Cashzone, etc. which charge huge commissions and have bad exchange rates. You need to call your bank and tell them your travel plans so that they do not deny card transactions.Find out your bank debit card fees and daily withdrawal limit.There will be no local bank fees to use the ATM, only your bank fees. The ATM will also have a withdrawal limit which may be less than your own limit.Never let the merchant, hotel, restaurant charge you in US dollars(bad conversion rate). Never use your credit card to get cash as the bank will treat it as a loan with instant interest starting.

Europe uses a Chip and PIN card system, so human intervention is needed to use your credit card. I have had problems at toll road payment and unmanned gas stations.

I usually get $300 worth of euros.If I do not use it I start paying in cash near the end of the trip.Some of my friends like to have only a smaller amount of cash.But there is usually a fixed amount of ATM fees per transaction. I dislike paying $5 to withdraw $20. Plus I dislike being unable to pay cash at a restaurant, B&B, or attraction entrance fee if I find out they do not accept credit cards.

Instead of Cong, I would go onto the Connemara peninsula either before or after Galway. It is so beautiful especially the Kylemore Abbey.

I am not a big fan of Cork so I would only alot one day there.

I notice you haven't given time to Dingle, my absolute most favorite town in Ireland. The shooting location for the movie RYAN'S DAUGHTER, it is a perfect Irish town. Check out the movie too before you go.

If you like oysters, you must try Moran's on the Weir in Galway. WOrld Famous.

Just to reiterate what dugi said, you will often be offered to pay in dollars or Euros when using your credit card. Always push the button to pay in euros! You'll see in my trip report that one place charged me in dollars anyway, even though I had specified euros. (This also happened to me in Barcelona 2 weeks ago.) If that happens, they will say they don't know how to cancel the transaction, but they do know.