raclou99

I'm planning on spending 10 days in Ireland in September. I'll have a hire car, but, other than the first night, I would prefer to have the flexibily to choose my overnight locations when I get there. Is this a realistic approach, or is it fraught with danger? I plan on limiting my travels to the area between Galway and Cork and would like to choose my B&B when I get to the town where I wish to stay.

CanadianRNinDublin

we did something similar 2 years ago in august. At first we thought we'd just stroll into town everynight and find a place, but I did end up pre booking 12 out of the 14 nights.

The two nights that were not pre booked the one we drove from dublin (there was a big game that weekend and we couldn't book annother night) we stopped in wicklow I believe, and thier tourist office called around for us (for a fee) and found us a place in Rosslare harbour which was lovely, but we spend alot of time driving that day rather than seeing sights.

the seccond time we were in northern ireland and with the help of the tourist office to call around ended up about 2 hrs ahead of where we were expeting to be the following night. So our trip had a bit of a detour and added to the driving time.

so sometimes it can work out and some times it puts you out of your way. Either way you'll have to spend part of each day looking for a place to stay and maybe not getting what or where you hoped for and weather or not it's in your expected price range. so it's up to you - if that dosen't sound like an inconveince then you should be grand.

Viajero2

Great plan, specially if traveling in Sept. I would only reserve the first night because you should always have an address when landing somewhere!

I need to ask why are you limiting your travels to Galway-Cork. To be honest, we could not get out of Cork fast enough.

Padraig

There is generally no need to book ahead in September. The exception might be if there is an event such as a festival taking place in a particular town.

raclou99

Thanks for your help. I like the idea of being flexible and it's nice to know September should allow this.
Viajero2, I don't know if I'll be spending much time in Cork. I was just using it as a guide to the area I was considering. I take it this wasn't your favourite area?

sheri_lp

I would also consider the places you're going to visit. If you'll be in larger towns you don't need to book too much in advance. If you're heading off the beaten path there may be fewer options? It's so much fun to research these places and discover something that strikes your fancy - I'd at least book more than one night if I found something really nice.

irishface

Personally, I found Cork a bit gritty (Sorry!) but did find some interesting things in the city. But the area around Cork has lots to recommend it. We stayed in Cobh and enjoyed the Immigration Exhibition as well as wandering the streets. Also visited nearby Fota Wildlife Park. Took the train into Cork one day to avoid driving in the city.

West of Cork, lots of delightful towns. Clonakilty was fun for us. Visited miniature version of Clonakilty and recreated prehistoric village. (Neither of these were mentioned in guide books but found the pamphlets at tourist office.)

So don't dismiss Cork.

Also I am of the find a sleep as you go school. Never spent more than twenty minutes in a tourist office while they called around for a room. Made use of the time to scan pamphlets on nearby attractions (see above). Also found some great places on my own.

The only awful place I stayed in Ireland was a "book ahead". This was before I had access to computer (13 years ago) and was one I booked through a tourist office book of listings which I got from the Irish tourist office in NYC. Oh, yes, I just remembered another awful place booked ahead listed in Frommers' Ireland on $20 a day 25 years ago. (Is this where I use one of those emoticons?)

More recent trips have been go as you please. We mixed go as you please with a cottage rental in the middle, which of course was prebooked, but a snap to do with internet.

astein12

Three factors that I'd consider:

1) How many people are traveling? If it's just you (or you and a significant other), than you can probably wait and play it by ear. We traveled with a group of 4 and needed two rooms. This made it a bit more necessary to book ahead.

2) Do you need en suite bathrooms? If you do, it may be worth booking ahead. My wife isn't big on shared baths, so...

3) Can you keep yourself 'moving along'? I've heard from a number of people who didn't book ahead who felt that they didn't cover as much of the country as they expected. With no 'goal' for the end of each day, they tended to wander aimlessly (not necessarily a bad thing) and not cover as much ground.

Enjoy the trip!

Padraig

astein12 wrote: "Can you keep yourself 'moving along'? I've heard from a number of people who didn't book ahead who felt that they didn't cover as much of the country as they expected. With no 'goal' for the end of each day, they tended to wander aimlessly (not necessarily a bad thing) and not cover as much ground."

Amen to "not necessarily a bad thing". It's probably a very good thing. Why move 80 miles to the next target if there are 14 interesting things close by you?

allisonm

In September, especially if you are a couple rather than a group, you should be okay if you don't book ahead. That being said, I am the type of person who prefers to book ahead. We left two nights open on our trip last month but had an idea of where we wanted to stay and it worked out nicely.

We have stayed in some wonderful places and some awful places. I would suggest doing some research ahead of time and find some B&Bs in the areas where you think you might land at the end of the day. If you don't pull into a town early enough, you may likely find the tourist office already closed. (And small towns don't even have them.)

We were in the Galway to Cork area and I will post my B&B's from this trip soon.